Akron is cutting some of its financial support for a basketball tournament that had been one of the largest draws of young talent in the country.
The city has put up as much as $50,000 for the tournament, which drew 500 teams for the three-day competition. But the head of Akron鈥檚 parks and recreation department, John Valle, says that鈥檚 when Akron鈥檚 favorite son 鈥� and one of the biggest names in the NBA 鈥�
was associated with it.
鈥淎 couple years ago, this was the LeBron James Shooting Stars Classic. Last year was the first year that it was now called the Class. So I don鈥檛 know if the LeBron James name had some effect on it, but it may have.鈥�
Faced with a tight city budget, Valle recommended Akron put up only $35,000 this year, along with the city parks department鈥檚 labor and other support totaling about $17,000.
Dru Joyce is the coach at James鈥� alma Mater, St. Vincent-St. Mary. Valle says the competition still will draw about 350 teams and their families and other supporters and will be worth more than $3 million to the region.
