Harlem Ambassadors put on a show

Hundreds of kids wanted to get near the Harlem Ambassadors therefore the line for autographs after the game was long. The Ambassadors make sure that each child that wanted an autograph got one.
Photo by Charles Pearson

Tim Merris

More than 1,700 people turned out for the Harlem Ambassadors basketball game against our local Community Allstars Saturday night sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.

People of all ages came out to enjoy a performance by both the Ambassadors as well as our own community participants.

Among the Community Allstars were Fruita’s esteemed Mayor Lori Buck; Colorado State Senator Steve King; Fruita Monument High School boys varsity basketball coach Billy Dreher; KJCT8’s Aman Chabra; Jim Davis from Team 1340 AM Radio; as well as many other prominent Grand Valley contributors.

The Harlem Ambassadors were met by a packed house at the Fruita Monument gym. The Ambassadors kept the crowd engaged in the basketball entertainment and antics.
Photo by Charles Pearson

During the entertainment, a basketball game was played and, to no one’s surprise, won by the Harlem Ambassadors 67-36.

The high scorer for the Community Allstars was Chris Allen who represented the Lions Club. Allen made a late charge in the final seconds to secure his record with eight hard-earned points. Chabra, Coach Dreher and Justin Reed chipped in six points apiece.

The game was never in doubt after the first quarter but that’s when the fun began. If an Allstar threw up an air ball, they were required to do five pushups and believe me, there were a lot of pushups in this game. At one point while doing pushups, Allstar Chris Allen had to do his with Ambassador Cherie Hughs sitting on his back.

Just before half time, Ambassador Selethia Jackson engaged in an AWA wrestling style match with Chris Allen. Jackson won and then quickly showed off her AWA world championship belt.

The highlight of the show was when KJCT8’s Chabra was fouled and went to the line to shoot two free throws. After shooting and missing the first one, Hughs stepped in to mentor Chabra on the proper way to prepare and release the free throw properly. This included proper body movement (hip and upper body movement: aka dancing). Hughs also adjusted Chabra’s shorts by raising them up in the form of a diaper and explained, “You can’t make shots unless you look like a shooter.” Chabra gave it another try and missed again. Hughs pointed out he didn’t have the proper groove on and demonstrated again to the delight of the crowd. Chabra nailed the dance routine perfectly and hit nothing but net on his last try and the crowd roared.

Deaon Huges of the Harlem Ambassadors demonstrates a basketball style seldom seen in high school gyms, but seems to be appreciated by the Kiwanis All Star Team including the head coach for the Fruita Varsity Boys Basketball team, Billy Dreher.
Photo by Charles Pearson

Ashley Reed and Tessa Reed, age 3, came out to support Justin Reed and the rest of the Grand Junction Kiwanis Community All Stars in this charity fund raising event at Fruita Monument High School.
Photo by Charles Pearson

The game (show) continued and just when you thought it couldn’t get any wackier, a football game broke out. But before the ball was snapped, the Ambassadors challenged the Allstars to a dance-off. The Allstars didn’t disappoint as Ky Oday, Allen, Davis, Kevin Wodlinger, and King entertained by laying down some impressive moves of their own to the delight of the Ambassadors and the more than 1,700 that attended.

During the dance-off, the officials were brought out and to the surprise of the Ambassadors, Mayor Buck came out and put a huge lip lock on one of the officials. Just as The Ambassadors were about to cry foul, it was explained the official was her husband, Ray Buck. The other official was none other than our own FMHS varsity boys baseball coach, Ray McLennan.

Many thanks go out to the members of the Harlem Ambassadors: Ron Ogoke, Larry Pikes, Alexander Wright, Jr., Selethia Jackson, Cherie Hughs and announcer AAdam Keeley.

Kiwanis Club representative Vicki Bell said, “We are so appreciative to the Fruita community for coming out and supporting this charity event. We drew far more folks than we could have asked for. Thank you, Fruita. We hope to bring back the Ambassadors again next year.”