It was 1986 when Bruce Watson and his Steveston high school buddies decided to have a basketball tournament at Richmond's Dolphin Park. The grand prize was bragging rights and a 24-pack of beer.
The guys played there for years, often playing against rival school kids on the court competitively, but becoming friends with them off court. It had been two years since the Steveston high school boys team won the B.C. Boys Basketball Provincial title, but the guys still had that sense of athleticism and competitive streak in them.
They also wanted a reason to hangout with their former high school buddies.
"We were all big basketball guys growing up, we played all the time," Bruce said. "We had heard about Rucker Park in Harlem and wanted to, in our small, small way, start a tournament similar to Rucker."
Rucker Park is located in the Harlem neighbourhood of New York City and its redand-green basketball court has been the site of the Rucker Park Tournament since 1950. Many prominent basketball players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain played at this tournament before rising to prominence in the NBA.
Bruce and his friends, Tony Wong-Hen, Bira Bindra, Taj Johal and Garth Robertson started the Dolphin Basketball Classic. They chose Dolphin Park for the tournament because it was where they all played throughout their teen years.
"We were Richmond kids and we played at every court in town," Bruce said. "We liked Dolphin the best. Dolphin was like a little gem in a picture perfect little neighbourhood."
The first tournament in 1986 lasted for one day and was attended by mostly friends and
families of the local players and that's how it was for the first few years. Competitors had to be Richmond grads, but that slowly evolved.
"There was always one or two guys who were from Richmond but went to Van College (Vancouver College, a Catholic school in Vancouver)," Wong-Hen said. "We came up with different rules and then allowed one import. One player not from Richmond, so he had to be the best."
A couple of years later, fellow co-founder, Johal, invited some elite players from California to play. After that, the restriction was lifted and only the best players were allowed to compete. The calibre of play then increased each year. The event expanded from a day-long competition, where neighbours would extend power cords and water hoses from their homes to the park for the players and spectators to use, to three days with bleachers brought in, along with a concession stand and beer garden.
"The next thing you know it, we had Jamal Crawford playing at Dolphin," Wong-Hen said.
"Steve Nash came out before he got his first MVP.
He used to come out and watch as a kid because he had an uncle around the corner of Dolphin. The event just grew and grew and grew."
Crawford is a Seattle native who currently plays for the L.A. Clippers. He played at Dolphin three times, from 2004 to 2006. Nash grew up in Victoria and currently plays for the L.A. Lakers. The event is well-known in the basketball community and has been mentioned in U.S. basketball publications such as Bounce and Slam Magazine.
The appearance of high profile international players and college and university teams, such as UBC, Langara and UVIC regularly competing, popularized the event, attracting between 1,500 to 2,500 spectators each year.
Outgrowing the single court park, the event was subsequently moved to Thompson Community Centre in 2008, which brought along amenities such as lit courts, making night time games possible for the first time. With two courts now available for use, it was the perfect time to expand the event.
Breanne Watson grew up in Richmond and she watched her dad and then her brother play at Dolphin. She wasn't able to compete, despite the fact that she was on the women's basketball team at the University of Washington, played on the Canadian National Team and then professionally in Europe for four years.
"I couldn't play because I'm a girl," Breanne, 29, said. "I spoke to Bruce about starting a women's division and he was very open to it. He thought it was a very good idea and said he never had someone suggest it.
"Being from Richmond and coming from a basketball family, I wanted to play instead of being a spectator."
The women's division was created in 2010 and Breanne has competed at the Dolphin for the last three years.
"To see women play at an extremely high level and really hard, it's excellent" Wong-Hen said. "A lot of daughters would see all these guys compete, now they can see women compete as well."
Currently, nine women's teams and 10 men's teams have registered to compete at this year's competition, a record amount.
Bruce often turns away recreational teams because the calibre of play at Dolphin is at the professional level, but he hasn't ruled out a recreational division being offered in the future.
While most competitors are from outside Richmond, Bruce still sees the Dolphin Classic as a grassroots, local, family event. Most of the co-founders are still actively involved in organizing the event and a younger generation, many of the co-founders' kids, have grown up with it.
"There is a picture of us giving out trophies and my son is like a baby in my arms, he's now 15," Wong-Hen said. "We've had our sons and daughters out there picking up garbage, scorekeeping and helping out at concession.
"It's amazing it doesn't feel like three decades. We've had this longer than we've had our wives."
The event makes no profit, relying on a tremendous amount of volunteer time and teams pay to compete. The top prize varies depending on the sponsors but ranges from an actual prize to gift certificates. Monies raised go towards running the event and to a $500 athletic scholarship, which is annually presented to a Richmond student.
As for the future, Bruce said the plan is to keep organizing the event, but he knows there will be a time when they will either have to end it or pass it onto a younger generation to run. But for now, the tournament still provides a good excuse for him and his buddies to hang out.
"We're all still friends, friends for life," Bruce said. "Dolphin helps keep us more involved with each other."
The 29th annual Dolphin Basketball Classic runs July 18-20 at the Thompson Community Centre. For more information, visit www.dolphinbasketball. com.
