The Hampton Classic’s 60-acre Snake Hollow Road showgrounds in Bridgehampton were quiet Friday afternoon, a little more than a week before the weeklong hunter-jumper show, one of the top ones in North America, is to begin with Sunday morning’s leadline classes judged by Joe Fargis, an Olympic gold-medal winner.

“The calm before the storm,” said this writer, who probably could have used a better word. 

“Knock on wood,” Shanette Barth Cohen, the popular event’s executive director, said, after being asked if she’d looked at the forecast for the last week in August and the first weekend of September.

The Classic, which draws about 1,600 horses, and about as many riders, to its large tents and broad grass and synthetic-surfaced rings, has over the years weathered a lot of storms, in fact, the last one descending in 2011, “when we took the tents down, let the storm go through, and rebuilt everything. We started on Wednesday that year, and got in everything but one competition. Hopefully, we’ve checked that off the list and will never have to do it again.”

Barth Cohen’s on a firm footing, having been on the job, which she still loves, for 13 years, and the hunter and jumper and warm-up rings are too. “You know, long, long ago this was a potato field, and we’re still continuing with drainage upgrades and upgrades to the irrigation system. . . . The footing in all the rings is so much better than it was 15, even five years ago, and I think the riders would for the most part agree.” 

“We’re looking to do an even bigger drainage upgrade,” she added, “but not until after next year. It depends on the funding, it’s a significant investment.”

The long list of top riders who will compete for thousands of dollars in prize money is headed by McLain Ward, a six-time Hampton Classic grand prix champion, Devin Ryan, Adrienne Sternlicht, and Beezie Madden, members (Madden is an alternate) of the United States’ five-rider team that’s to compete in the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon, N.C., next month. 

“We’ll have other World Equestrian Games riders here too — Daniel Bluman, who won last year’s grand prix, will represent Israel, and Shane Sweetnam, who won the Longines rider challenge award recently, will represent Ireland, and there probably will be others. . . .”

Sunday’s main event, the $30,000 Boar’s Head jumper challenge, at 2 p.m., will end — as the final day’s grand prix does — with a jump-off contested by riders who have gone clear within the allotted time limit in the first round.

The show has a new grand prix course designer in Michel Vaillancourt, a Quebec native now based in Aiken, S.C., who was the course designer for the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, “where,” according to a Classic release, “his courses received rave reviews from the competitors.”

Vaillancourt is not new to the show. “He’s done our Jumper Ring 2 in the past, and also, in the last two years, he’s done opening day,” said Barth Cohen. “He’s very experienced.”

Vaillancourt is one of the very few grand prix course designers the show’s had since 1977 — Conrad Homfeld, Guilherme Jorge, and Alan Wade being others.

“Vaillancourt made history when, at just 22 years of age,” the Classic’s release says, “he became the youngest rider, and the first Canadian rider, to win an individual Olympic medal (silver) — at Montreal in 1976.” 

“He went on to win, with Canadian teams, bronze and silver medals in the 1975 and ’79 Pan American Games, and a gold medal at the Alternate Olympics in Rotterdam in 1980. He was inducted into Jump Canada’s Hall of Fame in 2009, and was honored as its official of the year in 2016.”

Sunday’s competitions will be for local, which is to say Long Island, riders primarily. The Long Island Horse Show Series for Riders With Disabilities finals, beginning at 10 a.m., are to be held Monday, an otherwise quiet day at the Classic insofar as hunter and jumper competitions go. Monday is also Adoption Day.

“Adoptable cats and dogs will be in the Kids’ area from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” a Classic release says. “And adoptable horses, curated by the EQUUS Foundation, will be showcased in Hunter Ring 2 from 1 to 2.”

Featured events on Tuesday will include the $10,000 open jumper class and $10,000 Brown Harris Stevens 7-and-under jumper class. Wednesday’s featured events are to include the $10,000 Wolffer Estate open jumper class, the $10,000 Palm Beach masters open jumper class, and the $10,000 Bruno Delgrange 7-and-under jumpers.

Jumping competitions with purses ranging from $10,000 up to $300,000 will continue through Grand Prix Sunday, Sept. 2.

Thursday, August 23

RIDING, Center for Therapeutic Riding on the East End benefit, Sebonack Golf Club, Southampton, 6-9 p.m.

