MSU students will be able to see basketball straight out of Hollywood this weekend - and it doesn’t involve former Spartan and Los Angeles Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Actors Morris Chestnut, from “The Best Man,” Taye Diggs of “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” and Harold Perinneau, known from the HBO Original Series “OZ,” are among the celebrities scheduled to show their skills in the Hollywood Hoop Fest at the Aim High Sports Complex, 7977 Centerline Drive in Dimondale, on Saturday evening.
“We know that the only way you can promote diversity is to hold big events like this,” said Terk Stevens, director of the Coalition for Multicultural Education, which is sponsoring and organizing the event along with Aim High and the ASMSU Programming Board. “We feel that celebrities can bring multiculturism together.”
Celebrity participants will be available to meet fans and sign autographs either before or after the contest.
Because the event is taking place off campus, Aim High will provide shuttle buses for students to and from the event, which begins at 5 p.m.
While attempts were made to hold the event at Breslin Student Events Center, scheduling conflicts forced ASMSU, the university’s undergraduate student government, and the Coalition for Multicultural Education to find a different location. Hence, they asked the Aim High Sports Complex for its support.
“We always want to support the campus that supports us,” said Quentin Bartlett, general manager of the sports complex. “Any time we have had the students out here it has always been great. Actually, we get more out of (the events) than they do, in terms of learning.”
Tickets for the event are $10 and can be purchased by calling the ASMSU Programming Board at 353-5255, MSU’s Office of Minority Affairs at 353-7745 or Aim High Sports at 646-4667. Shuttle times and locations are also available by contacting the organizations.
