After New Ipswich’s Bob Gammel died in 2015, his friends and community put together a fundraising tournament to restore a basketball court that had been close to his heart. Now his friends are holding another fundraiser in his name, this one in the hopes of providing needed funds to a worthy Mascenic student.
The tournament will take place at the New Ipswich town park on Saturday, June 26, and the games will be cornhole and spikeball. Kari Swett Lowe, who is organizing the tournament, said that part of her motivation for holding it is to remind the town of Gammel’s legacy, as she said that some people have started forgetting his impact on the town.
“He just had one of those warm spirits where you were just not going to get away without talking for hours on end,” Swett Lowe said. She described how she met Gammel, when he came to her home to do electrical work through his business, Gammel Electric, and said he was so outgoing that they couldn’t help becoming close friends.
Gammel’s impact on the town’s kids, in particular, was part of what Swett Lowe wants to commemorate. He was known to donate money and equipment to local kids who didn’t have what they needed to play sports, and even advocate on kids’ behalf to sport program directors.
Matt Lambert, one of Gammel’s close friends, called him a “town ambassador” in terms of helping kids.
“He was very unselfish,” Lambert said, recalling a time he donated money to a basketball program that both their sons participated in, just in case another child couldn’t afford to go.
“He was just a real giving guy,” Lambert said. “It still makes me sad that he’s not around.”
Swett Lowe and Lambert said that they hope the tournament will be the start of annual tradition in New Ipswich. As of yet, the exact use of the funds being raised hasn’t been decided yet – Swett Lowe said that they need to see what kinds of students might be nominated to receive the funds, but they’re considering awarding a student who goes “above and beyond” for the community much like Gammel did, or potentially awarding a student who wants to go into a trade school, like Gammel’s electrical career.
The tournament will start at 9 a.m., beginning with the cornhole bracket. The spikeball portion of the event will be held after, at about 10 a.m. The price to enter is $20 per person, or $40 per team.
Prizes will include cash prizes and gift cards. Swett Lowe said that people who want to attend should message her on Facebook so she can get an idea of how many tournament brackets will be needed. Much of the event has been supported by donations and fundraisers, including the prizes, and Swett Lowe and Lambert said that they were still on the lookout for sponsors.