News
Thanks to a dedicated coalition of basketball coaches and referees, the 47th annual Lehigh Valley Basketball Senior All-Star Classic and Hall of Fame Induction presented by St. Luke’s University Health Network will take place Sunday, March 27 at Northampton Community College.
This long-standing event for high school seniors, formerly run by Via of the Lehigh Valley, will continue. The committee is pleased to announce that St. Luke’s has stepped into a pivotal sponsorship role. Via (and before that, LARC) stepped away from running events to concentrate on their mission of providing services for children and adults with disabilities.
“St. Luke’s has been a long-standing partner of the Via Basketball Classic, and some of the coaches and individuals who have been integral to that and the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame wanted to make sure these events are preserved,” said John Hauth, Senior Network Administrator, Sports Medicine Relationships
“This event has been known as the Via All-Star or LARC Classic for many years, but we are rebranding the game to preserve it as a stand-alone event.”
The Lehigh Valley Basketball Senior All-Star Classic will feature four games -- two boys and two girls games -- with the Hall of Fame induction taking place between the two sets of games.
The event is being run by a group of Who’s Who in the Lehigh Valley basketball community, including former Notre Dame Green Pond coach Traci Cyr (current Southern Lehigh assistant coach) and former Allen High basketball coach Doug Snyder.
“When Via decided not to run fundraising events to focus on their core mission, a group of us who have been associated with the game for a long time, did not want to see it go by the wayside,” said Cyr, who coached and played in the game and has been the chair of the committee running the event for the last 10years.
“We decided to keep this game alive and run the event as a community volunteer organization. All of the proceeds from the event will be donated to Via.”
The special needs community holds a special place in Cyr’s heart because her 20-year-old son has autism and is completely non-verbal. Cyr had run free basketball clinics for special needs children and adults as part of previous Basketball Classics, and organized the St. Luke’s Combine/Hall of Fame Clinics for typical youngsters. The committee put that on hold this year.
“This is our first year running the Classic without Via’s assistance, and with the pandemic, we thought it best that we don’t do the clinics this year,” Cyr said. “We plan on bringing the clinics back in future years when this pandemic is more under control because the special needs community is at a higher risk of COVID-19 complications.”
Another event missing this year will be the annual banquet that took place before the game and featured speakers such as Bill Walton and other former NBA and NFL stars.
“This year, the focus is making sure the games come together and we honor the senior all-stars and Hall of Fame inductees, along with Via,” Cyr said. “We welcome any business, community members and booster clubs that would like to contribute to this event to contact us. We plan on holding a basket raffle at the Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Classic.”
“Traci and Doug and the others on the committee who really have a heart for this didn’t want to see the event go away,” Hauth said. “It’s been a great event under Via, and we are honored to help to continue that tradition.”
What: Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Classic
When: March 27, 2022
Where: Northampton Community College Spartan Center Gymnasium
3835 Green Pond Road
Bethlehem, PA 18020
For sponsorship information:LVSallstarclassic@gmail.com
Website:www.LVSallstarclassic.org
Not classified as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit by the standards of the IRS
All proceeds from the event benefit Via of the Lehigh Valley, a non-profit agency that provides services for children and adults with disabilities.
Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Classic Committee Members: Traci Cyr, Doug Snyder, Pat Boyle, Mary Lisicky, Troy Tucker, Bob Huffstutler, Glenn Noack, Jose Medina, Donna Kennedy, Hary Mora (Lehigh Valley High School Basketball Hall of Fame Committee).
