MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Pro-Am is in year number five, and the founders say this will be the best year yet because the fraternity of basketball in Memphis is like no other.
To those familiar with Memphis basketball, Tuesday evening at Crosstown High probably felt like a blast from the past.
Will Coleman was dumping off passes to fellow Tigers alumni Adonis Thomas. Dedric and Johnathan Lawson were raining threes and TJ Moss was making defenders look silly.
That's exactly what the Memphis Shelby County Pro-Am co-founders, Tayloe Taylor and Nick Tuggle, want: high level basketball players back home and competing against each other.
"Man, it’s amazing. We all compete against each other even though we might be different ages and different eras and stuff like that," Taylor said. "The pros play in pretty much the same gyms in the summertime, so we just spar against each other all summer."
Taylor and Tuggle, who are both Memphis natives and former college teammates at East Tennessee State, wanted to bring back the Pro-Am environment after growing up watching and playing in the Bluff City Classic.
Tuggle said the league was a summer staple in the 80's and 90's and one he dreamed of playing in himself. He looked up to stars like Todd Day, Penny Hardaway and Cedric Henderson.
Now, they’re the ones providing a safe space for good hoops and entertainment. The league has seen growth year over year. It began in the Orange Mound Community Center and this year will be played at the Crosstown High gym.
"It's fun. It came around full circle being a basketball guy," Tuggle said. "Being in Memphis a lot of the youth obviously don’t get a chance to catch those Grizzlies games, those Tigers games. This is something that you can bring the family out to, and the kids can see the athletes up close and personal."
Athletes like former Memphis Tigers Coleman and Thomas, the Lawson Brothers, hometown hero and NBA player Cam Payne, former Grizzly David Roddy and even NBA Champion Jayson Tatum snuck in last year.
"Even the refs that come out here; they let us play. Trash talking, the whole nine. At the end of the day, it’s all love, man. The guys chirp back and forth, but you never have to worry about anything getting out of hand because there’s a mutual respect between everybody," Coleman said.
The Shelby County Pro-Am is played at Crosstown High School every Tuesday and Thursday. Two games are played beginning at 6:30pm. The games are free to the public.