It has been 20 years since the Humboldt Collegiate Institute Mohawks won their first and only boys provincial basketball championship and on Mar. 23 the boys reunited for a charity basketball game at the HCI gym to raise money for a scholarship fund named after their late coach, Kevin Grieman.
The details for the Kevin Grieman scholarship fund are still being worked out but the idea behind the fund is to help provide boys and girls who cannot afford to pay to play, or cannot afford to pay for meals or hotels while on the road or for shoes some extra funds to help cover those costs.
Kevin Greiman鈥檚 wife of 24 years, Susan Grieman, said it was important to have a scholarship fund because basketball was one of Kevin鈥檚 passions.
鈥淜evin was extremely passionate about coaching and making sure kids were happy and safe,鈥� she said.
Having the fund setup is particularly important to help kids stay in sports, says Grieman.
鈥淚t keeps them safe, and keeps them doing something that gives them life skills, gives them something to work for.鈥�
The game itself pitted the 鈥�96 provincial champions against this season鈥檚 senior boys team. There were 13 members of the 鈥�96 winning team, which saw 11 return to take part in the evening, which was especially surprising for co-organizer and 鈥�96 team member, Kalvan Manderscheid, since it was held in the middle of the week. 聽聽 聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 so nice to have all the guys back. It鈥檚 unbelievable that we got 11 out of the 13 guys to come back 20 years later. I would have never envisioned this,鈥� he said.
Coming together with his former teammates again was 鈥渂ittersweet鈥�, says Manderscheid who said it has been a pretty tough time the last couple of weeks since Grieman passed away but said it was nice to be able to get together and play the game in his honour.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to celebrate our accomplishment but we wouldn鈥檛 have done it without him. He drove us.鈥�
Playing against the provincial champions was equally as special for the current Mohawks team said co-captain, Genesis Legaspi.
鈥淚t was pretty fun playing with the gold medalists. It was a great experience and something I鈥檒l remember from my grade 12 year,鈥� he said.
With their season now over the Mohawks other co-captain, Jared Giddings, said it was nice to be able to have one last game together as a team and even more so since the boys were able to beat the 鈥�96 winners.
鈥淚t was fun playing with the guys one more time even against the winning team from 鈥�96. It was nice to get the win to end off our grade 12 year and our basketball career.鈥�
The current Mohawks never trailed in the game and carried a double-digit advantage into the fourth quarter where the 鈥�96 Mohawks staged a comeback that ultimately fell short.
Despite the loss Manderscheid said it was still a good night.
鈥淲in or lose we came out just to have fun. I mean obviously we鈥檙e competitive but it鈥檚 all for fun.鈥�
