Former Jays Nick Bahe and Booker Woodfox
This past week, the Omaha Health and Wellness Academy held its very first Midwest Spotlight and Developmental Combine. Players from across Nebraska and surrounding states took part in developing their skills and learning from former NBA star John Lucas and current NBA players T.J. Ford of the Indiana Pacers and Glen “Big Baby” Davis of the Boston Celtics. The combine drew about 85 participants to sites at South High and Norris Middle School. Considering this is the combine’s first year, and that it comes at a time when many AAU teams descend on Las Vegas, this is a great start for a program that also has operations in Houston. The folks at the OHWA developed the academy to help foster instruction and development of young athletes. The OHWA eventually will have a 300,000-square foot facility that will feature 10 basketball courts, indoor soccer and football fields, baseball and golf tunnels, a weight room, and classrooms.
“NBA Week,” as it was affectionately called by those involved, culminated in a charity basketball game on Saturday evening. The excitement for Jays fans was the fact that several former Creighton men’s basketball contributors were on the roster for this event. Former Jays Nick Bahe, Pierce Hibma, and Booker Woodfox joined a team led by Anthony Tolliver. Those four, along with former Nebraska Cornhusker Terrance Badgett and a former player from Iowa Western made up the “Red” team. The “Blue” team consisted of former Huskers Wes Wilkinson and Bruce Chubick, Ben Holling and Jared Anderson from Bellevue, and Dean Thompson (of Omaha Racers fame). Kind of ironic that the Bluejays were in red.
The Blue team took an early 8-10 point lead, led by Wilkinson. I’ll tell you, he hit more three-pointers than he ever did against the Jays in his career. The Blue team went into halftime with a 56-55 lead.
Spud Webb
During halftime, former NBA star Spud Webb took the stage and spent some time talking about his career and thoughts on how to be successful in life. At the end he took some questions from the crowd. One question included how he got his nickname Spud. It was not because he was small or because he looked like a potato. Actually, it came from the Russian satellite Sputnik. And as the neighborhood got to know him more, they didn’t really want to have to remember Sputnik, so they all started calling him Spud. It was also interesting to know that his vertical jump was 47″. Pretty amazing for a guy who only started playing basketball during his senior year in high school. Halftime ended with a raffle winner for a signed “Big Baby” basketball. Glen Davis withdrew from Team USA Minicamp this week just so he could be at the combine this past week. Very nice.
Spud’s speech must have had an impact on the Red team he was coaching, as Tolliver and company started on fire in the 2nd half with 5 straight points. The game went back and forth for quite a while after that until about the start of the 4th quarter. Tolliver hit three 3-pointers in a row and Woodfox and Bahe hit a couple key three’s down the stretch, and the Red team ended up running away at the end with a 121-113 win.
Yes, the game was more like a summer league pickup game, but in the end it was nice to see some former players on the court again. Each player has been keeping themselves busy as of late:
- Anthony Tolliver — AT just finished NBA summer league play in Las Vegas with the New Orleans Hornets. He averaged about 11 points and 6 rebounds in his 5 games, including a team-high 20 points against the Wizards’ summer league team. Tolliver had a 10-day roster contract with Charlotte last season but didn’t see any action. He has also worked out for the Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers this summer. He hopes to land on a team this winter as he continues to work out.
- Booker Woodfox — Woodfox has several offers overseas, including in Germany and France. According to a recent story in the Omaha World-Herald, Booker’s workout with the Milwaukee Bucks went pretty well. Still, they wanted him to go overseas and play a little point guard. That would be quite a different version of #14 than most Jays fans remember. He’ll be in Omaha until mid-August working out with his former Creighton teammates.
- Nick Bahe — As many know, Bahe left the CU coaching staff as a graduate assistant. He’ll turn his full attention to a career in media. In mid-August, he will join KETV news personality Matt Schick for a daily sports talk show on am 1620 The Zone. He will also continue providing color commentary for Creighton games on Big Sports 590 and on local television broadcasts.
- Pierce Hibma — Hibma has entered the blogosphere, too. He and his wife have started a website, a social networking and commentary site for married couples. I understand he is continuing his way through medical school.
Ethan Wragge, Darryl Ashford, Andrew Bock, Justin Carter, and Josh Jones
The former Jays were joined by current Creighton basketball players Saturday night, as well. Justin Carter, who to me seems positioned to take this team by the reigns, showed up with newbies in tow. Andrew Bock, Ethan Wragge, Darryl Ashford, and Josh Jones (who is still considered new because of the redshirt, right?) spent some time in the bleachers.
In the end, it was a nice evening of basketball and the 150-200 fans in attendance were able to enjoy the game and relive some great memories provided by the former Jays.
Here are some additional pictures from the OHWA All-Star Charity Game..