When Anthony Barbosa and his brother started the Worcester Summer Jam Classic a decade ago, ambition stretched well beyond getting some talented basketball players out on a court.
There was basketball. Certainly. Obviously. But there was also music. Fashion. Kids. Local businesses. Mentorship. And, perhaps most importantly, the possibility of creating the kind of gathering in Worcester that Barbosa had seen elsewhere but couldn’t find in his own city.
Ten years later, he no longer has to go looking for it.
The Worcester Summer Jam Classic celebrates its 10th anniversary Saturday, Aug. 8, at Crompton Park, returning to the place where an event that began with hundreds of attendees has grown into one drawing thousands—and expanded from a men’s basketball tournament into something its founder says has become part of the city’s culture.
“I wanted to create a culture of basketball, fashion, and music and community to Worcester,” Barbosa, a member of the Summer Jam Classic Committee, told the Worcester Guardian.
The idea took shape after Barbosa graduated from college. He and his brother had a music and clothing brand they wanted to market on a larger scale, but he had also long been interested in community work and bringing people together. Barbosa spent a lot of time at New York City’s famed Rucker Park, and that provided a lot of inspiration and experience in creating community programs. He spotted an opportunity to bring some of that energy home.
“I wanted to bring change to my city,” he said.
From a tournament to a tradition
The Summer Jam Classic launched in 2016 as a basketball- and community-based event at Crompton Park. Its organizers describe its mission as filling a void in Worcester while promoting “a positive message of peace and solidarity among all walks of life,” according to the event’s website.
Over the ensuing decade, its reach has grown considerably.
Summer Jam spawned Fall Jam and Spring Jam events. What began as a men’s tournament expanded to include boys and girls at the middle and high school levels, a leadership game and what Anthony calls the event’s “legendary Worcester vs Boston game.”
Attendance, meanwhile, grew from hundreds into the thousands.
“An one day event has became a Culture,” Anthony said.
For him, some of the most important growth has happened away from the scoreboard. Young people and other community members have gained access to mentorship and mental health resources, while aspiring athletes have been given opportunities to showcase their abilities.
The annual gathering has come to be known within the community as a “DAY OF PEACE,” he said.
Among the players Anthony has watched come through the Classic is Aaron Nkrumah, the former South High standout whose basketball journey took him from Division III Worcester State to Division I Tennessee State and, this summer, an opportunity with the Denver Nuggets.
Nkrumah has played in the Summer Jam Classic for the past five years, Anthony said.
He also credits a generation of younger players—including Amir Jenkins, Tahlan Pettway, Ty Tabales, Joe Okla, Teshaun Steele, Khari Bryan and Jojo Reyes—with inspiring him to add youth games to the event. Players who have participated in the classic have continued their basketball careers at colleges ranging from Division I to Division III, he said.
A Worcester event, by design
For all its growth, Summer Jam has remained anchored at Crompton Park.
That’s not incidental.
Barbosa was born and raised in Worcester and credits the city, along with the mentors and people around him, with helping shape his own life. Creating the classic here, he said, was “the seed we needed in a special garden that was waiting for us.”
There was a time, he recalled, when Worcester residents interested in events and basketball culture like this one were the people traveling elsewhere to find it.
Now, he said, other cities come to Worcester.
“It’s beautiful how cities come to us now and learn our culture and impact,” Anthony said.
The classic’s organizers have also intentionally built an event in which basketball is the centerpiece without being the only reason to show up.
Along with its pro-am tournament and high school showcases, Summer Jam features music and entertainment, food from local businesses, vendors, children’s activities and back-to-school supply giveaways. Community leaders and organizations also take part.
“I knew basketball would bring people together but I wanted to create a culture that is bigger then basketball,” Anthony said, “and were from our youth to our elders can smile laugh and enjoy a community event together through more then basketball.”
He wanted, he said, a place where people could pursue different kinds of dreams—”if that’s basketball, music, fashion, art”—while giving small businesses an opportunity to thrive alongside them.
A milestone — and another loaded lineup
For its 10th anniversary, the classic is leaning heavily into the thing that started it all.
“A new level of Basketball that is for sure,” Barbosa said.
Organizers expect what Barbosa describes as the most talented field of professional-level players the pro-am has hosted. The youth lineup is expanding again with the addition of a girls rising stars middle school game, while a team from Springfield will come to Crompton Park to face some of Worcester’s best high school players.
The anniversary celebration also includes giveaways, vendors, community resources and a kids zone for families.
The event’s site describes an “elite basketball showcase” featuring more than 60 players from the college, professional and high school ranks.
But reaching the 10-year mark has also given Anthony reason to think about what it took to get there.
Asked what makes him proudest after a decade, he said the question brought “tears in my eyes.”
“I am truly proud of my community and our ability to truly come together for a day of love, community and enjoyment,” he said.
The early years weren’t accompanied by certainty that the concept would succeed. Barbosa recalled fears about what might happen at an event that could be dismissed or stereotyped because of where it was being held.
“When I started the classic there was a lot of fear of what could happen being labeled an inner city event,” he said. “Each year we battled with doubt, fear, and uncertainty of what could happen or what was next.”
Behind it was a team that grew along with the event. Anthony calls them his “avengers”—a nod to Marvel’s collection of superheroes—who worked to build what he describes as a safe, healthy and meaningful gathering capable of bringing Worcester together.
A decade has changed its founder, too.
“I went from a young man with a dream to a business owner, community leader, coach, mentor and a dad over the past ten years and today I begin to pivot,” Anthony said.
What that means for Summer Jam’s next decade isn’t entirely clear, even to him.
“The next ten years I’m not sure right now but the last ten years are forever in my heart and my soul and forever The ‘City,’” he said.
For now, there’s an anniversary to celebrate at Crompton Park — in the city where Anthony once thought something like Summer Jam was missing and where, 10 years later, thousands of people now come to find it.
Have a story tip, community concern, or insight to share? Email Editor Charlene Arsenault at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org.
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