Newton YMCA hosts youth basketball tournament to honor Hawkeyes coach

The Newton YMCA is paying tribute to a departed Iowa Hawkeyes basketball coach — and former Cardinal — by hosting a three-on-three youth basketball tournament in his name on July 15. The games will be played in the gymnasiums of the local YMCA and Berg Middle School.

Teams do not have to be local, and they have until July 1 to register online at www.newtonymca.org/bucky-oconnor-3x3-bball.html. The fee is $50 per team.

Scott Taylor, youth and adult sports director at the Newton YMCA, said local author and historian Mike Chapman suggested the organization should find a way to honor the late coach Bucky O’Connor, who led the Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team to its first Final Four game in the history of the program.

The tournament is separated into different age groups for boys and girls in grades three through eight as of the 2023-2024 school year. Organizers reserve the right to combine divisions based on enrollment of the YMCA’s event. This is also the first time the organization has hosted a tournament like this.

“We thought we might hold a summer three-on-three and put Bucky’s name on it,” Taylor said. “We have a team from Tama coming in. There’s a team from Waukee. Of course we have a Newton team and a team coming from Colfax. It’s open to anybody, and anybody outside of Jasper County, too.”

Frank “Bucky” O’Connor graduated from Newton High School in 1932, and he later went on to coach the Iowa Hawkeyes men’s basketball team. On April 22, 1958, O’Connor died in a car accident at the age of 44. Hawkeye Nation’s Rick Brown reported in 2020 that the incident sent “shockwaves across the state.”

Although O’Connor’s coaching career was tragically cut short, he successfully led the Hawkeyes to the Final Four in 1955 and 1956. In 2016, the former Cardinal was posthumously inducted into the Newton High School Hall of Fame; he was represented by nephew Mike O’Connor at the ceremony.

Taylor said a three-on-three basketball match allows every person on the team a chance to play. The matches will take place in half-courts and will be won by the first team who reaches 21 points or until 15 minutes passes. Taylor said the tournament is a great way to keep kids active and honor Newton.

“And to honor a great man who was a part of Newton,” Taylor said. “Our mission is social responsibility, healthy living and youth development. With that, anything we can do to get kids out from behind their computer or their phones and to come out, be active and meet kids from other towns, is a good thing.”

For questions, call the Newton YMCA at 641-792-4006.