A yearly tradition of community, celebration and basketball.
The fourth annual Hoops in Huntington was held Thursday, Oct. 16, in Pullman Square.
With a basketball court set up on Third Ave, the event kicked off with several people, both children and adults, playing basketball.
The event showcased the upcoming Marshall Basketball season by highlighting the players and coaches for the season.
“This is a wonderful event because it brings out the city,” said Jim Thornton, the homecoming grand marshal and the voice of “Wheel of Fortune.” “I’ve been seeing a bunch of kids running around, and they’re dressed in Kelly Green, and I love this because that’s the future crop of Marshall students.”
Alongside the basketball court, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were signing autographs for fans of the teams.
“This event, honestly, to us is amazing because I think everything we do is represent Huntington and Marshall, and so when we have a night where we come out and be engaged with the crowd, we have two teams that are super interactive. I think it’s just fun for them,” women’s head coach Juli Fulks said.
As much as the community enjoys the event, the teams also enjoy coming out to meet the Huntington community.
“I love the chance anytime we get to meet everybody and let them know how much we care about the community because we know they care about us,” Fulks said.
“It’s fun for (the players) because, obviously, they have put so much time in this,” Fulks said. “I mean, this team’s been together since June, and so we have had a lot of hours, and so for them, just getting close to season is important, but I mean it’s important for them because they get to know how much everybody appreciates what they do and the hard work and to engage with the fans, and so for us, that’s fun to watch.”
Other activities from the event involved different basketball games on the court, inflatables, food and getting to see a quick peek of the players on the court.
With both teams being led by second year head coaches, Fulks and men’s head coach Cornelius Jackson, both teams are coming off of success from last year.
The men’s team is coming off of a 20-win season, and the women’s team broke a post-season Marshall record by winning four consecutive post-season games.
The men’s team first sees action Tuesday, Oct. 18, in a home exhibition game against Alice Lloyd College, and the women’s team first sees action Saturday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. in an exhibition game against the University of Pikeville, also in the Cam Henderson Center.
Nate Harrah can be contacted at [email protected].