MEN’S SLOW-PITCH, third game of final series, Marcello Masonry vs. Uihlein’s, Terry King ball field, Abraham’s Path, Amagansett, time to be decided.

Saturday, August 25

PADDLING, Paddlers 4 Humanity’s Montauk to Block Island paddle, north side of Montauk Lighthouse, 6 a.m., check-in from 5:30.

SWIMMING, masters races, benefit Lustgarten Foundation for pancreatic cancer research, 25 Georgica Close Road, East Hampton, from 10:30 a.m.

TENNIS, 64-draw pro-am doubles tournament with John and Patrick McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Lindsay Davenport, and other former touring pros, benefit Johnny Mac Project, Sportime club, Abraham’s Path, Amagansett, 2:30-6:30 p.m., with party at private residence to follow.

Sunday, August 26

HAMPTON CLASSIC, opening day, with leadline classes and $30,000 Boar’s Head jumper challenge in the Grand Prix ring, as well as hunter and jumper competitions for Long Island riders in other rings, including the $10,000 Marders local hunter derby, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 8 a.m.

Monday, August 27

HAMPTON CLASSIC, Adoption Day and Long Island Show Series for Riders With Disabilities finals, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 10 a.m.

MEN’S SLOW-PITCH, game four of best-of-five final series, if necessary, Terry King ball field, Abraham’s Path, Amagansett, time to be decided.

Tuesday, August 28

HAMPTON CLASSIC, short stirrup, hunter, and jumper competitions with featured events to include $10,000 open jumper-Section A and $10,000 open jumper-Section B, Grand Prix ring, and $10,000 Brown Harris Stevens 7-and-under jumpers, Jumper Ring 2, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 8 a.m.

MEN’S SLOW-PITCH, game five of final series, if necessary, Terry King ball field, Abraham’s Path, Amagansett, time to be decided.

Wednesday, August 29

HAMPTON CLASSIC, hunter and jumper competitions with featured events to include $10,000 Wolffer Estate open jumper, $10,000 Bruno Delgrange 7-and-under jumper, and $10,000 Palm Beach Masters open jumper classes in the Grand Prix ring, and $2,500 children’s hunter 14-and-under and children’s hunter large pony championships, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds, from 8 a.m.

August 5, 1993

Hren’s Nursery continued its drive to win the East Hampton Town women’s slow-pitch softball league championship for the fifth year in a row last week by taking a first-round series from Diversified Services, the fourth-place finisher in the regular season, in two straight.

. . . At the plate, Hren’s was led by Leslie Miller, who went two-for-three and scored two runs Tuesday, and who went two-for-four and scored three times last Thursday; Sue Warner, who went three-for-four Tuesday; Heather Hren, who went two-for-four last Thursday, and Rhonda Bennett, who went two-for-three on Tuesday.

August 12, 1993

The Artists are looking to make it three in a row over the Writers when the paletteers and scribblers clash at East Hampton’s Herrick Park in the annual agon to benefit the East Hampton Day Care Center and the Retreat at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Leif Hope, the Game’s impresario and the Artists’ manager, said he’s got no curveballs planned for this year, but you never know. Last year, he started four members of the national champion women’s softball team, including the team’s fireballing pitcher, Pat Dufficy, who had not long before recorded her 400th win.

. . . “And Carl Icahn may play for us,” said Hope.

“Isn’t he a businessman?” Hope was asked.

“Yes, he used to own T.W.A. . . . and U.S. Steel.”

“But is he an artist?”

“He’s as much of an artist as half of the writers are. Yes, he’s an artist. He practices the art of deal-making.” After a pause, the Artists’ manager added, “Each team is entitled to several variables, you know.”

Costa Rica — well, the Costa Rican team that wears the red shirts — won a four-way round-robin soccer tournament here Saturday that was put together by Bob Moss.

. . . Players of note on the winning team, which is led by Marco Mussio, included Jorge Contreras, who was a member of the Costa Rican national team that competed in the World Cup in 1983 and ’84, and Enrique Leon, who at 60 is apparently the oldest active soccer player in East Hampton.

“I remember playing basketball at the elementary school when I was 8 and seeing Enrique and the others playing soccer and wondering what was that game they were playing,” said Moss. 

While Contreras, who is 32, is not quite the player he used to be when he was a professional, he still exhibits extremely slick moves that baffle defenders.

