Josh Palmer tournament canceled for second year in a row because of COVID

For the second year in a row, Elmira's Josh Palmer Fund Elmira Holiday Inn Classic basketball tournament has been canceled for COVID-related reasons.

Palmer, the tournament's organizer, said Wednesday night outbreaks among teams scheduled to compete in the event led to the decision to cancel it.

The 28-team varsity tournament was to be played Dec. 27-30 at Elmira High School and Ernie Davis Academy.

Palmer had been optimistic heading into the season the tournament would be played, but COVID cases nationally have increased since then.

"Within a couple of brackets, there were some outbreaks where they wouldn’t be able to travel due to quarantines and positive cases," Palmer said. "At that point we started looking at the big picture and obviously had concerns there could be another team calling tonight, another team calling tomorrow and so forth.

"We just made a decision that we thought it was best to move forward and keep everybody as safe as we can and start moving toward next year. Honestly, I thought if we could get ourselves to the starting line, we could get to the finish line. We just didn’t quite make it."

The tournament had been played annually since 1999 up until last year, when the pandemic led to its cancellation. Because of safety guidelines at the state level, high school basketball in New York was paused until early 2021.

With an assist from several other people, Palmer started the tournament after he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease while a student at Mansfield University.

"It’s obviously a disappointment to me and our family and to the fund," Palmer said of the cancellation. "But it’s ultimately what we think is best at this point."

Impact on Josh Palmer Fund

Proceeds from the Josh Palmer Fund benefit Arnot Health, CareFirst and Guthrie to assist patients with costs related to their battles with cancer. The fund has raised more than $1.3 since Palmer started it.

The basketball tournament is its top fundraiser. The fund's golf tournament, another significant fundraiser, was able to be played during the fall.

Last year highly respected teacher and coach Bob Hill left the fund a contribution that helped ease the loss of proceeds generated by the tournament. Hill died in 2020 at age 80.

"We’ll do what we can," Palmer said of the fund. "We’ll work with our sponsors and see where we can go. We were fortunate with some planning from last year where we could make two years’ worth of contributions, so the facilities are in a good spot. But we will certainly make every commitment we can to bring the event back a year from now."

Event was to feature 24 teams

Teams from throughout Section 4 and across the state were among those scheduled to compete. Palmer said it's possible there could still be games next week involving scheduled tournament participants, but they would not be connected with the tourney.

In years past the tournament's opening night has served as an induction ceremony for the Chemung County Sports Hall of Fame. A decision had already been made by the Hall of Fame's committee to move its next ceremony into 2022.

The eight-team girls division was to include Elmira, Horseheads, Binghamton Seton Catholic Central, North Rockland, Corning, Bishop Kearney, St. Mary's (Lancaster) and Cardinal O'Hara (Tonawanda).

Set to play in the eight-team boys National Division were Elmira, Horseheads, Buffalo Nichols, East Rochester, Jamestown, Archbishop Hoban (Akron, Ohio), Archbishop Molloy (Queens) and Mount St. Michael (Bronx).

Participants in the two boys regional divisions were to be Johnson City, Newark, Corning, Seton CC, Elmira Notre Dame, Ithaca, Thomas A. Edison and Mansfield.

A girls regional division was added this year and would have included Edison, Ithaca, Notre Dame and Hornell.

Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Josh Palmer Classic canceled because of COVID outbreaks