Oaks hosts Basketball Hall of Fame scramble

Jun. 5—MONTGOMERY — Country Oaks once again played host to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Southern Golf Scramble on Tuesday. Under the watchful eye of Washington native and Basketball Hall of Famer Sam Alford, the event celebrated its 16th year at the Oaks.

The scramble helps fund scholarships and an expansion project at the Hall in New Castle. It also gave nearly 20 Hall of Famers a chance to renew acquaintances with fans, teammates and administrators from across the region.

“Coach (Sam) Alford does a fantastic job. We got a lot of Hall of Famers here this year. Steve Alford is out here playing with his family. including his son Korey who is coaching at Huntington University. JR Holmes and Jim Jones are out here, and legendary Jack Butcher was just here, along with former NBA coach Del Harris,” said HOF Development Director Cory Criswell. “I also wanted to give a kind of shout out to the 7,000-foot expansion project at the Hall of Fame, so fans should get down to New Castle and kind of see what we have going on.”

Sam Alford is a former Hatchet player, along with a former head coach at Monroe City, South Knox, Martinsville, New Castle and retired from his son’s Steve’s staff at the University of Iowa in the early 2000s (Steve is a 1987 national champion at IU and the current head coach at Nevada).

“This is our 16th year, and Country Oaks is so good to work with. It’s just such a nice marriage really. It nice to get back to Washington, especially with my family. The first place my brother and I were going to was the White Steamer, and I love getting back and going to Masons too,” joked Sam Alford.

Country Oaks Golf Director Trey Miller has been involved with the tourney for all 16 years and enjoys this event very much.

“Its an honor to have an event like this in our community. It never gets old to represent the Basketball Hall of Fame in some way. Basketball continues to play an important part in our area and it is a lot of fun to share the stories for nearly 20 years with guys who are such a big part of our basketball heritage.”