Wheelchair celebrity classic
Annual Celebrity Classic Wheelchair Basketball Game Raises More than $8,000
The 9th Annual Sitrin Celebrity Classic Wheelchair Basketball Game held Thursday, April 14, 2011 raised more than $8,000. This unique event benefits the Sitrin STARS (Success Through Adaptive Recreation and Sports) program, and pits wheelchair athletes against local celebrities in two challenging and often hilarious 20-minute halves.
Celebrity players expected to participate this year include:
- Rick Jackson, Syracuse University Basketball Star
- Matt Hamill, Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Erin Hamlin, Olympian/2011 Women’s Luge National Champion
- Steve McMurray, WKTV
- Kristen Copeland, WKTV
- S-Dot, KISS FM DJ
- Mark Richards, Lite 98.7 DJ
- Jim Rondenelli, WIBX DJ
- "Big Poppa" Gary Spears, KISS FM DJ *PA announcer
- Anthony Picente, Oneida County Executive
- Don Ryan, Mayor of New Hartford
- Dr. Martin Morell, Rheumatologist
- Joe Meher, Best Buy
- Steve Guiffrida, BNY Mellon
- Jason Smith, The Hartford
- Fred Russ, New York Mills Boy’s Basketball State Champion
- Alex Carbone, Carbone Auto Group
Sponsors of this event include The Fountainhead Group, Inc., The Hartford, Best Buy, and BNY Mellon.
Proceeds from the Celebrity Classic support:
- Wheelchair basketball, featuring a year-round schedule of practices and scrimmage games, including competition against the Syracuse Flyers wheelchair basketball team.
- Adaptive golf, currently offered at Stonebridge Golf and Country Club in New Hartford.
- Adaptive Paddling instruction, as well as trips to area lakes in the Adirondacks.
- Air rifle shooting, allowing individuals with disabilities to participate in competitive shooting.
- Biathlon program, which combines target shooting with cross-country skiing.
- Wheelchair curling, which has enabled athletes to compete at the national, international, and Paralympic level.
- Wheelchair road racing and training forparticipants of the Boilermaker 15K Road Race Wheelchair Division. Several STARS athletes have successfully completed the Boilermaker Wheelchair Challenge, receiving their own customized racing wheelchair as a prize.
The Sitrin STARS program provides people with physical disabilities with a number of challenging athletic opportunities which enable them to compete throughout the country, and around the world.
Last year's event was a huge success, raising more than $7,500 for the Sitrin STARS (Success Through Adaptive Recreation and Sports) program!
