Basketball and United Way – it’s a great way to have fun and raise funds in Memphis. Memphis Light, Gas and Water will host the 5th Annual MLGW United Way Basketball Tournament October 26-27 at the Verties Sails Gym at Southwest Tennessee Community College (STCC) in Midtown.

The tournament runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 26 and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 27. The Verties Sails Gym is located on Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. at Manassas on the south side of the STCC campus at 737 Union near the Medical Center. Parking is available across the street from the gym. A banner with “MLGW United Way Basketball Tournament” on it will be displayed in front of the gym to identify its location. Admission is $2; children 12 and under are free.

All proceeds will benefit the United Way of the Mid-South.

The basketball teams competing in the tournament are comprised of three teams of MLGW employees, a team from Comcast, and local teams the Mt. Moriah All Stars and the Hawks. The tournament is being organized for the fifth year by MLGW’s Kevin Watkins, a Work Management Process Alignment engineer who is also MLGW’s United Way Campaign co-chair for 2013.

MLGW employees are consistently in the top six for per capita donations to United Way of the Mid-South. One hundred percent of all MLGW contributions come from employee donations. In 2012, MLGW’s United Way campaign raised $655,150.

MLGW/United Way Basketball Tournament 2013 schedule:

Saturday, October 26th

• 11 a.m. game – Blazers (MLGW Summer Trees Meter Reader team) vs Comcast
• 12 p.m. game – Hawks vs Mt. Moriah All Stars
• Halftime – Free Throw Contest  with MLGW President & CEO Jerry Collins Jr. and VP - HR Von Goodloe
• 1 p.m. game – Blazers vs Underrated (MLGW South Center Storeroom team)
• 2 p.m. game – Hawks vs MLGW (team of event organizers Kevin Watkins & Edwin Dorsey)
• 3 p.m. game – Comcast vs Underrated
• 4 p.m. game – Mt. Moriah All Stars vs MLGW

Sunday, October 27th

• 2:30 p.m. game – 5th vs 6th place
• 3:30 p.m. game – 3rd vs 4th place
• 4:30 p.m. game – Championship: 1st vs 2nd place