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Franklin middle school basketballers gathered at the Franklin Youth Center march 15 for the finals of the annual Medley’s March Madness basketball tournament.
The day featured basketball skills competitions, a dunking contest, giveaways and, of course, basketball.
The event is named for the late Bruce Medley, a Parks & Recreation department staffer who created the Franklin Youth Initiative, which centered on basketball, and the March Madness tournament. Medley died during the Covid pandemic.
The move to name the tournament after Medley was started by Joseph Jankowski, the Youth Resource Manager at the Franklin Youth Center.
“After his passing, when I was here as a program coordinator, I thought it would be a really good way to honor him by doing his March Madness thing every single year.” Jankowski said.
This year also featured a unified basketball game, held on March 7, Jankowski said.
The actual games were played by middle school students, but the contests, such as a 3-point shooting contest, was also open to high schoolers, he said.
“I think it’s important to keep Bruce’s legacy alive,” Jankowski said. “I know what he meant to not only the people of this township that worked here, but for a lot of these kids as well. I know that the kids in high school know him very closely because they were in his FYI program.”
“So I think it’s important to his family, his friends, and the whole community that we keep that going,” he said.
Several groups made donations to the tournament. The Franklin Food Bank donated bench towels, and the Triple B Foundation donated the uniforms and trophies.
The Triple B Foundation is a family affair; siblings Makeda Fryson and Kwame Breedy are its secretary and member-at-large, respectively; their mother, Jenny Breedy, is the treasurer and vice-president, and their aunt, Cecily Barrington, is the president.
Makeda Fryson said this was Triple B’s second year supporting the program.
“Last year we kind of crept in a little bit, we decided to do just the t-shirts, but this year, seeing what we saw last year, we really wanted to give these kids a much better experience and really, really give and honor Bruce Medley and what he tried to do here at the youth center.” she said.
Jenny Breedy said that she knew Medley for many years, through her children.
“The kids grew up in Franklin and participated in lots of the youth activities, and so Bruce and I became very close, and in honor of his memory, I’m so glad that this foundation is a part of it, in honoring him,” she said.
Barrington said that “when the foundation started, we were excited about things that we could do for the community, and so when this came about, it was very exciting for us to get involved, and the fact that my niece and nephew grew up within Franklin Township, it’s really an honor to be a part of this event.”
Here are some scenes from the event:
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