REMEMBERING DEE DEE
Summer league in memory of slain teen kicks off
Basketball players compete in an 8-11-year-old age bracket scrimmage at the Dee Dee Dawkins Summer Basketball League kickoff event on May 23.
Dee Dee Dawkins
Basketball players compete in a scrimmage at the Dee Dee Dawkins Summer Basketball League kickoff event on May 23.
Basketball players compete in a 12-to-15-year-old age bracket scrimmage at the dee dee Dawkins summer Basketball League kickoff event on May 23.
Stephanie and Kessiah young watch a scrimmage at the dee dee Dawkins summer Basketball League kickoff event on May 23.
YOUTH BASKETBALL
Stephanie Young thinks having a popular summer basketball league named after her cousin, Dee Dee Dawkins, is still helping to spark interest in Dawkins' case 34 years later.
"I still have hope that it's going to be solved," she said. "I think that keeping her name out here does help."
The Dee Dee Dawkins Summer Basketball League kicked off May 23 at Ridgeview Recreation Center in Hickory. It will run through July 11, when the championship games will be held. This year, more than 100 players are competing on nine teams. Games are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Ridgeview Recreation Center and the Brown Penn Recreation Center in Hickory.
The league is named in memory of Dawkins. She was raped and killed in 1992. She was 13 at the time and her case has still not been solved. Friends and family members said Dawkins was an athlete who loved basketball, so a basketball league is the perfect way to honor her memory.
"It means absolutely everything to have her name still alive," Young said. "Basketball was her favorite sport and she loved it. Brown Penn was one of her favorite places to be and she was very athletic and very competitive. It means everything to her family just to hear her name and see her name on the shirts."
"Dee Dee mattered in this world," said Young's wife, Kessiah. "The fact that Tracy Ray (the league director) and other people continue to make sure this tournament keeps going means a whole lot."
Bringing the community together
The league was started in the late 1990s and disbanded after about 15 years, but Ray got the league restarted in 2016. Since then, the league has grown to include players from across Catawba County and beyond. At this year's May 23 kickoff event, Ray introduced this year's coaches, sponsors and members of the One Purpose Parks and Recreation Council who help run the league. The event also included a word from Young, a voter registration drive, scrimmages between teams and a community lunch after the games.
Ray said the basketball league and the kickoff event are about more than just basketball.
"It's a community thing, focusing on our youth and our children," Ray said. "We're bringing youth together, understanding who Dee Dee was and bringing her spirit into this league."
A community effort
There is a lot of work and community support that goes into the Dee Dee Dawkins Summer Basketball League. The One Purpose Parks and Recreation Council helps promote the league through a partnership with the city of Hickory. The Ridgeview Men of Action, a group of men in the Ridgeview neighborhood dedicated to mentoring boys and young men, helps provide coaches and other support. This year's coaches are:
â– Donald Dillingham
■Chris Hopper „
â– Brian Parson
„■Lerone Gore
„■Max Hackett
■Betty Sherrill „
â– Andrew Sloan
â– Vanessa Shelley
■„ Myisha Hoyle
â– Roland Foreman
■„ Sharon Branch „
â– Marquis Hayes
â– Community sponsors help fund the league. The year's presenting sponsors are Historic Hickory Realty, Everett Chevrolet and Hickory City Grant Fund.
Jason Koon is the sports editor for the hickory record and can be reached at jason.koon@lee.net.