“It seems effortless with him,” said Moss. “He makes it look easy as he goes through half a dozen defenders. I’ve never seen him take a blistering shot on goal, but he can set people up all day.”

CTREE Benefit

The Center for Therapeutic Riding of the East End (CTREE) is to benefit from a party from 6 to 9 p.m. this evening at the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, a party that is to include, according to a flier, “cocktails, live and silent auctions, and Brazilian Bossa Nova by Ludmilla Brazil.”

The flier says further that “CTREE is a not-for-profit organization that provides equine-assisted activities to children, adults, and veterans with cognitive, physical, or emotional disabilities.”

Block Island Paddle

Paddlers 4 Humanity’s efforts to better the lives of children here will benefit from an 18-mile (approximately six-hour) Montauk-to-Block Island paddle on Saturday. Adult participants have been asked to raise at least $1,500 for P4H, students $750. Check-in will be from 5:30 a.m. at the north side of the Montauk Lighthouse. Paddleboarders, kayakers, scullers, and outrigger canoers are expected. The start time is 6.

The weather dates are Sunday, Saturday, Sept. 8, and Sunday, Sept. 9. 

Swim for a Cure

The Lustgarten Foundation for pancreatic cancer research will benefit from masters swimming races at Billy and Dominique Kahn’s house at 25 Georgica Close Road, East Hampton, on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. Marcie Lustgarten, the foundation’s founder, is expected to be there.

McEnroe Pro-Am

A Pro-Am doubles tennis tournament to raise money for John McEnroe’s Jonny Mac Tennis Project for under-served youth in New York City will be held at the Sportime club in Amagansett this Saturday from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

According to a release, “guests will face off against such tennis legends as John and Patrick McEnroe, Lindsay Davenport, Mats Wilander, and many more.”

“The event will include a legends exhibition, rounds of doubles play for 64 pro-am teams, food, drinks, and a silent auction to support JMTP programs that change young lives by removing the economic and social barriers to success through tennis.”

“We’re proud,” John McEnroe is quoted as saying, “that we have been able to turn this annual Hamptons event into the largest pro-am event in the country.”

An after-party for players, guests, and fans hosted by Johnny Mac and friends is to follow at a private residence.

Flag Football

Joe McKee, East Hampton High School’s junior varsity football coach, said this week that flag football for kindergartners through sixth graders is to begin at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on Friday, Sept. 7, at 5:30 p.m.

The cost will be $40 per child, he said. The season is to run through October. Anyone interested in coaching can email him at [email protected].

He added, concerning East Hampton’s jayvee team — there will be no varsity this fall — that 25 or so have been showing up for practices, with perhaps a couple more to come. The team, he said, will play games with Division IV opponents.

Slow-Pitch

Marcello Masonry and Uihlein’s began a best-of-five final series this week to determine which team will win the East Hampton Town men’s slow-pitch softball league’s playoff trophy. 

Marcello Masonry swept the Corner Bar, and Uihlein’s swept the Montauk Rugby Club in the best-of-three semifinals.

The Artists and Writers Softball Game didn’t set an attendance record at East Hampton’s Herrick Park Saturday afternoon, though the Scribes and Paletteers went at it with gusto as they always have — for 70 years, it is said — and, in the end, the Writers had the last word, winning 12-8.

Mike Lupica, one of The Game’s stalwarts, as have been Carl Bernstein, Ken Auletta, and Lori Singer, among others, crowed afterward that it marked the third straight year that the Writers had won, though you could also say it evened things up at 3-3 over the past six. 

At any rate, though the Writers ruled for years when The Game first began to be played as a fund-raiser in the late 1960s, the star of the Artists, who had become increasingly inclusive, welcoming to their number auto body repair shop owners, politicians, art collectors, deal makers, pro athletes, singers, actors, agents, comedians, architects, landscapers, and anyone with a good batting eye who could hand in a passable sketch, became ascendant.

Recently, the teams have annually battled toe to toe, to the extent, reportedly, that those who might lend The Game further cachet — and by so doing persuade more spectators to turn out — beg off when asked, not wanting to be thought inept. A pity if so, for The Game’s participants in the early days — at least in the case of the Artists — were often insouciant and zany, that dim memory being preserved each year when a turnip in the shape of a softball is offered up to be smashed, preferably by an obsessed Writers slugger. 

