As a way of honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Seattle Pacific University Basketball brought in 14 Washington high school teams in a series of seven showcase games at the Royal Brougham Pavilion on the 20th of January, 2025. The basketball tournament started at 10 p.m. and lasted until 8:30 p.m., and featured speakers from the Black Student Union and Multi-Ethnic Programs.
One such speaker was the Student Officer for the Multi-Ethnic Programs, Victor Soriano, who was invited by one of the event organizers, SPU men’s basketball head coach Keffrey Fazio.
“I think [it] really bridges SPU and the campus as a whole, but also the community around SPU,” Soriano said. “That’s what was the main goal today, was showing the community who we are as SPU and that’s bringing together the athletics program and the Mult-Ethnic Program, and expanding on that.”
One spectator, Terrence Joyner, found the points made by Soriano and Kendrick Bynum, the President of the Black Student Union who also gave a speech, about racism and prejudice in America impactful.
“The information is still prevalent today. And that fight still continues today,” Joyner said. “To have that put in people’s faces, who may not have to face those challenges on a daily basis, I think it is very valuable.”
Couch Fazio was optimistic that the MLK event was influential for Seattle Pacific and the communities of the high schoolers that attended by bringing them together.
“There’s no school for the high school kids, and these events have been going around for a long time. Lots of different groups have hosted the MLK showcases,” Fazio said. “I thought it’d be great for SPU to open our doors to our community. To have high school kids in our gym, on our campus and celebrate Dr. King.”
For women’s basketball interim head coach Karen Byers, the event at the Pavilion represented more than just basketball. The event was an opportunity for people to gather and honor the legacy of MLK.
“In honoring Martin Luther King, we wanted it not just to be about basketball. We wanted it to be about the region of today and why it’s a national holiday, so we reached out to those groups to also become involved,” Byers said. “It’s also a bridge, not only for men to women’s basketball to the community, but also sports to those minority groups and other things on SPU.”
Resonating Byers, Fazio is hopeful that this event will continue on as an annual event for basketball at Seattle Pacific.
“At the end of the day, I want people that are not from SPU to come to SPU and see all of us here, and just give them a nice day of high school basketball, seeing our community, seeing some of our students,” Fazio said.
