Crim: Downtown Quincy’s quiet Memorial Day weekend echoes with memories of Gus Macker

QUINCY — It was a sunny, calm morning on the final Saturday in May in downtown Quincy.

A row of pickup trucks and tents were stationed in the shade along Hampshire on the north side of Washington Park between Fourth and Fifth streets for the Farmer’s Market.

Maine Street was barricaded between Fourth and Fifth on the south side of the park to accommodate a large music stage for the On The Rail Quincy Rock Fest, where three bands were scheduled to perform that evening where the Newcomb Hotel once stood.

Parked cars lined both sides of Jersey between Fifth and Sixth Streets. People were gathering for the “Bags and Books” outdoor cornhole tournament in the Quincy Public Library’s parking lot. Neighboring Port’s Place was hosting the two-day affair to raise money to help with the purchase of a new mobile library — and offer a little fun and refreshments while supporting a good cause.

There were a smattering of people milling around downtown streets, walking in and out of restaurants and businesses open for the first day of a holiday weekend. Two bicyclists were pedaling down Maine toward the river amid light traffic.

Mostly it was quiet.

Rodney Hart, an owner of Second String Music on the northeast corner of Fifth and Maine, peered out the front door of his business and glanced to his left and right.

“There were a few people walking around,” he said. “They were out because it was a nice day. I looked down Fifth Street and had flashbacks of packed crowds and chaos, of basketball madness. It was an empty and hollow feeling.”

That’s because for the first time since 1990, except for the Covid year in 2020, there was no Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament being played in Quincy.

There were no taped off courts and portable baskets lining the streets between Fourth and Sixth, York to Vermont. Washington Park was not packed with people and tents amid the smell of hamburgers being grilled waffling through the air.

There were no sounds of basketballs being dribbled, whistles being blown or spectators cheering echoing off the buildings. There was no Dream Court or Skippyville.

It was just a Saturday morning. And it felt odd.

The Quincy Exchange Club brought Gus Macker to Quincy in 1991. Club member Mike Lavery heard about the popular street tournament and went to Decatur to watch one in person. He convinced the membership bring it here as a fundraiser.

For 30 years, it was a Memorial Day weekend staple along the streets of downtown Quincy, a picturesque venue like few others. At its zenith, more than 1,200 teams participated in the event, although the field was only a quarter of that for the final year. Money raised supported the Exchange Club’s causes.

Hart grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich., the birthplace of Gus Macker. He worked as a sportswriter in Alpena, Mich., which hosted a tournament, before moving to Quincy in 1996. He played in tournaments and wrote about them. For the last dozen years, he has worked other Gus Macker tournaments in the Midwest.

“I’ve seen a lot of them, for sure,” he said. “I’m a Macker guy. A tournament is only as good as the local organizing committee. The Exchange Club in Quincy made the tournament go. They had it down to a science, a well-oiled machine.

“It’s an enormous task to ask someone to do every year. Exchange Club members are probably having one of the best Memorial Day weekends of their lives (this year) not being stuck in downtown Quincy the whole time.”

The cumulative enormity of the time and manpower commitment over three decades was one of the reasons why the Exchange Club announced in 2017 it would no longer host the event after its contract expired in 2020. Because of Covid, the final year was pushed to 2021.

There was hope another service club or organization would step in to continue the tournament, but that has yet to materialize. Even if someone eventually does, it’s unlikely downtown Quincy will be the venue.

“I am ever hopeful we may be able to bring Gus back to Quincy,” Hart said. “I do think if we got enough people interested, we could put together a good tournament. But I don’t think it would be like it was, in downtown.

“A lot of merchants didn’t like it because it shut everything down. I understand if you’re not a basketball person, a Macker person, and all you see is the hordes of people and the chaos why you wouldn’t like it. The Tin Dusters killed our business every year (in October), but it is a good event that brings people in.

“Gus Macker was overwhelmingly positive. There was always one person every year who acted like an idiot and was kicked out and escorted to the Fifth and Vermont Hilton (the Adams County Jail), but 99 percent of the people had a great time. I loved that tournament.”

Scott McNeal, the original Gus Macker, shared some of his favorite memories of the Quincy tournament with David Adam of Muddy River News last May. You can relive those here.

For now, at least, memories of Gus Macker are all we have.