There were still plenty of pop-ups on Saturday, and some gaffes — by the ball-and-strike umpires, chiefly, one of whom was a former United States attorney general — but there was some embarrassingly competitive play too. 

A two-out, two-run opposite-field bloop in the top of the third inning by the Artists’ Chris Wragge drove in Singer, who’d singled, and Lonnie Quinn, who’d walked, evening the score at 3-3 — Andy Friedman, The New Yorker’s culture writer, and the game’s M.V.P.-to-be, having found the tennis courts with a three-run blast in the bottom of the first.

With Wragge on second, Eddie McCarthy, the Artists’ cleanup hitter, had a chance to gain the lead, but Michael Mukasey, the former U.S. attorney general, called him out on a head-high pitch, an extrajudicial opinion with which everyone who had eyes to see disagreed.

Big blows in the bottom half by David Baer, Friedman, and Rick Leventhal upped the Writers’ lead to 7-3. The Artists got two back in the top of the fourth, but the Writers effectively put the game away with three more in their fourth, Dan Pulick and Brett Mauser, by way of a cue shot that landed on the right-field line before bouncing into foul territory, driving in the runs.

Brian Pfund, who had shared the home run derby title earlier that afternoon, with 18 taters, smoked a run-scoring double to right-center in the fifth, bringing the Artists to within four, at 10-6. 

John Longmire, who had come on in relief for the Artists in the fourth, held the Writers scoreless in their fifth and sixth. Ed Hollander led off the Artists’ seventh with a triple, earning him an M.V.P. honorable mention for having slid in wearing short pants. 

Quinn then drove in Hollander for 10-7, and Peter Cestaro followed with a rope to center field, putting runners at first and second with no outs for McCarthy. Harry Javer, the Writers’ pitcher, retired the Artists’ cleanup hitter on a line drive to left, for the first out, after which, with Pfund up, the Writers went into a shift, the shortstop, Baer, hauling in Pfund’s subsequent high pop in shallow right, a defensive play that effectively ate the Artists’ dreams.

A sacrifice fly by Russell Blue, who had resorted to some blue language when Dan Rattiner called him out on strikes in the sixth, pulled the Artists to within 10-8 in the top of the eighth, but the Writers wrote finis with two more runs in their half. 

The quietus came in the top of the ninth when, with Quinn at second following a ground-rule double, Friedman snagged Cestaro’s drive to left-center for the second out, and threw to third, where Mike Pellman alertly caught Quinn, who’d overrun the bag, trying to get back in.

Two champions were crowned here this past week — East Hampton F.C.-Pool Shark in men’s 7-on-7 soccer and the Police Benevolent Association team in women’s slow-pitch softball.

It was a first, apparently, for the P.B.A., which finished the season at 12-2, but not for East Hampton F.C., which has won several 7-on-7 championships in the recent past.

First the women. It looked for a while as if P.B.A., behind the high-arc pitching of Meg Pintauro, would cruise to an easy sweep in what proved to be the championship clincher at the Terry King ball field in Amagansett last Thursday. But then Groundworks, whose ranks have included top college-age players such as Kathryn Hess, Meghan Hess, and Kaylie Titus in the past, rallied with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the score at 4-4.

Emma Beudert, Groundworks’ pitcher, got it going as she came all the way around from second on the cleanup hitter Casey Brooks’s single, after which Kim Hren drove in two more with an opposite-field line drive to right. The fourth run scored as the result of an error. Michelle Grant, with runners at second and third — and still two outs — made a credible bid to drive in one more, but Rachel Haab made a sliding catch of Grant’s drive over third to end the inning.

Neither side scored in the seventh, sending the game into extra innings. 

The P.B.A. put it away in the top of the eighth. Sara Van Asco, Catherine Curti, and Pintauro led off with singles, after which Elise Thorsen and “Lolo” collected r.b.i. Two outs later, and with the bases loaded, Katla Thorsen made it 7-4 with a hard line drive into the outfield that Brooks just missed, and Kate Cooper, the third hitter in P.B.A.’s lineup, drove in two more for an unassailable 9-4 lead, which proved to be the final score.

When this writer said afterward that Groundworks usually won, Tara Fordham, the third baseman — and the coach David Martin’s daughter — said, with finality, “Not this year.”

