WSJH hosting Pro-Am basketball fundraiser
Published 12:01 am Saturday, June 18, 2016
- The inaugural River Parish Pro-Am will be held June 25 at West St. John High.
EDGARD — If you have ever wondered what it might have been like to see some of the East Bank’s best athletes take on the West Bank’s, or Hahnville’s versus Destrehan’s — past and present — in a celebrity basketball game, wonder no more. You’ll be able to see for yourself on June 25.
West St. John assistant coach Joshua Bellaire has put together what might be the ultimate River Parishes fundraiser — a Pro-Am basketball game that will pit former athletes from all of the River Parishes in a triple-header of basketball games at West St. John High.
Hahnville will play Destrehan at 3 p.m., Lutcher will play St. James at 4:30 p.m. and the loosely-named Edgard team will take on the equally ambiguous LaPlace team at 6 p.m.
It’s loosely named, Bellaire said, because the LaPlace team will include a host of players from East St. John and Riverside Academy and the defunct Reserve Christian Academy.
“We’re hearing (Demond) ‘Tweety’ Carter is coming,” Bellaire said, referring to the 2006 Louisiana Mr. Basketball winner who now plays ball in Lithuania. While at Reserve Christian, Carter became the leading scorer in high school basketball history. “A bunch of old Riverside guys are supposed to be coming too.”
Meanwhile, the Edgard team will feature former West St. John Ram and NFL free agent Quinn Johnson and former Ram Tyren Johnson, who went on to play at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette then professionally in Belgium. They will be joined by former LSU star Skyler Green, who hails from Westwego.
“He’s not exactly from here, but he’s playing anyway,” Bellaire said.
Destrehan’s team will be led by former LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson.
“We’ve gotten a great response,” Bellaire said. “We reached out to Quinn Johnson and he reached out to a bunch of people he knew and it looks like we’re going to have a great turnout.”
There also will be music provided by DJ Childsupport, food (including West St. John’s famous chicken wings) and give-aways.
Tickets are $5 in advance at $10 at the door. To purchase tickets call 337-789-9556 or 504-491-8760. All proceeds will benefit the West St. John Athletics Department, especially the boys and girls basketball teams.