High school friends reunite yearly at Hoopfest

Participating in Spokane’s cultural recreational sporting phenomena such as Hoopfest becomes a difficult habit to break, as the 70-plus who have perfect attendance in all 20 can attest.

For three of them, it isn’t so much the competition but the camaraderie that has kept them coming back from Hoopfest’s inception. High school buddies John Hentges, Andy Mitchell and Ryan Larsen play on the same team and, along with another high school pal, Alex Schuerman, have done so for the past 17 summers.

Annually the event is an excuse to gather at the home of Larsen’s parents for a barbecue and pool party reunion.

“It’s like a mini reunion every year,” Hentges said. “Dave (Larsen’s dad) is the grillmaster.”

It used to be just for the athletes, they say, then it became athletes and girlfriends. In time it encompassed entire families and even friends who they might encounter on opposing teams are invited.

“We went out (of Hoopfest) early last year,” Mitchell said. “But we weren’t too bummed because we spent the day at the pool on Sunday. It’s more about getting together than it is about basketball.”

Although that wasn’t the case, the players admit, when they were younger.

The four players are 1993 graduates of Mead. Schuerman and Larsen are pictured sitting next to each other in their Greater Spokane League basketball program photo.

Hentges and Schuerman played baseball together while Larsen was on a state soccer quarterfinalist. Although Mitchell didn’t play varsity sports, he said, “I was a big supporter of all the sports.”

Mitchell and Schuerman wound up rooming together four years while in college at Whitworth and spent much of their time trying to come up with creative Hoopfest names. Each of the 17 years they’ve played they’ve had different team monickers.

This year it’s Wakamatsu (after Seattle Mariners manager Don). Schuerman, it must be pointed out, is Mt. Spokane’s baseball coach. But most of the names have been themed after the movies “Hoosiers” and “White Men Can’t Jump” or life events.

“We used to have a ritual,” Schuerman said. “Friday night before Hoopfest we’d watch (both movies) and try to come up with something clever. We don’t watch them anymore. I think we’ve got them memorized.”

They could remember most of the team names. Some of the more original – “My Bunions Hurt,” “We Are Due” (partly a paean to the fact they were due for success, but mainly because wives were nearing their birthing due dates), “Girls Are Watching” (their daughters were old enough to understand) and “Slightly Ajar” (AJAR, an acronym of their first names).

Both Schuerman and Mitchell are educators, the latter teaching in the Cheney school district after nine years in Woodinville. Hentges and Larsen are both graduates of Washington State University. Hentges is in sales in Seattle, but said that previously for two years he commuted from his work in Iowa City. Larsen earned his law degree at USC and remains in L.A., a fan of the Trojans and Cougars and a marathoner who has timed 3 hours, 34 minutes at his best.

Because they travel – Mitchell insists driving from Cheney still warrants a discount – Schuerman picks up the tab for their entry fee each year.

Some of them became became friends in elementary school. Others became acquainted through youth sports. By high school all four “sports junkies” became tight. They were members in each other’s weddings – Andy and Alex driving 17 hours for Ryan’s while their wives flew in later.

Over the past 17 years they’ve had a modicum of success, finishing second twice and third once, although that came early in a loss against a team Hentges was playing on. He remembers having had to have a nosebleed cauterized from the game.

“We’re kind of notorious for losing 20-19,” Mitchell said. Schuerman added they’ve been notorious for losing the first game, which they did on Saturday, going 0-2 for the day.

“We were terrible,” Schuerman said. “But there’s more competition (in the bracket) than we bargained for.”

Wakamatsu ultimately played the consolation championship.

But Hoopfest for the three 20-year players and an 17-year veteran is not so much about the games as it is about the gathering. And that is what Spokane’s popular participatory events have been about.

Each year at this time the longtime high school friends and their families reunite and reminisce. They don’t see it coming to an end.