Much of it was owing to Pintauro’s canny pitching, though Martin said later that the team, whose roster was pretty much the same as it has been in recent years, did well in all aspects of the game — pitching, hitting, fielding, and baserunning. “Especially in that final game,” he added.

The P.B.A. had won game one of the best-of-three final series by a score of 3-1. It had advanced to the final after a sweep of Schenck Fuels.

Martin had Dale Brabant as an assistant during the final games of the playoffs. Brabant, who is 64, was a founder of this league, in 1973, she said, “when we only had two teams, the Springs Streakers and Bonac Tire. . . . I was 19, just out of high school. I’m planning a comeback next year!”

Men’s Soccer 

As for men’s soccer, East Hampton F.C.-Pool Shark won the championship on Aug. 8 at East Hampton’s Herrick Park by defeating Tortorella Pools 2-1 thanks to a backheader by Gerber Garcia of an Eddy Juarez chip in the second overtime period that slipped into Tortorella’s goal off its leaping goalie Chris Caiazca’s gloved hands.

Tortorella got on the scoreboard first, with 10 minutes to play in the first 30-minute half, thanks to a rocketed penalty kick by Nick Escalante that had been awarded when Stiven Orrego, who had taken the ball coast-to-coast, was taken down in the box from behind by Danny Bedoya.

Caiazca, who was a rock in the goal for Tortorella, was finally beaten near the end of regulation after being drawn far to his left to defend against Fabian Arias’s high cross toward the right post, a blast that was contested by Caiazca and high-leaping F.C.-Pool Shark forwards. Meanwhile, Gehider Garcia, who, at 35, was the league’s “goleador” (its high-scorer), slipped into the circle unmarked, and, from a few feet out, tapped in the rebound, which had landed at his feet.

Because of the humidity, which was causing players to cramp up, it was decided to play two 10-minute, rather than 15-minute, overtime periods.

The first was scoreless, thanks largely to acrobatic saves by Caiazca, who batted back several goal-bound blasts, all coming, it seemed, on top of one another.

East Hampton F.C. really put the pressure on in the second O.T., and, as aforesaid, won it when Gerber Garcia’s backheader slipped back through Caiazca’s hands.

Leslie Czeladko, the league’s spokesman and Tortorella’s manager, said the fall season, at East Hampton’s Herrick Park, will begin “either on Sept. 5 or 12.”

The Hampton Lifeguard Association took 100 junior and senior guards to the United States Lifesaving Association’s national tournament in Virginia Beach, Va., this past week, with the 47-member senior guard team finishing sixth among 33 teams vying for the championship trophy.

“The point is not winning,” John Ryan Jr., who heads East Hampton Town’s guards, has said in the past. “We engage in these competitions so that we can become better lifeguards.”

East Hampton finished third in 2016 and fifth last year.

This year, Chasen Dubs, who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., but continues to compete for the H.L.A., won the U-19 distance swim, and placed second in the board race and Ironguard; Amanda Calabrese won the lifeguards’ beach flags event for the fourth year in a row and anchored the fifth-place 4-by-100 relay team; Ryan Paroz won the lifeguards’ board race, placed second in surf ski, and fifth in Ironguard, and Luke Castillo, competing in the juniors’ 9-10-11 division, won the distance run, won the board race, placed third, with Liam Knight, in the rescue race, and, with Knight, Cloe Ceva, Olivia Walsh, and Lylah Metz, placed third in the swim relay.

Other local first-place winners were Lila Ferraro and Val Ferraro, in U-19 beach flags; Lizzie Neville and William Schlegel, in the 14-15 A division’s beach flags; Joey Badilla and Kevin Pineda, in that division’s rescue race; Rodin McKenna and Nicky Badilla in the 12-13 B group’s rescue race, and Evan Schaefer, in the 9-10-11 division’s beach flags.

Runners-up included Patricia Haggerty and Ryan Fowkes, in the U-19 distance run; Olivia Duca, in the 14-15 A division’s distance run; Sophia Swanson, in the 14-15s’ run-swim-run, and Lyla Wilson in 12-13 B beach flags.

