News Release
February 7, 2006
Nuggets/Avalanche Middle School Basketball Championships Today (Tuesday, Feb. 7) At Bruce Randolph Middle School
The Nuggets/Avalanche Middle School Basketball Championships will be played today at Bruce Randolph Middle School (3955 Steele St.).
The schools competing for the title today are the Smiley Cougars and the Hamilton Huskies. Both the boys' and the girls' teams from the respective schools will compete for the championship title. Both schools enter the game with undefeated records. The girls' game will tip-off at 3:45 p.m. and the boys' game will follow at about 4:45 p.m.
On hand to present a check to continue support of the Prep League will be Deb Dowling-Canino of the Nuggets/Avalanche Community Fund, Gayle Walker of the McCormick Tribune, Calvin Natt and Mark Randall of the Nuggets Community Relations and Doug Fulton of Kroenke Sports.
The Denver Nuggets/Colorado Avalanche Prep League has been a success since its inception in 1997. By creating a sports league (volleyball, basketball, soccer, hockey, baseball, softball and flag football) for boys and girls in 22 DPS middle schools, more than 3,000 middle school students who maintain a C average or better are eligible to participate. In all, some 1,560 games are played in the league annually. The existence of the academic requirement helps students develop good study habits and appreciate the importance of maintaining good grades in order to have the privilege of playing organized sports.
The participating middle schools are: Centennial K-8, Grant Ranch K-8, Grant, Hamilton, Henry, Hill, Horace Mann, Kepner, Kunsmiller, Lake, Martin Luther King Jr., Merrill, Moore K-8, Morey, Noel, Park Hill, Place, Randolph, Rishel, Skinner, Slavens K-8 and Smiley.
The League is funded primarily by grants from the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche Community Funds, funds of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, IKON Office Solutions, and the Denver Public Schools Foundation.
The Denver Nuggets Community Fund and the Colorado Avalanche Community Fund are both funds of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, a charitable organization located in Chicago, Illinois. These two funds together have made grants totaling more than $1 million to the DPS Prep League since 1998.
Through its Communities Program, the McCormick Tribune Foundation plays a significant philanthropic role in the metro Denver area. Since 1991 the Foundation has granted more than $130 million to area nonprofit organizations. In addition to the Colorado Avalanche and the Denver Nuggets, the Communities Program's Denver-area partners include the Denver News Agency, the Colorado Rockies, the Denver Broncos, and WB2 TV.
For more information, contact the DPS Communications Office at 720-423-3414.