Former Cleveland Cavaliers benefit Butler’s Weekend Backpack Program
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The Pittsburgh area hasn’t had a taste of major pro basketball since the Pittsburgh Condors of the old ABA in the early 1970s.
However, the Cleveland Cavaliers brought a taste of pro basketball to the Butler Farm Show on Tuesday, Aug. 8.
In an event sponsored by steel producer Cleveland-Cliffs, the Cavaliers brought their “Bigger than Basketball” community tour to the farm show, giving fairgoers a chance to peek through Cavaliers’ history and shoot basketballs for big prizes.
“Cleveland-Cliffs, as a corporation, supports the Cavaliers,” said Kerry Courtney, labor relations and human resources manager for the steelmaker. “And the Cavaliers, in turn, actually support most of our plants that we have throughout the company.”
Butler is one of several stops on the Cavaliers’ tour, all of which are locations that have a Cleveland-Cliffs steel facility. Cleveland-Cliffs operates the former AK Steel plant on Pittsburgh Road in Butler Township.
“They pick several plants a year to do this at, and Butler was one of the ones they selected,” said Aaron Steinheiser, general manager for the Butler plant. “So we were fortunate to be one of those plants this year.”
While current Cavaliers are busy preparing for the upcoming NBA season, two Cavs legends — Austin Carr and Campy Russell — stopped by briefly to sign autographs. Both Carr and Russell starred on some of the first winning Cavaliers teams during the 1970s, including the 1975-76 squad that pulled off the famous “Miracle at Richfield.”
Aside from the chance to earn an autograph from the former players, fairgoers could try their hand at the free throw line for a chance to win prizes. Five dollars could buy seven shots at an arcade-style shoot-around game. Prizes included tickets to Cavaliers games, signed Cavs jerseys, and signed basketballs.
Each event on the Cavs’ tour benefits a different local charity. For this one, proceeds will go directly toward the Butler Area School District’s Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program, which aims to provide a weekend’s worth of healthy food for children in kindergarten through fifth grade who are facing food insecurity.
"We feed about 450 kids every weekend through the course of the year who are underprivileged,“ Steinheiser said.
The Cavaliers donated $5,000 directly to the Kids’ Weekend Backpack Program on Tuesday night, and additional funds will come from the free throw shots.
