Jump Shots and Joy: How a 3-on-3 Tournament Honors Josh Sprague’s Spirit
Teams Like ‘I Love My Mom’ Make For an Unforgettable Tourney
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
BAR HARBOR—Certain things usually happen over and over again at the annual Josh Sprague Tournament.
There are always teams. One team always comes from Dedham. One team’s name is ILMM and those letters? They stand for “I love my mom.”
The players laugh, ask for snacks, take water breaks, cheer each other on, foul up, and make amazing plays. They check in with moms and love them. They check in with dads and grandparents and guardians and siblings and love them, too. They’ll goof off. They’ll emote. They’ll work hard. They’ll be kids living life on a basketball court.
One other thing that’s consistent is the tournament is always named after one island kid: Josh Sprague.
And that? It matters.
Josh Sprague died in March 1999 in a car accident on the Eagle Lake Road. That didn’t stop the impact three-sport-high school athlete who loved the Red Sox. Josh’s family donated his organs, helping others live on. A stone wall was built in his honor. A scholarship has helped island kid after island kid. And then there’s the tournament, which brings together kids and fun and sportsmanship every year.
Josh always made an impact.
“He was my best friend,” Justin Norwood told the Bar Harbor Story last year. “We grew up at the Y basically, the old YMCA where the Abbe Museum is. We both loved competing. We were Y rats, they used to call us. There were 12 of us. We played basketball all morning.”
Then the older men would kick them out at noon for their own pick-up games. When that happened, Josh and Justin and the rest of the guys would find something else to play, to compete at. Pool. Ping-pong. Whiffle ball. Video games. You name it and they played it.
When the First National Bank held its first three-on-three basketball tournament, the boys were all in.
“We couldn’t wait to play in it. We loved playing,” Justin said. They might have even made their own t-shirts. He’s not sure, but it feels like it, because that’s how hyped up they were about it.
The annual Josh Sprague Memorial 3-on-3 basketball tournament is inspired by that love of community, of the hype, of the joy of running down a court with parents and friends cheering you on. It brought together 65 kids and approximately 20 teams to the MDI High School gymnasium this Tuesday. It was sponsored by The First National Bank, Wight’s Sporting Goods, Bar Harbor Savings and Loan, Coston & McIsaac CPAs, and Coston, McIsaac and Shea Financial Advisors.
It was also sponsored by community and memory and the hope that legacies of friendship? That they live on. That they continue to matter. That legacy of Sprague lives on.
This week, two other Mount Desert Island High School students were honored for their hard work, sportsmanship, and dedication.
Mount Desert Island senior Amelia VanDongen, part of the Class B cross-country state championship, received the MDI High School Principal’s Award, to honor her achievements, the Mount Desert Islander reported.
Junior Nate Olson is heading to NXGN’s The Show after showcasing his talents at a regional event in Boston this March. It’s a high school football showcase and Olson is one of 270 high school players that will compete in drills. It is billed as “exposure for elite football prospects.”
According to its website, “NXGN Camp Alumni have have received more than 11,000 D1 scholarship offers.”
To get to that level of competition and honors, the kind that Sprague and VanDongen and Olson have inside them and have received, it takes hard work and drive and support.
It takes a community.
The community that it takes to build kids with team names like I Love My Mother doesn’t start on the court, it starts at homes, in playgrounds, in schools, in libraries, at the YMCAs and Neighborhood Houses and Harbor Houses. It starts with encouragement and adventure and activity and love.
Proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Josh Sprague Scholarship Fund. Before his death, Josh was involved with the MDI YMCA and MDI High School where he participated in multiple sports and recreational programs.
The hope is that Josh and the tournament will continue to inspire local kids to be their best. The scholarship has helped community centers like the YMCA in Bar Harbor and individuals.
“The fund also helps families that need assistance paying for sports fees or island recreation teams. In the past it has also funded travel sport teams with uniforms and purchasing other items,” Steven Sprague said.
Participants receive a tournament t-shirt with Josh Sprague’s retired MDIHS baseball jersey number 5 on it. This number was retired at the high school when Josh died. It was the same number as his favorite Sox player, Nomar Garciaparra.
And that?
It matters, too.
Every interaction, every good deed, builds community.
“If we focus on the good and the kindness in others, this research suggests, it might help us feel better (which, it’s also worth noting, may help us take action against the evil and cruelty that does exist),” Kira M. Newman writes for the Greater Good.
Believing in good helps us feel better. Believing in good helps us be brave enough to take action. Josh Sprague knew that. Josh Sprague’s family and friends, the people who hold his organs in their own bodies, know that. The kids on team I Love My Mother likely know that, too.
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All photos: Shaun Farrar/Bar Harbor Story.
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