AAU Tournament on tap for next weekend

MONROE-On Saturday and Sunday, June 18 and 19, the Orange County Crusaders' AAU basketball program will host the last weekend of the fourth annual Tom Dowd Memorial Basketball Tournament. More than 90 boys' teams from ages 10U through 14U are scheduled to appear. Overall, they charge each team $300 for the three games, sell concessions, memorial T-shirts, and raffle tickets to help raise money for the Dowd Scholarship Fund. In four years, organizers have given out more than $30,000 in scholarship money. This year, five scholarships totaling $9,500 will be shared by graduating Monroe-Woodbury High School seniors Cheryl Kwinn, Sara Haugli, Keith Sullivan, Ryan King and Kevin Gray. Last weekend, 42 girls teams participated in the tournament; two weeks ago, 56 boys teams from all around the area attended. Tom Dowd was killed in the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001. At the time, he was the coach of the Crusaders' 14U team.