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Go to a high school basketball game anytime in the last eight or nine years and there’s a good chance you’ve seen Bob or Alison LaTourell, or both, volunteering their time.
The same goes for the Ely Hoop Club’s Saturday morning elementary basketball, and parents in Ely’s basketball program have received countless emails from Alison - providing updates or organizing events such as the end-of-the-season basketball banquet.
Those efforts have been noticed, and the couple was recognized Tuesday night by Ely city officials as Ely’s “Volunteers of the Year.”
For the first time in several years, the award has been handed out by the city and the LaTourells were chosen earlier in the year and recognized at the start of the regular city council meeting at City Hall.
“These are people I know first hand how deserving they are of the award,” said Ely Mayor Heidi Omerza.
Since 2015, the LaTourells have taken on various roles for the Hoop Club, which not only supports the high school basketball programs, but coordinates the elementary program as well.
Several times each winter, Bob LaTourell takes to the floor and organizes the elementary games that occur at halftime of high school basketball events, and he has taken on varying other duties including helping with tournaments, scoring and officiating.
Alison LaTourell has served as both secretary and vice president of the Hoop Club, taking registration for elementary basketball and coordinating senior and parents’ night as well as many other Hoop Club activities.
Alison said she went to her first Hoop Club meeting in 2015, as her children were moving into the high school basketball program, and soon became immersed with the group.
“My kids really liked basketball and I really liked basketball and I wanted to be involved with things my kids are involved with,” she said.
The couple was nominated for the award by Elyite Peggy Hartshorn, who wrote “Bob and Alison have dedicated countless hours to the program and in turn, our community’s youth.... When they decide their time as Hoop Club members is done, they will leave very large shoes to fill.”
Grace LaTourell, the youngest of two LaTourell siblings, graduated from Ely High School earlier this year, leaving the LaTourells without a child in the basketball program for the first time in more than a decade.
Yet they aren’t going to move away completely.
“I would like to stay involved with Hoop Club in some capacity but just not as big of a capacity now that both of my kids have graduated,” said Alison. “I also hope to stay on the Hoop Club board for at least a few more years.”
The couple thanked city officials for the recognition this week, although Bob noted that Ely has been aided by many volunteers, pointing to the recently completed all-class reunion and July 4 festivities.
“There’s probably many people in town who do as much or more as we do and we would like to thank all of them as well,” he said.
Omerza convened an ad hoc committee to look at reviving an award that once was presented annually.
It appears that 2016 may have been the last time the city honored residents with the award - naming Seraphine Rolando, Tom Omerza and Ed Marsolek that year.
From at least the 2000s through 2016, the city often recognized one or more notable volunteers with the honor.
It usually involved the presentation of a plaque and a ceremony at the start of a council meeting, where city officials would thank the volunteers for their service to community groups, charities or causes.
Omerza said she had been approached by a few residents about reviving the award, and she said a “handful” of nominations were received for this year’s honor.