Among the third-place finishers were: Gio Espinoza, in the U-19 distance run; Oona Rae, Olivia Brabant, Katarina Dombrowski, and Amanda Nasti in the U-19 rescue race; Swanson and Owen McCormac, in 14-15 A beach flags; Badilla, in the 12-13 B distance swim, and McKenna, in that group’s Ironguard competition.

Swanson was fourth in the 14-15 A division’s Ironguard competition; Patricia Haggerty was fourth and Fowkes was sixth in the lifeguards’ 2K beach runs.

The Hive was swarming Friday as Shaquille O’Neal shot hoops with youngsters and who, prior to a screening of Ben and Orson Cummings’s documentary on the 2015-16 Bridgehampton High School boys basketball team, the Killer Bees, and the inspiring tradition behind it, told the crowd that he, too, had gone to a school like Bridgehampton.

Recounting his appearance afterward, Ben Cummings said, “Shaq said he also had had a relationship with his high school coach that reminded him of the dynamic that existed between Carl [Johnson] and the boys in the movie.” 

“And he said he was happy to support a film that addressed so many of the nation’s problems, but which at the same time showed how sports can steer young people in the right direction, can help them value such things as teamwork, cooperation, and discipline, which he said were crucial if a young person were to successfully navigate the turbulent waters of the country’s present political and economic situation.”

Jimmy Fallon, the talk show host — and honorary Killer Bee who has known Johnson for a number of years — was there too, amiably dueling from the free-throw line with Ellajah Miller, a player on one of the former state-champion Killer Bee Darryl Hemby’s Eastern Shore Playaz youth basketball teams, who had made the trip up from Virginia, the first time about half of them had been out of their state.

“Meeting Shaq and Jimmy Fallon was a once-in-a-lifetime for them,” Hemby’s wife, Nicki, said in an email Monday. “You don’t get opportunities like this where they’re from . . . they woke up as local celebrities this morning on social media.”

“Endless car washes, bake sales, and fund-raising,” she said, had enabled the boys, who wore the black-and-gold Killer Bee colors, to accept the Cummingses’ and Carl Johnson’s invitation.

“The Eastern Shore,” she continued, “is one of the poorest counties in Virginia, and has many of the same issues that Bridgehampton has been dealing with for 40 years or so. So having the boys watch the film really hit home in so many ways.”

O’Neal’s visit to the Bee Hive was, said Orson Cummings, “historic for everyone who loves this place and the culture of the school and the [nine-time state champion] Killer Bees team. Many felt it was surreal, it was hard to fathom that Shaq was really there. He’s such a tremendous presence, and he’s so warm and playful with the kids. We all found it a bit overwhelming. And then when Jimmy Fallon, who is good friends with Shaq, came in, people’s minds were kind of blown. It was off the charts.”

Among those in the packed gym were players of the 2015-16 team, and — the Cummingses were very happy to say, because they have been lifelong friends of his — Julian Johnson, a star of the pluperfect 1986 state-champion Killer Bees, who later spent years in the Elmira Correctional Facility, having been incarcerated as the result of a minor drug conviction. An interview the Cummingses did with him at Elmira is in the film — as was one with Southampton Town Justice Deborah Kooperstein, advocating judicial reform in this regard. 

“We’re so excited to see Julian as a free man now, with his family, which includes a brand-new baby girl,” said Ben. “We’ve known him for many years, and venturing up to Elmira to speak to him was emotionally difficult for us. We wish him well in this new chapter in his life.”

Following the documentary’s premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival last fall, the only cavil, it seemed, centered on the seniors’ educational futures. Were they all college-bound? Were some not going? The question left hanging inspired some former Killer Bees, including the team’s present coach, Ron White, to hold a forum of Killer Bee alumni young and old soon after in the Hive, a lively give-and-take making the point, in sum, that there indeed was life after the Killer Bees.

Coach Johnson, when questioned Friday, said all six of the 2016 team’s seniors had gone on to college, but that Josh Lamison and Tylik Furman, the team’s best players, who had been attending the University of New Haven, “experienced financial problems and had to come back after two years.” Asked if they’d continue their education, Johnson said, firmly, “They’d better.”

“Everyone is putting their heads together to figure out what needs to be done to get them back into school,” Ben Cummings said. “The community, especially Carl, has taken this situation very seriously, and we are hopeful for a positive resolution. We hope the film has contributed in some way to people’s awareness of situations like this one and therefore its solution.” 

