View Issues Subscribe for FREE
Game of Their Life

by Erica Bauwens; Photo by Jeff Fusco
One local family has found a light in the darkness of their tragedy, uniting a community in the fight for cancer research, one jump shot at a time.

Cancer. A word well-known by many and terrifying to all. For scores of families across the area watching their loved ones battle the disease, it’s a tragedy that too often hits close to home. It’s a tragic scenario that Shari Sussman wished she never experienced—let alone twice.

The Cherry Hill resident is all too familiar with the harsh reality of cancer, having lost both her sons to the disease. Andy Sussman lost his battle with liver cancer in 1993 at 28, while younger brother Eric succumbed to a malignant melanoma at the age of 33 in 2000.

More than a decade later, the aftermath of this unspeakable tragedy has evolved into a massive community outreach event, as Sussman, husband Jerry and daughter Melissa Chase have teamed up with friends and the Katz JCC to produce one of the largest events organized at the Cherry Hill recreation complex, the Eric and Andy Sussman Memorial Basketball Tournament.

Anyone that met the South Jersey brothers could reveal one solid similarity between the two: “My sons loved basketball,” Sussman says. Prior to the construction of JCC’s new community center in 1997, the two siblings spent the majority of their free time shooting hoops on the court of the old building.

The idea to memorialize the two brothers, who became such a staple at the JCC, originated from former staff members Emily Lieberman and Michael Mazuk. “When they approached us about doing something, we said that the boys would have loved the new JCC and the new basketball programs,” says Sussman.

Thus began the tournament, originally a small 3-on-3 game for family and friends of the brothers, raising about $1,000 in its first year. Now entering its seventh year, it has evolved into a massive weekend-long affair, with competitions and activities drawing in crowds from all across the tri-state area.

“We’re getting families from all over that hear about it,” explains Sussman, a retired business owner who now helps lead the tournament committee. “They just swarm to the JCC. There are hundreds of people there. That’s the best part.”

Last year’s tournament brought in more than $30,000, with a large portion of profits benefiting the V Foundation, a national cancer research organization created by late NCAA basketball coach Jim Valvano, who passed away in 1993 from bone cancer. “We want to have fun and at the same time we want to spread knowledge and support cancer research,” says Chase, the youngest sibling. “Knowing that we are putting money back into cancer research is really important to me and my family.”

The remaining funds go toward maintaining the JCC’s basketball courts. The tournament has helped pay for court refurbishments, new nets and even miniature portable baskets for children.

Beginning with a high school tournament on Saturday, April 28, the weekend is open to all and also hosts the popular children’s competition, ranging from preschool up to fifth grade, along with other family-focused activities. “A lot more of the younger kids are getting into it now,” says Chase, a pediatrician whose 9-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter plan to compete this year. “Last year was our biggest turnout for grade school and families. It’s becoming much more family-oriented.”

The weekend, which also includes the competitive teen tournament hosted by Eric's 15-year-old son, Alex, ends with the adult tournament where many competitors are made up of Eric and Andy’s old friends, some of whom fly in from as far as Florida to participate each year. While Bill Christy, the JCC sports and leisure director and tournament committee member, never met the brothers, the event connects him to the two men he works so hard to memorialize. “During the tournament, you hear people talking about stories with Eric and Andy, old war stories playing basketball with the guys,” Christy says. “To see how many peoples’ lives they affected is pretty inspiring.”

“The love is still there and the memories are still there,” says Chase. “I think they [Eric and Andy] would be in awe of everything. They would really feel the love.”

“People see all that we go through leading up to the events and you can see how stressful it gets,” says Christy. “At the end of the day, when you see how happy Shari and Melissa are, you know that all these things are going on because Eric and Andy touched so many lives and they just want to give back. That’s what makes everything worthwhile.”

Sussman admits that the end of the tournament is bittersweet, but she knows she’s never too far from her sons’ hearts. “I’m a true believer that they watch over us,” Sussman says. “They are saying, ‘Go, Mom go!’ Their favorite thing is basketball and I think that they would be very proud. They would be proud of what the JCC has accomplished.”

Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 1 (April, 2012).
For more info on South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To subscribe to South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To advertise in South Jersey Magazine, click here.