Thousands of Newton County faithful packed Newton High School on Saturday night to watch members of Newton County Schools (NCS) face the Harlem Wizards in a game of basketball.
Presented by the Newton Education Foundation (NEF), the game was designed to raise money for teacher grants that will help students excel in future learning projects.
“Our teachers come up with amazing ideas, and we give them money to do phenomenal things,” said NEF Executive Director Gail Rothman.
Rothman added that the foundation gave around $80,000 in grants with the hope that they would supply more this year. That money would likely go back into the hands of the hundreds of teachers across the district, many of whom played in Saturday’s game.
Head coach and District 1 Board of Education member Trey Bailey guided NCS against a tough challenge in the well-traveled Harlem Wizards. Dating back to 1962, the Wizards have garnered over 5,000 wins.
“You know, you are up against the Wizards,” Bailey said. “And they have that name for a reason.”
The Wizards lived up to expectations with many awe-inspiring dunks and trickshots that captivated the audience. Many from the crowd got to participate, too, with some even engaging in dance battles with the Wizards in the middle of the game.
But despite the professional prowess of the Wizards, the NCS team came to play.
Led by captain and superintendent Dr. Duke Bradley III, NCS stayed competitive throughout the game. While they did not match up to the Newton, Eastside or Alcovy student programs, the teachers held their own.
In a shocking moment for all involved, NCS led against the Wizards at the conclusion of the third quarter with a 53-52 lead. Many in the crowd began to wonder if NCS would knock off the elite Wizards pedigree.
That question was soon answered following more highlight reel dunks from the Wizards’ “Glitch,” “Loonatik” and “Top Flight.” In the end, the Wizards added another win to their record books, defeating NCS 70-62.
Bailey, who is now 0-1 as a head coach, reflected on NCS’ performance following the game.
“We went out there to do our best, and we had some good shooters out there and had some good ball control,” Bailey said. “We had a great night and did a great job.”
While NCS may not have picked up the win on the court, the district – as well as the NEF – were the big winners off the court.
One of those big wins was bringing all 14 elementary schools in the county together, something that can be logistically challenging.
“Bringing together 14 elementary schools from a huge geographic area – because the county’s huge – it took an amazing amount of volunteer orchestration,” Rothman said. “The foundation, when we relaunched, wanted to spread across the whole county and we really wanted to look like the county. So the diversity you see here… all the ways that this county is beautiful, everybody was here.”Another big win for Rothman and the foundation was the support they received from the teachers and community stakeholders who contributed their time on Saturday.
“I’m blown away by the generosity of the teachers and the people from the schools,” Rothman said. “They all gave up their Saturday night to be on our hometown team. We had pastors, we had the superintendent, we had two school board members, we had business leaders and they all gave up their Saturday night and the kids just had a blast.”
Rothman’s sentiment was also echoed by Bailey. While more head coaching may not be in his future, he hopes that more community events highlighting the positivity and generosity of Newton County can be showcased moving forward.
“To see the community come out, it warms my heart,” Bailey said. “First of all, it’s like a great event, but to see all the kids having a ball, parents up [and] dancing having a good time, it just felt like a great community event.”
