Dundee-Crown trio from 2009 team wins 3-on-3 charity event
By Gene Chamberlain For Sun-Times Media June 24, 2012 10:48PM
Prestige Worldwide's Andrew Short, left, of Bloomington, Ill., and Ballers On A Budget's Max St. Clair, of Algonquin, Ill., right, compete during the Sean Toedman Memorial 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament at Lions Park in East Dundee, Ill., on Sunday, June 24, 2012. | Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
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Updated: July 26, 2012 6:06AM
For a while Sunday at East Dundee’s Lions Park, the 2009 Dundee-Crown Chargers rode the victory trail again.
Jeff Beck was throwing passes and driving to the basket, Aaron Reems dunked and got to the boards, and Greg McNally hit the outside “J”. Those three members of the 2009 Class 4A fourth-place team from D-C teamed up with former McHenry star Chris Madsen to win the second annual Sean Toedman 3-on-3 Tournament, which featured numerous former area players, with a strong slant on former Chargers.
A total of 26 teams braved the 90-degree temperatures, including some “old-timers” like mid-1990s D-C player Graper Griffin and school all-time scoring leader Mike McKibben, in an attempt to raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
“It’s just great to get out here and see a lot of these guys, the ones you know, of course, and, really, the other ones you didn’t know but heard a lot about like Mike McKibben,” said Beck, who now plays at Lake Forest College and is Madsen’s college roommate there. “Of course, it’s great to be able to do it and be able to benefit a charity like this tournament supports.”
The Fox Valley ‘09 team, led by Beck, in the finals beat back a challenge from Team Loyalty, led by Elgin High’s Charlie Tomlin.
Both teams may have benefited when a team led by former Jacobs stars Kevin and Tim Moran had to withdraw before the final four due to a prior engagement -- their mother’s birthday party.
Proceeds from the tournament are donated to St. Jude’s in the name of Toedman, an Elgin resident who died in 1996 at age 12 after a battle with brain cancer. Toedman is the cousin of Teresa Schultz, who is tournament organizer Dave Schultz’s wife.
Dave Schultz played for D-C’s sectional finalist team in 2004 and his team Sunday reached the semifinals before bowing out.
“Sean loved hockey and he also loved basketball and we were looking for a way to remember him and also to benefit this cause,” Teresa Schultz said. “We’ve had so much support from the community and we hope it’s only going to get bigger in the future.”
Area golf courses and businesses donated money and prizes for raffles to aid in the fund-raiser.
Schultz said the idea for the tournament was born from the need to give back.
“My wife and I support St. Jude a lot outside of this tournament,” he said. “I just realized one day that I’ve been very blessed. I was thinking I wanted to do something to try to give back and this worked out well because I know a lot of basketball players. It was a simple thing.”
In all, the tournament raised $3,054 for St. Jude’s.
“One thing we stressed this year was for players to bring out their families, that this was a family day,” Dave Schultz said. “We had a great turnout in that regard.”
