Long-time Gus Macker Basketball Tournament will not be held in town this summer

The Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament will not make a stop in Sheboygan this year.

The previous two events (it was not held in 2020 because of the pandemic) averaged 227 teams in Sheboygan, but those interested in playing this summer will have to go to the one in Oshkosh on Aug. 27-28.

“The general public doesn’t understand,” said Scott McNeal, who oversees the tournaments. “They think that we’re at a national level and we decide where we go, when we don’t. It’s really us partnering with a local group in Sheboygan.”

McNeal, who is ‘Gus Macker,’ says the Sheboygan Boys and Girls Club was part of the event until 2019.

“And after 25 years, I think there’s probably a little burnout,” he said.

COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 tournament and Lakeland University took over last summer.

“They just made the decision that it didn’t fit what they were trying to do,” McNeal said. “It was tough for them to run it. Sometimes these local groups have an opt-out of these agreements and basically that’s what happened with the Lakeland group. They were very professional; they just didn’t think it worked for them.”

He says someone has contacted him about returning to Sheboygan, however.

“So there is the possibility,” McNeal said.

The Macker Tournament is designed so anyone can play and it “maintains the purity and integrity of the driveway game.”

Also, the local organizing committee donates proceeds from the event to charity.