By Kim J. Harmon

 

John Quinn has spent a decade of his life in Newtown coaching – first at St. Rose Parochial School and now at Newtown High School – but when he founded the Giorno 3-On-3 Tournament he began fostering a real sports community.

With as much as six basketball games going at once inside just gym (an open registration still continuing in the lobby), the Giorno 3-On-3 Tournament is just so much chaotic fun and it’s all for the benefit of the family of John Giorno, who lost his life to cancer some four years ago.

“It’s been amazing how people in town have embraced this tournament,” said Quinn. “It has become a town event.”

With his efforts in the Giorno Tournament and his work organizing and running the Rising Stars Summer Basketball League, John Quinn was named the 2004 Newtown Bee Sportsman of the Year. A dinner was held in his honor on Sunday at Ondine’s Restaurant in New Fairfield.

Chaotic Fun

When John Giorno passed away suddenly in February of 2002, he left behind a wife, three sons and a lot of friends.

“He was a special guy to me,” said Quinn, whose own life has been touched by cancer with the passing of his father two years ago and his coaching mentor Jim Valvano in 1993. “Being an Iona grad like me, John and I developed a bond through our past history and love of basketball. I felt I had to do something and this tournament was really a no-brainer.”

Starting up the tournament wasn’t as difficult as it might have been otherwise. Several years ago, a Trumbull man lost his son in a drunk driving accident and he began a 3-On-3 Tournament to raise awareness. Since Quinn’s sons played in the tournament, he had a grasp of the basic function of the whole thing and with the help of whatever materials there were on hand (tournament plan, media kits, etc.) he had a foundation from which to work.

Of course, organizing a tournament like that would be a monumental task and Quinn knew he needed buy-in from a lot of other people – from those who cook the food and work the registration table to those who, like Bob Lapple, work even more behind the scenes.

“I feel like I get more credit than I deserve,” said Quinn. “Bob was a good friend of John’s and he has been an absolute gem in running this thing.”

The tournament benefits from Quinn’s long association with the game of basketball and the relationships he has developed since he was an assistant coach at Iona College under coach Valvano. It is because of those relationships that the silent auction and raffle tables at the tournament are brimming with all kinds of wonderful prizes – from collegiate apparel and signed memorabilia to free trips to area basketball camps and tickets to college and/or professional basketball games.

“It’s all about giving,” said Quinn. “The coaching community – either through knowing my brother or my relationship with coach Valvano – has been very, very generous. In fact, three coaches have already called me to see when I needed their stuff (for the next tournament).”

Quinn figures the tournament may have raised as much as $75,000 for the family and college fund for the Giorno sons – Chris (now a junior at Newtown High School), Dan (a freshman) and Matt.

And it has truly become a Newtown event.

Even before the genesis of the Giorno 3-On-3 Tournament, Quinn was plumbing the depths of his basketball passion to help create the Rising Stars Summer Basketball League. The brainchild of coach Ken Good (former assistant at Newtown High School and former girls’ basketball head coach at Trumbull High School) and Quinn, the idea was to create a basketball atmosphere in town with leagues for both girls and boys who would develop their skills as they prepared to move on into different levels.

“There is nothing better than summer league basketball,” said Quinn. “The premise was for the kids to go out and just enjoy the game of basketball. The parents enjoy it, too, because the kids are outdoors playing a sport.”

There are six to eight volunteer parents who do a lot of the coordination with Parks and Recreation and handle many of the logistics (like ordering and securing team t-shirts). And if a parent is not coaching a team, it is a Newtown High School basketball player.

The league will be heading into its seventh summer and some veterans of that league (like Andrew Fiscella) have already moved through the Newtown High School system. Like the Giorno 3-On-3 Tournament, the Rising Stars Summer Basketball League has become a staple of Newtown’s basketball community.

Thanks, in large part, to John Quinn … and he knows who really has his back in all this.

“My wife, Leslie, is the best,” he said. “Without her support, this wouldn’t be possible because it’s a labor of love.”