20th annual Justin Sharp Shootout at Rock Island high school

The 20th annual Justin sharp shootout at Rock Island high school..

Area basketball teams coming together to shoot some hoops in honor of the former rocky player who passed away in 2003 from leukemia.

The Rocks won the first in 2004 and now back to back the last two years.

A great event that also awards two scholarships to seniors and keeps the memory alive for Sharp’s family.

Justin’s brother, Jeffery, one of them..

“We didn’t know this would be something we do x amount of times. We’d like to do it for as long as we possibly can because it is a really good way for us to get together. Memoralize my brother and keep his name alive. We have a lot more people in the family now. 15-20 grandkids all together who all know Justin just for the tournament saying hey uncle Justin is not here but every summer were going to celebrate him. It’s great basketball. We’ve had a lot of winners go on to win state championships the following year. We get complemented on the high basketball and people don’t realize that it really is our family keeping it together. People go their separate ways but come together every year. My cousin is in from France who was really close with Justin as a kid. All over the world they come back to remember Justin.”

“Something that we’ve all been impressed by and it’s for a great cause,” head coach Marc Polite said. “To see Justin’s family. All the people that come out. Support and volunteer. It’s an awesome thing we want to continue to do moving forward.”

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