Howex-UConn,NFL star Byron Jones saved basketball event in his hometown New Britain: 'My community'

Jul. 26—"Last year we were going to end it," said tournament founder and director Darwin Shaw, a longtime teacher and coach at New Britain High. "I've known Byron since he was seven or eight years old. He stepped forward and said, 'Coach, don't end it. Let's make this thing happen.' That's basically how it went."

The 31st Osgood Shootout will be held Aug. 12-13 at New Britain High, with Jones as the lead sponsor.

Typically constructed with teams representing various Northeast towns and cities, the Osgood has drawn many elite local, college and professional players over the years, including Andre Drummond of Middletown, Ryan Gomes of Waterbury, Marcus Camby of Hartford and Kemba Walker of New York.

Drummond, who spent one season at UConn and played his 11th NBA season with the Bulls in 2022-23, will play at the Osgood again this year. Shaw said he will have a full list of players closer to the event.

The event, Shaw said, costs $10,000 to $12,000 to run each year. He announced the tournament's closing last year, having grown tired of asking the same people for money time and again. It was becoming more difficult and eventually, Shaw knew, he would come up short. He didn't want it to reach that point. So he held one final tournament and a celebration of the event, which began in 1993 at Osgood Park and moved to New Britain High in 1998.

Jones' father, Donald, reached out two days after last summer's shootout, saying Byron wanted to speak with Shaw. Shaw called and was asked by Jones asked whether he was retiring the event simply because he was tired of doing it, or because of financial problems.

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"Basically I said, 'Byron, I've been begging people for money for 30 years,' " Shaw said. "He said, 'So basically you're telling me it's a financial thing.' I said, 'Yeah. I keep running back and forth, back and forth.' "

Jones asked more questions, and for access to the annual Osgood budget and a list of needs.

"He looked it over and said, 'Coach, if you want to do it, man, I want to be the one to back you,' " Shaw said. " 'I want this thing to keep going. I want to take it on. It's my community like it's your community.' "

Jones was a standout three-sport athlete at St. Paul-Bristol (football, basketball, track) and a dominant defensive back at UConn in 2011-14. He was selected by the Cowboys 27th overall in the 2015 NFL draft, becoming the highest-drafted UConn player in history (along with running back Donald Brown, also 27th overall, in 2009).

Jones entered the NFL as the curiosity of a sporting community beyond the NFL. At the combine workouts prior to the draft, he set an unofficial world-record broad jump of 12 feet 3 inches. He played five seasons with the Cowboys before signing a five-year, $82 million contract with the Dolphins, making him the highest paid cornerback in the NFL.

In February, Jones tweeted that he "can't run or jump because of my injuries sustained playing this game." He also wrote, in effectively announcing his retirement, "It was an honor and privilege to play in the NFL but it came at a regrettable cost I did not foresee. In my opinion, no amount of professional success or financial gain is worth avoidable chronic pain and disabilities. Godspeed to the draft class of 2023."

Jones comments were met with empathy from fellow NFL players, sympathy more broadly, and started another round of debate about the health risks involved with such a violent game. Jones, 30, last played in 2021, starting all 16 games for the Dolphins. He had 444 tackles in 109 games (103 starts) over seven seasons in the NFL.

"I am glad that he is getting out," Jude Kelly, Jones' coach at St. Paul, said in a story posted on ctinsider.com in May. "Because he is still young. He was so good to so many people and he had a good run there with the Cowboys. I was sad that he couldn't play this past year, but I enjoyed when I heard that he is not going to play anymore, because he could be anything. He could be a lawyer or a politician, anything. He is smart, he has charisma like crazy, and he loves people. When I found out that he isn't going to play, I smiled."

Shaw, a 1977 New Britain High graduate, was a two-time All-American long-jumper at Kentucky State. He is a longtime physical education teacher and basketball and track coach at NBHS.

The Osgood has brought the New Britain community together each summer for the annual weekend tournament, with music and food usually available in the parking lot and bleacher seating in the gym.

Fan admission is free.

The entire production is not.

But the tournament remains — because of Jones' backing and initiative, mostly.

"This year, I got a lot more support because people knew it was ending," Shaw said. "And once you attach Byron's name to it, people come out of the woodwork.

Team registration opened and closed rather quickly in June. There are eight teams in the youth division, 16 in the open division.

"There's going to be some top talent," Shaw said. "Again."