Old Boys NEWS
Friendships renewed at Colin No Classic 2021
T
he 17th Annual Colin he “looked up to” in high No Classic basketball school. This coming from tourna ment—held a man who stands six-footonline via Zoom on January nine. 20—proved that Selwyn After Selwyn House, Joel House Old Boys can sustain went on to play for two their high level of engagement universities, five NBA teams, with the school, even in and for Team Canada. He COVID times. is now retired from the Under current conditions, court as a consultant for the it was impossible to play Hamilton Honey Badgers any basketball, but the of the Canadian Elite tournament spirit lived on in League. In honour of Joel’s the banter and high-spirited achievements, the Erene & reminiscing among the 42 Joel Anthony Family Bursary Old Boys and staff who Fund was established in 2014 attended. at Selwyn House School. The evening was a “It’s good to see so many celebration of basketball faces that were part of my at Selwyn House, with an childhood,” Joel said during emphasis on the Class of the chat session. “My family ’97 and their coaches. The and I are grateful for the online program started existence of this event.” with pre-recorded welcomes “Selwyn House basketball from organizers and then has had a huge impact on my proceeded to a live online life,” said Jon Merrit 2004. group chat. Attending Marty and Colin Tales were told of games Boyle’s basketball camp was won and lost, of high scores one of the reasons he came and low, from triple overtimes to Selwyn House, where he to 100-to-0 blanks, mostly is now a basketball coach involving members of Colin and history teacher. He paid A scene from Colin No Tournament 2020 No’s Class of ’97. Colin, who tribute to his coaches. “They was an outstanding athlete at instilled in us a lot of strong Selwyn House, died tragically in 2002 at age 22. A fund in values that I carry forward as a coach today. Selwyn House his honour, which pays for financial assistance to qualifying basketball is one big family.” students, has raised a total of $303,638 to date. “This is a great event to honour Colin’s memory,” said “Selwyn House was so important to Colin,” said his twin Ziad Kaedbey ’97, who has attended nearly all the Colin No brother, Toby. “He spent the most important years of his life Tournaments. “The fund in his name is also a great thing at Selwyn. His love for sports is what made him a leader in the because he was such a helpful guy. So selfless. I was lucky Class of ’97.” enough to know him and to stay in touch after Selwyn.” “To say that we both enjoyed our experience at Selwyn would Old Boys’ Association President Josh Wisenthal ’99 was be a gross understatement. We really established meaningful obviously pleased with the event. “We’re really happy with the and permanent relationships while we were here. We grew up level of engagement of everybody in a virtual environment,” he to be well-mannered young adults at Selwyn.” said. “Notwithstanding the fact that we can’t do these things Basketball Coach Marty Boyle described Colin and Toby in person this year, participation has been really good.” No as “two of the best guys who ever came out of Selwyn Old Boys and staff members logged on to the Zoom House.” He called them the “glue guys,” who hold their teams tournament from far away. The long-distance award went together with their leadership. “Their teammates loved them.” to Lourenço Bustani ’97, who joined the get-together from Guest of honour Joel Anthony ’99, the only Old Boy to have his home in Brazil. Runners-up were Vidal Sadaka 2000 in played in the NBA, lent the occasion a bit of B-ball cred. Joel Washington, DC, and Richard Martz ’97, Kevin Wang ’97 paid tribute to his older schoolmate, Colin No, as someone and David Smith 2012 in New York. Veritas, page 34