“To screen the film in the Hive, with Julian there and so many of the people from the community, including the players from the movie, was overwhelming,” said Orson Cummings. “Coach Carl,” the film’s central figure, who stands alone as the only person to have played for three New York State-championship teams and to have coached four of them, “was very emotional about the experience as well. It made him really proud and happy to be able to bring this story to the community, and to be able to spend some time with Shaq. They huddled up and spoke about life and basketball for a while when we went to dinner afterward.”

Orson added that the film “enjoyed an extremely successful release [at Cinema Village in New York City and at Monica Film Center in Los Angeles] three weeks ago. The New York Times made it a Critic’s Pick, which is a huge thing for any film to receive. The Los Angeles Times also gave it a terrific review, as did the Film Journal International magazine, a very important trade publication. So, we’re thrilled with how things went, and are now excited about having the movie available on VOD everywhere. That includes iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and more.”

“Bringing these boys to the Hive,” Nicki Hemby said, “was an honor for us all. Our boys have heard so much about Bridgehampton basketball that they were beginning to think it was an urban legend. . . . No matter how old or how young, whether you still live in Bridgehampton or are hundreds of miles away, once a Killer Bee always a Killer Bee. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s the truth. I doubt you can find any alumni who will tell you differently.”

Saturday promises to be the sportiest weekend day of the summer inasmuch as four events here, namely Fighting Chance distance swims, the Artists and Writers Softball Game, a Hamptons Hoops Academy basketball clinic with the Brooklyn Nets’ Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, and the Hampton Cup junior tennis tournament at Hampton Racquet, a benefit for Project Most, are vying for attention.

Not to forget that Ellen’s Run, now in its 23rd year of raising money that’s been spent here for breast cancer prevention, treatment, and counseling, is to be held Sunday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s Parrish Hall, at 9 a.m.

Back to Saturday, two-mile, one-mile, and half-mile We Swim for You swims to benefit Fighting Chance, a free cancer counseling center in Sag Harbor, are to be held at Sag Harbor’s Havens Beach from 6 to 9:30 a.m. East Hampton Village Ocean Rescue Squad members will be on hand to assure that the swimmers are safe.

The Artists-Writers’ beefed-up offerings will include a throw-bat-run skills challenge for 5 through 11-year-olds from 10:30 to noon, a home run challenge for registered hitter-pitcher combinations from 1 to 2, batting practice from 2 to 3, and The Game, from 4 to 6, a starting time two hours later than in the past.

The Artists lost to the Writers last year by a score of 9-6. It was the second win in five encounters, however, for the Writers, who still hold the lead in the modern fund-raising era that dates to the late 1960s.

Mike Lupica, a Writers’ stalwart, limped off the field last year with a pulled quad muscle, but the victory, he said, had allayed the pain. “I’m icing it all the way back to Connecticut,” he said, beaming, as he left the after-party at Dopo.

The cradle of The Game is said to have been Wilfrid Zogbaum’s front yard in Springs, where, beginning in 1948, antics ran rampant, and Philip Pavia, the late heavy-hitting sculptor, smashed to smithereens a grapefruit painted to look like a softball. Though when it comes to verisimilitude, Leif Hope, The Game’s impresario, has come to prefer a turnip.

One never knows who will show up. Dick Cavett, Carl Bernstein, Paul Simon, Chevy Chase, Alec Baldwin, Gerry Cooney, Bill Clinton, John Irving, Jay McInerney, Kristin Davis, Rod Gilbert, Josh Charles, and Pelé, among others, have in the past.

Also beginning at 10:30 Saturday is the Hamptons Hoops Academy’s clinic with Hollis-Jefferson for 7 through 16-year-old boys and girls at the Sportime Arena in Amagansett. The clinic is to go from 10:30 to 1:30. A “family fun” event at the Clubhouse, in Wainscott, which is to include mini golf, bowling, a game arcade, and bocce, is to begin at 4.

A flier put out by the Academy’s Nick Worrall says that United Way of Long Island is to benefit from the $150-per-child fees. “Scholarships will be available,” the flier says. Prospective clinic-takers can register with Worrall by calling 631-394-5796.

The junior tennis tournament for boys and girls from 5 on up at Hampton Racquet, a tourney that is, as aforesaid, to benefit Project Most, is to be contested from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. According to a flier, the $40 entry fee is to include a barbecue. Non-players can partake of the barbecue for $25.

