FORTVILLE — It’s great basketball for a great cause.
Kyle Guy’s Dizzy Runs Pro-Am summer basketball league is using this season to give back to local communities.
Tuesday at Mt. Vernon High School, fans can watch top college and pro basketball players and donate to help a local family during difficult times.
Admission is free, but there will be bracelets and t-shirts for sale — and other ways to donate — to help Mt. Vernon student and standout soccer player Shawn Houser and his family.
Shawn was in an automobile accident on June 18. He was thrown from his car and suffered a traumatic brain injury, the extent to which has not yet been determined. He also has a broken clavicle and has been in the Neuro ICU at St. Vincent’s Hospital since the accident.
Guy was Indiana’s Mr. Basketball and a McDonald’s All-American at Lawrence Central High School. He went on to lead the University of Virginia to a national championship and was named The Final Four’s most outstanding player. He’s played in the NBA and is currently playing professionally overseas.
Three summers ago he started Kyle Guy’s Dizzy Runs Pro-Am summer league which has included some of the top high school, college and professional players — many with Central Indiana or Indiana ties.
Guy will be playing Tuesday along with the Orlando Magic’s Gary Harris, as well as some other familiar names that are playing professionally overseas, from the G-League, former pros and some current college standouts, including Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn and Myles Colvin and Butler’s Pierre Brooks, Boden Kapke, Evan Haywood, Finley Bizjack and Kolby King. Former Pendleton Heights/Butler and Memphis Grizzlies’ guard Sean McDermott is also on the list of players confirmed to play Tuesday night, along with former Indiana Pacer and current Pike High School head coach Jeff Teague.
Basketball action begins Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Guy said there are six teams and three games that last roughly 50 minutes to an hour. It’s a normal game but with a running clock and 10-minute quarters. There will be food trucks and a DJ on hand, too.
Guy bought 60 of the bracelets so each player can wear one during the games.
The bracelets are inscribed, ‘Shawn Strong’ and ‘MV#24’ and can be purchased at the game. There is also a flyer (available in this story’s gallery as well as on the Mt. Vernon Athletics (@mvmarauders) Twitter page that has QR Codes for donations to a GoFundMe page and to purchase t-shirts.
The GoFundMe page has raised over $27,000 with the goal of hitting $50,000.
Guy said the league played at Lawrence Central High School last week and was scheduled to go to Noblesville this week but the school is resurfacing its gym floor.
The former Mr. Basketball has siblings that have graduated from, and are going to, Mt. Vernon schools and he has had a relationship in the past with the school and athletic director Brandon Ecker.
It was late notice but he was hoping the Mt. Vernon gym would be available, then his mother told him of a great cause they should play for, the Houser family.
“When I asked what we should do (for Mt. Vernon) I was not as familiar with Shawn’s story as I am now,” Guy said. “My mom lives in McCordsville and said we should support Shawn Houser. She sent me the info and it resonated. I have two kids now.
“We had about 2,000 people per event last year. It’s a good way for people to see good basketball, there are food trucks, a DJ. It’s fun for everyone and there’s a side of it of giving back, servanthood, and thankfulness, and that’s where we’re hoping we are able do a little bit for Shawn and his family.”
Guy’s brother, Brady Fitzgerald, just graduated from Mt. Vernon and was a starter on the basketball team. He is going to play collegiately at Green Bay as an invited walk-on.
“Kyle said his mom told him about Shawn and asked, ‘Is there something we can do to help?” Ecker said. “He wanted to focus energy on helping Shawn.”
Ecker said cash donations will be accepted, too. Those planning to attend should enter the gym at Door 17.
