ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament has been a popular youth event for many years but recently has been absent from the Zanesville scene. Local Therapist Dominique Proctor has been making efforts to bring the tournament back to Zanesville but has run into commitment issues with the tournament’s requirements.
“Macker for 2023 is not possible but the city of Zanesville is ready to move it forward for 2024,” Proctor said. “Trying to find that sponsor that will sign a 3-year-contract with the GUS Macker because the city legally can’t. Can’t legally sign it. I can’t sign it because I don’t have an organization. So we’re just trying to find that charitable organization that will sign a 3-year-contract.”
Proctor has the means to fund the event but needs a signature from a partnering organization that can assume the financial responsibility. As a therapist, Proctor sees how local youth are negatively impacted by societal issues and sees the tournament as becoming a positive motivation in their lives.
“One in four kids are raised in a fatherless home. And I learned in the stats, that’s 18.2 million children in the United States are raised without a father. That means you’re more likely to be raised in a single parent than you are in a two parent household. And that brings all sorts of problems. You know that brings the poverty problem, the drug problem, AKA fetanyl and all these other things going on. There’s a lack of opportunities, lack of activities. Does Gus Macker solve all of these issues, no. but it’s a step in the right direction.”
For more information about Proctor’s efforts to bring the tournament back to Zanesville you can visit the Gus Macker Zanesville Facebook page.
