BASKETBALL
Here’s the 411: Ruffin to play in Buffalo tournament
Trevor Ruffin played for the University of Hawaii and two seasons in the NBA, but the defining moment of his basketball career may have been in the 411 All- Star Game in 2004.
Hoops junkies around Buffalo still talk about the former Bennett standout’s 51-point outburst in a 153-152 overtime win that helped jump-start the popularity of the annual event. Adding to Ruffin’s legend was the fact his plane from Atlanta landed in Buffalo less than an hour before tipoff, and he still managed to hit 10 three-pointers, some from well beyond 30 feet.
“Trevor is an outstanding scorer,” said John Thomas, the event’s organizer and an All-Western New York selection at Bennett in 1987. “The competitive juices got flowing because he and [former Kensington and Niagara player] Mike Phillips were talking back and forth.”
Ruffin is scheduled to play in the seventh annual 411 All-Star Game, unofficially dubbed “Buffalo’s Annual Basketball Family Reunion,” which takes place at 3 p. m. Saturday at Villa Maria College Athletic Center. The game brings together some of the area’s best players from the 1970s through the early 2000s.
Other participants scheduled to play are Leonard and Loren Stokes, “Sugar” Ray Hall, Jason Rowe, Damone Brown, Malik Campbell, Ka’Ron Barnes and Ruffin’s brother, David, among others.
For Thomas, the All-Star weekend has allowed him to reconnect with his hometown. He lives in Atlanta, where he created the 411 Production Company, which houses various entertainment and sports projects.
Thomas has ambitious plans for the 411 All-Star weekend. In addition to the alumni game and golf tournament, he wants to add high school boys and girls games next year that are sanctioned by the NCAA in hopes of attracting college coaches to check out potential prospects.
New this year is the Junior 411 All-Star Game, which will be played prior to the main event, for players ages 12 and younger.
“We’re trying to put them on a platform as well,” Thomas said. “When I was growing up, Curtis Aiken and those guys were at the Boys & Girls Club every day, but the generation after me, we all left, and there really wasn’t any tradition there. But I think this helps.”
