Harlem Ambassadors bring fun, positive message

BONNERS FERRY — The Harlem Ambassadors brought a fun-filled family basketball show to Bonners Ferry Nov. 14 at Boundary County Middle School.

Rather than bringing a ‘stooge’ team with pre-rehearsed stunts and tricks, the Bonners Ferry Chamber of Commerce, who was responsible for bringing the Ambassadors to town, conscripted a team of Badger all-stars to compete against the road team.

Coached by Bryon Poston, the Badger team came out playing hard, and some very serious basketball was played by the Badger all-stars, who had the game tied before the end of the first quarter.

According to Lade Majic, the Ambassadors’ coach and star of the show, in order to be an Ambassador, you have to be drug free, and have your college degree.

The team represented this mantra well, and as the positive role models were each introduced, the audience discovered that many of them had Masters’ degrees in addition to their undergraduate credentials from national universities.

They celebrated to go-on message and Lade Majic warned would-be students about the perils of taking on too many student loans.

The basketball show followed a loose script, and at times Lade Majic pulled down both Bennetts on the team, first Connor and later A.J., for a pre-planned foul routine that included the refs, Ken Yount and Travis Blackmore. Majic hid behind her ‘parents,’ Fred and Helen Nystrom in the crowd for the second foul, pulling her ‘mom’ Helen down to the court to face down the ref on her behalf.

The show was funny, with many improv and impromptu moments that came from a loose format.

The Ambassadors went over the general structure of the show with the Badger participants beforehand, but left a lot of the show up to the players and the refs.

It was difficult to deny the fun-loving and impish nature of Lade Majic and the Ambassadors, who had the Badger All-stars and the refs playing football with a pink ball and dancing before the end of the show.

“It was fun,” Blackmore said after the show.

Based in Colorado, the Ambassadors have been touring since 1998. Their first show took place in Mountain Home, in southern Idaho.

Over the years, the Harlem Ambassadors’ tour schedule has grown to over 220 events each season and includes events in all 50 states and 20 countries and tours to Pearl Harbor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Sarejevo, Korea, Japan, the Marshall Islands, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Germany, England, Mexico, and Canada.

By providing community comedy basketball games to towns of all sizes, Harlem Ambassadors has helped service organizations raise over $9 million since 1998, one event at a time.

The Ambassadors also speak to youth through “Stay in School, Stay off Drugs” school assemblies and encourage students to set goals, show good moral character, respect themselves and others, not be a bully, and avoid negative influences like drugs, alcohol, and peer pressure that can prevent them from achieving their dreams.

They show kids that through hard work and dedication, they can overcome obstacles and lead meaningful lives helping others as professional athletes -- or in any profession they aspire to do.

The fundraiser benefited the Bonners Ferry Chamber of Commerce, with concession sales benefiting Valley View PTO.