July 21, 2020
By Dan Brown
Wooster Daily Record

Morgan Wenger will be the first one to tell you that it's a lot of hard work putting together the Dawg Days Basketball Tournament every year, especially this summer with the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the Triway graduate turned local businessman, wouldn't have it any other way.

The 15th edition of the annual 3-on-3 tournament will take place this Saturday and, for the first time in over a decade, it will have a new home.

Orr Park in Orrville will host the event. 

And even in a summer that has seen a handful of tournaments and other sports get postponed or cancel with recent events, Wenger committed to keeping it going.

“For me, this event has really turned into nothing more than giving back to the game that I love,” he said. “It's done a lot for me so, from that angle, I wanted to put it on for the community.

“I know that people really appreciate having events like this and having an opportunity for their kids to compete in the various age levels and the fact that we were still able to do it this year is really good.”

After being held at Dalton’s Village Green Park, the event has moved just down state route 30 to Orrville and – along with the new site -- several regulations have also been added this year to assure the safety of the participants.

The bleachers have been removed from the courts at Orr Park and spectators encouraged to social distance, while no food or concessions will be sold. Hand sanitizer will be available for use for players at the end of each game and referees will be encouraged to use electronic whistles.

Public restrooms will be available to those attending and the City of Orrville will be disinfecting the area, according to guidelines set by Governor Mike DeWine.

The move to Orrville was a simple one for Wenger, whose children played in a 3-on-3 event at the park over the Fourth of July weekend.

“That really piqued my interest for Orrville being a good facility to have it,” he said. “It worked out and they welcomed it with open arms. I'm grateful for the people at city hall, and Mayor Dave Handwerk, for allowing this to happen.”

A year after hosting 47 total youth and adult teams over seven age divisions, Wenger is optimistic that this summer’s event will have the same kind of turnout. The tournament has age groups as young and 3rd and 4th-grade players – also called the Puppy Division – as well as Juniors (grades 5-6), Biddy Ball (grade 7), 8th grade, Young Bucks (9-10) and high school (11-12) for the youth players.

The Top Dawg division is open to adult teams and features a cash prize for the winner.

While Wenger admits that his playing days are over, after a long career that included stops at Otterbein University and Akron-Wayne College after graduating from Triway in 1997, the event has grown in more ways that he could’ve ever dreamed.

“Back then, I was playing every weekend and this was just a weekend for us. ... We used to go to different tournaments in different cities and, when I first started this, it was our way to have our own in Wayne County,” Wenger said. “It's turned into, for me, giving back to the community and it's become a big community event. I'm happy about that.

“Honestly, my playing days are over, so my role in this thing has changed,” he added. “I have a great group of people on our staff. It's a stressful week and day for me, but I have a lot of good people helping me and that helps make things a whole lot easier.”

That crew will be busy over the final days in preparation for this year’s event, which will be accepting entries for the youth divisions through this Thursday at noon. Teams signing-up for the Top Dawg Division can register at the park on the day of the tourney, but no walk-up registrations will be accepted in the other divisions.

For more details on the event, or information on how to register, visit the tournament's webpage at www.dawgdaysbasketball.com or following them on Twitter @basketball_dawg.

And while Wenger is eager to see what this summer’s edition of the tournament has in store, it’s been great to watch the future stars of Wayne County embrace the game that has given him so much.

“Youth basketball has really taken off since I started this,” he said. “I can remember sitting around with my adult basketball team (in the early years) and not having kids sign-up and, all of a sudden, it flipped and everything changed.

“You get a huge amount of kids, from middle school up to high school, that are involved in youth basketball now and that's a great thing for the game.”

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