Myrtle Beach High School alum putting on multi-team basketball competition for charity

Several former Horry County athletes are lacing up their shoes and taking to the hardwood for old times’ sake and for a good cause.

Alumni athletes from 11 area schools will begin playing at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6 at the Mary C. Canty Recreation Center in Myrtle Beach. The area schools in the classic are Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Socastee, St. James, Carolina Forest, Loris, Conway, Darlington, Wilson, Georgetown and Creekbridge.

The final game will be between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach.

Spearheading the event is Akeem Hemingway, who was on the Myrtle Beach state championship winning team in 2002.

Participating in alumni games in the past and sitting it out for the pandemic, Hemingway felt it was time to bring the alumni games back – but bigger.

“It’s time to get back out and mingle,” Hemingway said.

Jaylin Wright was immediately on board when Hemingway reached out.

“It’s been a while since I played but I’ve been going to the gym to prepare for this big day,” Wright said.

The Dream Classic will kick-off with a Women’s All-Star game that features alumni. Hemingway said it was important to bring women’s basketball into this event.

“It’s needed. Women’s basketball is needed,” Hemingway said. “You don’t want to exclude the whole title of basketball. You want to the whole element of basketball. We’ve had so many great stars in the women’s side of the game.”

The women’s games will feature Team Darius and Team Hemingway, named after Akeem’s younger brother Darius Hemingway, who was killed in October 2020. Darius Hemingway followed his brother’s footsteps guiding the Seahawks to a state title over Greenville in 2008.

Porrsha Dennison, who played basketball for Myrtle Beach High School in the mid-1990s, will coach Team Hemingway in the Women’s All-Star Game. She’s currently the coach for the girls basketball B team at Myrtle Beach Middle School.