Julie Ratner, who launched a foundation after her sister, Ellen P. Hermanson, died of breast cancer almost a quarter-century ago, said during a conversation at The Star this week that she’s proud of the fact that virtually all the money raised by Ellen’s Run and associated events has stayed here, the Ellen P. Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital being the chief result.

“I feel it’s my responsibility to give back to the community that supports me,” she said. “I think this is a beautiful community, and I love it that people come out to help others here, whether you know them or not.”

While research obviously was critical, “this is where you need the money, where it can impact and transform lives. And that’s what we’ve done. We’ve paid for two state-of-the-art tomosynthesis 3-D mammography machines, one at the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center and one for the satellite center in Hampton Bays. It’s the same equipment you’d expect to find at Memorial Sloan-Kettering or Weill Cornell.”

“This year,” she added, “we have several goals. One was to fund 10 chemotherapy chairs at the Phillips Cancer Center, which is being built in Southampton. They’re $10,000 each, and we’ve funded all of them. Another is to boost Ellen’s Well, our outreach program to reduce anxiety that includes the services of a full-time oncological social worker.”

In that regard, she was happy to announce that through State Senator Ken LaValle’s efforts, “we’re due to receive a $75,000 grant from the state for Ellen’s Well. Because of that we’ll be able to fund so many more services for women.”

There once was some concern that traffic would prove a dampener for East Hamptoners driving to Southampton for the race, which originally had been held at East Hampton High School.

“But, as we all know by now, there’s nobody out and about on Sunday mornings,” Ratner said. “There’s no line at Starbucks, it’s a clear shot. It takes 20 minutes from my house in Northwest. And when you arrive, we’ll greet you with open arms and lots of love.”

Double Dip Tourney

A highly competitive eight-team five-on-five basketball tournament, a benefit for the LuMind Research Down Syndrome Foundation and the IDEAL School of Manhattan, was held at the Sportime Arena in Amagansett Saturday, with Jason Grossman’s White Team, which included Nick Tuths of East Hampton, emerging as the winner. The Whites defeated the Purple Team, on which David Locascio, formerly of Sag Harbor, played, 11-5 in the final. Tuths had a lot to do with the White Team’s success, blocking shots and knocking down shots from long range. Others on the winning team were Cliff Teller, Sam Teller, Reese Grossman, and Andrew Chung. 

Anthony Provident puts the tournament on and is the host of a fund-raising party in the evening. Besides Tuths, other former East Hampton High School basketballers who played were Brandon Kennedy-Gay (the day’s high-scorer), Kyle McKee, Brian Marciniak, and Will Shapiro. While the games were hotly contested, only one player, Ethan Feldman, who is on New York University’s team, came to grief, suffering an ankle injury crashing into the boards after making a layup.

Sailing Race Is On

The Antigua & Barbuda Hamptons Challenge sailing race in and around Noyac Bay is to be held in Sag Harbor Saturday, with a tentative starting time of 10 a.m. The winner’s prize, said to be the largest sailing prize offered between Maine and Florida, is to be an all-expense-paid trip to Antigua for the captain and crew to Antigua’s Sailing Week in 2019.

Rob Roden, the race’s founder, died Saturday, at the age of 70, though his wife, Theresa, has said the race will go on. Roden’s life will be celebrated at the awards party, which is to be held at Havens Beach from 5 to 8 p.m. that day. Proceeds will benefit Theresa Roden’s popular I-Tri “transformation through triathlon” program for adolescent girls.

Runs Scratched

The East Hampton Rotary Club’s 5 and 10K road races scheduled to be held at Fresh Pond in Amagansett at 9 a.m. Saturday were canceled, the timer, Bob Beattie, said, because of an electrical storm. The decision, he said, was made at 7 a.m. Soon after, he added, a house nearby was struck by lightning. Beattie said, in reply to a question, that the races may be rescheduled for October. “It takes 30 days to get a permit,” he said.

Add a Paddler

In reporting the results of the recent Paddle for Pink paddleboard races in Sag Harbor, Josette Lata’s name was omitted in listing the winners: She was the first female among the 14-foot stand-up paddleboarders in the 6-mile race. Kim Nalepinski was the top female paddler in that category in the 3-miler.