CLINTON — There were new wizards at Vance Gymnasium on Monday, October 22, along with a full house of fans.  

The Harlem Wizards were on hand to show off their basketball skills, entertain the fans, and raise money for “The Vault” youth/community center.  And to help out, the Vault team was made up of school teachers and administrators.  

This was a fun time and many missed a great evening of family entertainment.  The entire gymnasium was involved in one way or another.  There was even a 50/50 raffle with the winner donating his winnings back to the Vault.  The Wizards even involved the kids in the crowd as “Wiz Kids.” Would Gene Vance love that?!

The Harlem Wizards are a group of basketball players, including ex-Harlem Globetrotters, NBA players and other All-Stars.  There a three teams (Rocket, Showtime, and Swoop) traveling all over the United States and around the world to help schools and non-profit organizations raise money.  

Just in the last year alone they have raised over $2 millionfor charity.  Each team has six players and there is a squad of replacements as needed.  

The team arriving in Clinton was the Showtime group with Big Show Joe as their Announcer and players King Arthur (#1), Showtime (#2), Live Action (#3), Smooth (#13),  Tomahawk (#20), and Hang Time (#21).  You can only imagine what the monikers mean.  The Wizards were founded in 1962, and according to “Big Show Joe”, they have not lost a “real” basketball game in 40 years.  This may be true as for the second half the teams played a “regular” game with the home team spotted a whole bunch of points and the Wizards still won.  And those who came out had a wonderful night of entertainment, family style.  

On this night the Wizards came out in white with pink uniforms in support of “Breast Cancer Month.”