van wie rotary classic

  • By Tami Lange Mosser
  • November 12, 2013
  • 445
                        
Jon Rose had some big shoes to fill Sunday, Nov. 10. Rose, a Wooster Rotarian and committee chair for the 2013 Al Van Wie Rotary Classic at The College of Wooster, stood on the floor of the Timken Gymnasium and introduced himself to 180 local children taking part in the basketball skills clinic that opens a two-week food drive and ends in a pre-season basketball tournament. In the past, Rose said, the introductions had been handled by Van Wie himself. Van Wie, the College’s legendary former athletic director and long-time coach, died Sept. 18 at the age of 85. But his legacy will endure, Rose said. In past years, “he was taking the food (donations) from the kids, shaking their hands, asking what school they were from,” Rose said. Third through sixth-grade children – one-third of them girls – came out in record numbers to meet and learn from Wooster’s Scots’ basketball team and coaches. There is no fee for admission, just a donation of canned goods for People to People Ministries. Sunday’s event brought in 450 cans of food and $161 in cash donations for the local charity. But, Rose said, the clinic is just the beginning. A food drive that takes place for two weeks after the clinic will pit 15 to 20 local schools in a friendly competition that Rotarians will oversee. At the drive’s conclusion, Rotarians will go out and pick up the donations, according to Rose, and one month later will provide an ice cream party for the top two schools, along with leading a discussion about the importance of caring for others and sharing what they have. Those schools also will be recognized during the basketball tournament at the College on Nov. 22 and 23, when food and cash donations will get attendees half-price admission. Proceeds from the sale of raffle tickets also go to People to People. At that time, Rose said, the top schools will receive a plague and a load of Scot basketballs for use in their gym classes and sporting events. In its 20th year, the two weeks of events says a lot Van Wie, himself a long-time Rotarian and former Wooster club president. Rose said each of the club’s 200 members also is asked to donate and his committee of about 20-25 Rotarians spends the two-week period picking up food and delivering it to the People to People food pantry on East Bowman Street. Twenty years ago, Rose said, the College wanted to host the basketball tournament and Rotary agreed to sponsor. The food drive, suggested by Van Wie, started shortly thereafter. The event “had to be a community service,” Rose said, “not just his name on a tournament.” The clinic, Rose said, would not be possible each year without the dedication of the college players, Coach Steve Moore and his staff. “This is more a community service to do this for the kids,” Rose said, noting that while the children work on their skills, Moore hosts a coaches’ clinic in an auxiliary gym. Last year, the two weeks of activity resulted in about 33,000 donated food items and $9,400 in cash donations. Efforts continue to grow about 10 percent each year, Rose said.


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