Beach Ball Classic notebook: Tournament endured losses in 2016

It was a tough 2016 for the Beach Ball Classic.

The tournament lost several people this year who have assisted and meant a lot to the tournament.

Among those are Albert Wendell Ford, who was known as “Mr. Bojangles,” Andy Lanier, Curtis Fredericks, Kay Loftus and Howard Garfinkel.

“Those people will be missed. All of them had some impact on the Beach Ball,” said tournament director John Rhodes.

Ford was best known for being tournament entertainment between games or at halftime. Rhodes said when the notice of Ford’s death was posted on a Beach Ball internet site, it received 65,000 hits.

“He was somebody out here selling raffle tickets for us for the scholarship fund and dancing up and down the isles and at center court,” Rhodes said. “Many people have said they’re going to miss Mr. Bojangles. He was someone really special.”

Garfinkel was a staple on press row at the Beach Ball from the beginning. He created a high school basketball scouting service in 1965 and started the Five Star Basketball Camp shortly thereafter.

“I miss Garf calling me up, asking, ‘Mayor, mayor, am I coming down to the tournament?’ ” Rhodes said. “The police officers are saying they don’t have anybody to chase out of the bathroom for smoking. He’d go sneak about four puffs and put it out, you know. He did that at Duke University. Garf was unique. You’re talking about a legend. You’re talking about a man who had the biggest impact on high school basketball when he started Five Star camps back in the day.”

Fredericks was a Beach Ball committee member who spent nearly the past two decades in charge of the tournament’s transportation, and performed other duties for the Beach Ball.

Lanier was one of the tournament’s original ambassadors who chaperoned for teams, and was a loyal supporter of the athletics of tournament host Socastee High School.

Loftus, wife of longtime Beach Ball committee member Gary Loftus and 14-year Horry County Board of Education member, “was always a strong supporter,” Rhodes said.

An ill performance

Daniel Maehlman wasn’t in the mood for excuses.

Rather, he wanted answers for why his Jonesboro (Ga.) team was not in form for its Beach Ball Classic opener against Westchester (Calif.) on Monday.

“I don’t what it was. There was no excuse for that effort out there,” Maehlman said. “We just left down at the City of Palms Classic (in Florida). I don’t know if we left too much down there, or what it was. I just know we didn’t perform well enough to win this game.”

The Cardinals left the City of Palms with a 3-1 record, its only loss coming at the hands of Montverde Academy (Fla.), one of the nation’s top-ranked teams.

The effort did not come without cost, though, as the Cardinals were without three players Monday due to injury.

So when Maehlman’s team finished on the short end of a 55-42 game to Westchester, he had every opportunity to offer an excuse for his team’s poor performance. Instead, he went the other direction.

“This team did not have those three kids when we went to City of Palms, so we’re not going to make an excuse for how we played tonight,” the Jonesboro coach said. “Simply put, we have to play better.”

More importantly, he feels the team must play better around standout performer M.J. Walker, who scored a game-high 20 points in the Cardinals’ loss. No other Jonesboro player scored in double figures, with Timon Creighton’s 7 points offering the next best scoring output.

It also didn’t help that his five-star prospect was a tad under the weather and left the bench immediately after fouling out to use the restroom.

“For M.J. to even be on the court, it’s crazy,” Maelhman said. “He’s been in and out the (restroom) puking and (defecating), and then comes out and plays a basketball game. That is amazing to me.

“But whether M.J. is out there or not, we have to play a whole lot better around him. Our guys have to play better basketball and do what they’re supposed to. Tonight, that didn’t happen."

With a loss in its tournament opener, the Cardinals are now relegated to play in the consolation bracket — not where they expected to be following Day 1.

“We came wanting to win the first one,” Maehlman said. “Now we’re just playing for pride. But we’re going to do just that.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2016 at 10:08 PM with the headline "Beach Ball Classic notebook: Tournament endured losses in 2016."