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Volume 17, Issue 1, Week of January 8, 2018
Memories flow as BRIT turns 50 Members of the Bedford Road Redhawks, BRIT hosts, long-time organizer and referee Kelly Bowers (back row, white shirt) and tournament chairperson Nicole Poier (on Bowers’ left) prepare for this week’s tournament. (Photo by Cam Hutchinson) Cam Hutchinson “I remember when we picked up the Saskatoon Express Gauchos at the airport and brought them into on Cousins, one of the founders of the gym. I was standing beside one of the BRIT and its chairperson for 25 boys from New York and he was looking up years, laughed when asked if there at the tall wall panels that we have decoratwas a defining moment in Bedford Road ing the gym. Collegiate’s annual basketball tournament. “He turned to me and he said, ‘This is reThat’s a tough question for a man so ally something.’ He said, ‘I have never seen deeply involved for the first half of the 50 anything like this in my life. When we go years and who has kept his hand in it for the into other people’s gyms down in Florida and past half century. places like that, we get booed. And here’s a With a second of thought, he said a mobig panel devoted just to our team.’ ment that summarized BRIT was the visit “Maybe that’s what (BRIT) is,” Cousins of a New York team named the Gauchos in continued. “Maybe it’s a good entertainment 1988. and the basketball package put together.” The Gauchos were inner city kids Cousins was one of six Bedford Road organized by a police group. Five or six of teachers that founded the event. Merv the eight players went on to play Division Houghton, Dean Dickson, Walter Mudge, One basketball in the United States and Eric Cousins, Roger Hughes and Carl Chiko are Mobley played in the NBA. the others. Five of the six are expected to Cousins’ memory isn’t about1the 2017-12-18 team’s be at 3:08 the opening ceremony Kochbannerad.qxp_Layout PM Page 1 for the 50th anDC010804 Darlene dominant, fun-loving style of play, though. niversary of the event on Thursday evening
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at Bedford. Dean Dickson passed away a couple of years ago. The story of BRIT begins in 1967, when the Bedford Road senior boys’ team was invited to play in the Luther tournament in Regina. It was extra special, given it was Canada’s centennial and teams from every province were competing. A group of Bedford teachers went to Regina and left thinking that Saskatoon needed a tournament like the one at Luther. They weren’t thinking Canada-wide at the time, but definitely thought the city needed an event to showcase basketball. In 1968, BRIT was launched. Kelly Bowers, who played on the Bedford team that competed at the centennial tournament at Luther, has been around BRIT since the start. He had graduated before the first tournament was played, but was a rookie referee at the first one. He has refereed in all but two BRITs, is a former teacher at
Bedford and was the head of the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate for years. Bowers admires all six founders but singled out Cousins, who was the BRIT chair from 1969 to 1993, for a dash of extra praise. “He was the man that really established BRIT and made it big time,” Bowers said. “He was the face of BRIT.” The inaugural tournament consisted of eight Saskatoon teams. Soon after, schools from other centres in the province were added and then teams from other provinces. The tournament has gone international six times. On four occasions, teams from Australia participated, as well as two from New York, including those legendary Gauchos. Bowers said Bedford organizers have always been conscious of having good teams in the tournament. They don’t want to bring in fodder for the local guys. Proof is in the (Continued on page 6)
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