Osgood Shootout Set to Occur in August
By Ken Lipshez | Sport Correspondent at July 13, 2024 | 9:15 am | Print
The rhythmic sound of a basketball thumping against the pavement has been the heartbeat of the inner city since Darwin Shaw was a child.
The New Britain coach and teacher listened intently to its cadence. As his sphere of influence in local sports circles grew, it merged with his desire to enrich the culture on the city’s streets with a multifaceted approach.
He recognized that organized sports activities, in addition to their inherent health values, provide a means to keep young minds active. Furthermore, he tapped his sociable nature and his promotional insight and came up with the sports staple of New Britain’s stifling summers for the last 20 years.
Shaw’s Osgood Shootout will be celebrating the end of its second decade next month when teams tip off in three divisions for the single-elimination event slated for the New Britain High School gym August 18 and 19. The cream of Connecticut’s returning scholastic talent will engage in the high school division. Stars of the past will clash in an over-40 division. But the division that will quicken the heartbeat of local hoop fans is the open division, which annually includes NBA players with state ties.
Proceeds go toward a scholarship fund that Shaw says has helped a determined set of NBHS grads reach some lofty life goals. Some have returned to inspire the next generation.
“You’re never a success until you do something in your community,” said Shaw, the head coach of the girls track team and the ultra-successful boys basketball junior varsity mentor.
Shaw is presently lining up teams. High school and over-40 teams pay an entry fee of $150. Open division squads will pay $230. He said that registration is limited and teams often get turned away if they don’t act early.
The tournament began outdoors in 1992 as the Osgood Park Shootout, an offshoot of a summer league that was operating at the time.
“The competition was open,” said Shaw, who joined Kevin Crockett, Kyle Anderson and Alberto Reberio in organization the inaugural event. “The high school kids had a league at Washington Park and all kinds of stuff going on.”
The tournament then took on the name of Charles L. Mumford Jr., a three-sport star at New Britain High who went on to play football at UConn and had passed away after the tournament’s first year. Shaw and Anderson took it to the next level.
“The basic purpose was to bring excitement to Osgood Park,” Shaw said. “It was the city’s mecca, the main courts you would play at. If you were any good, you’d come to Osgood.
“We got good community support. The Tomasso family was good helping us out and providing funds. Then I started soliciting all over the city and the thing just grew.”
The first big name player to hit the Osgood pavement was Marcus Camby, who starred at Hartford Public High before playing at UMass and subsequently the NBA. As top players got involved, Shaw moved the tournament indoors.
“Players would come up and see the atmosphere. Once they saw Marcus, everybody in Connecticut wanted to bring in teams,” Shaw said. “Osgood Park became the place. Waterbury, New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport all put together strong teams.”
Weather became a factor. Rain would force postponements and teams were often unable to return the following weekend.
“We had teams coming in from Boston, New York and New Jersey and we had no rain site,” Shaw said. “Once we took it inside, we couldn’t go back outside.”
The tournament’s credibility surged. Players included former Indiana University All-American (1989) and one-time Los Angeles Clipper Jay Edwards. Former University of Texas center James Thomas, a native of Schenectady, N.Y., who played for four NBA teams, also paid a visit. So did New Haven native Tharon Mayes, who went on to play at Florida State and had a brief stint with the Philadelphia 76ers and Clippers.
The promotional side of the tournament began to advance. New Britain native Peter Roby, director of urban development for Reebok, supplied sneakers, shorts and balls. Shaw’s intuitive talent for communication helped spread the gospel throughout the city and well beyond. Sponsors lined up.
“Our whole purpose is to give out scholarships. Kids who grew up in the neighborhood had first crack. Now we want them to come and give back. It’s all about giving back,” said Shaw, who used the same line of thinking in helping Tebucky Jones supplement his vast talent with community-minded programs.
The most recent scholarship recipients were Elijah Yopp, now playing football at CCSU, and Alexis Jones, whom Shaw reports is studying to be an athletic trainer.
Shaw welcomed former UConn guard Kemba Walker (Charlotte Bobcats), Waterbury native and ex-Providence College forward Ryan Gomes (Los Angeles Clippers), Torrington center Jordan Williams, who went on to play at the University of Maryland before landing with the New Jersey Nets and UConn’s Jerome Dyson (New Orleans Hornets) in 2011.
UConn center Andre Drummond, a Middletown native and recent Detroit Pistons first-round draft choice, also played last summer. Shaw noted that Tebucky and his former high school teammate Malcolm Yelling coached Drummond in the sixth grade.
“Drummond and Williams have been playing with us since they were in high school,” Shaw said.
Shaw hopes the participating NBA players will participate in a two-hour clinic for city youth.
“We’re trying to do what we can for the kids,” he said.
For tournament entry information, contact Darwin Shaw at [email protected], or 860-225-5110.
