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Score one for the Good Guys

 In People & Community, Winter 2025

Local basketball tournament brings in top talent to raise money in the fight against cancer

By Steven Hanf / Photo Above Courtesy of FFHS Shorelines Yearbook File Photo

Like so many of the family’s cherished memories, this one came in a steamy gym on a cold winter night.

First Flight High School’s men’s basketball team had traveled to Goldsboro in the 2018 state basketball playoffs as a major underdog. Coach Chad Williams’ team didn’t turn any heads when his unassuming players walked onto the court, but the Nighthawks drained 18 shots from the 3-point line in a bewildering display of offensive firepower that led to a 76-69 upset.

Chad’s brother, Kevin, had made the drive over from Winston-Salem to enjoy the game. Their parents, Guy and Betty, made the quick trip up from New Bern. As they sat in the stands watching Chad work the sidelines, Betty did what any proud mom would do, capturing a photo that February night to freeze time for a moment.

Chad Williams draws up a play for his team during the 2023 Good Guys vs Cancer Basketball Showcase. Since Williamsstarted Good Guys in 2018 as a tribute to his father, the event has been about far more than basketball, with thousands of dollars raised for locals as well as the national Coaches vs Cancer effort. FFHS Shorelines Yearbook File Photos

Chad Williams draws up a play for his team during the 2023 Good Guys vs Cancer Basketball Showcase. Since Williams
started Good Guys in 2018 as a tribute to his father, the event has been about far more than basketball, with thousands of
dollars raised for locals as well as the national Coaches vs Cancer effort. FFHS Shorelines Yearbook File Photos

“I’m sitting behind Kevin and his dad, so it’s the back of Guy’s head, and Chad’s across the court,” Betty says with a smile. “It’s one of the last pictures that I have of all three of them together. I wouldn’t trade that picture for anything.”

That night in the gym provided a welcome respite for the Williams family. Guy had just been to the doctor and was awaiting results of a biopsy. A diagnosis of a rare blood cancer combining the features of leukemia and lymphoma – Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm, or BPDCN – would be delivered in the coming days, and the family would say its final goodbyes to Guy only 10 months later, four days before Christmas.

But courtside in that gym, a family full of basketball junkies celebrated a dramatic victory together.

“That was a big win and I don’t think I’ve ever seen your dad any more proud or happier than he was that night,” Betty says.

Kevin agrees: “He wasn’t a very emotional person, but I remember a tear or two shed that night.”

Chad calls it one of the best moments he remembers with his father – just the simple act of chatting with him after the game, and seeing the pride in his eyes.

“I guess everybody felt it,” Chad says of the moment.

More proud smiles are on display as Kevin and Betty work their way through the First Flight High gymnasium. Banners with highlights of past tournaments line the entryway, showing photos of impressive dunks – and a smiling Guy and Betty Williams together. Basketball fans are everywhere as players from across Virginia and North Carolina descend on the Outer Banks to play in what has become one of the marquee high school basketball tournaments in the state.

In December of 2024, the seventh annual Good Guys vs Cancer Basketball Showcase presented by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau and Albemarle Landscapes and Tree Service saw 32 teams compete in 24 games over a four-day stretch. It started after school on a Wednesday and included a 10-game marathon Saturday from 8 a.m. to around 11:30 that night.

Guy and Betty Williams show off special T-shirts that were made for other members of the First Flight High School community impacted by cancer and then reprinted following Guy's cancer diagnosis in 2018. Chad Williams, their son, has been at FFHS since the school opened in 2004. Photo submitted by Chad Williams

Guy and Betty Williams show off special T-shirts that were made for other members of the First Flight High School community impacted by cancer and then reprinted following Guy’s cancer diagnosis in 2018. Chad Williams, their son, has been at FFHS since the school opened in 2004. Photo submitted by Chad Williams

It’s a basketball tournament, yes, but also a community celebration as people come together for Guy and the oh-so-many others who have battled cancer. The event is also one heck of a fundraiser, with more than $25,000 raised from the 2023 tournament and Chad setting a goal of $30,000 for the most recent Good Guys.

None of the money stays with the basketball program or the school. Most of it goes to the American Cancer Society, while in some years, locals fighting cancer have received donations, including FFHS graduate Gwen Botson and chorus teacher John Buford.

“It’s just mind-boggling to me to see what it’s done over the past six years,” Betty says. “Guy loved coming to watch Chad coach, he always loved watching Chad play, and he always wanted to do something to help, so this would make him so proud.”

Kevin, who played baseball in high school, remembers Guy as the dad who never missed a game.

“Nobody would love this event any more than him,” Kevin says. “I mean, it’s sort of ironic that the one person who it’s named after – who would love it more than anybody – can’t be here.”

Chad found the inspiration to start his own tournament when First Flight competed in another cancer fundraising event in Asheville. Coaches vs Cancer is a well-known national effort that often features games between high-level college programs. From the start, Chad knew he had the perfect name for his event: Good Guys vs Cancer.

The first tournament in 2018 included three games Friday night and eight Saturday. Guy and Betty couldn’t attend since he was still receiving treatments at Duke at the time. A few weeks later, Guy was gone.

Chad’s mission, however, was just beginning. The 2019 tournament expanded to 15 games over Friday and Saturday. After losing a year due to Covid, the 2021 event went well – and then Good Guys exploded. A third day of tournament games was added for 2022, including having the First Flight women open the action against a local rival. As more teams experienced the event and more teams learned of it, Chad decided to add a fourth day in 2023. Not to be outdone, the 2024 Good Guys also spanned four days, but included two additional games Friday afternoon, starting at 2 p.m.

The event has become a labor of love for countless folks who announce the games, run the scoreboard, keep the stats, take out the trash, wash the jerseys, handle the hospitality room … and so much more.

“I’m grateful for the teams and the players and the parents and the volunteers,” Chad says. “I mean, the people we’ve had this year working on it have been great – they’re just good people.”

And while the tournament is, at its heart, all about family, putting it on actually costs the coach more time away from his own family than he’d like to admit. On the Sunday immediately following the tournament, Chad and Melissa held a birthday party for their oldest child. The following day it was their younger child’s birthday.

“To have this every year around their birthdays is not fair to them,” Chad says. “Melissa does so much behind the scenes for me, and a lot of times I take that for granted. She got to come (Friday) night for a while and that’s the first time she’s been – we got a sitter. She probably doesn’t even know how much that meant to me. She knows how important this is. I couldn’t do it without her.”

One of the most poignant moments of the 2024 Good Guys event involved a tribute to long-time eastern NC sportswriter Junious Smith III, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2023. With players from Kinston High and FFHS surrounding him and his family, Smith was given a banner signed by all the players, and a new award for a player was presented in his honor. Sabra Dawson/FFHS Shorelines Yearbook

One of the most poignant moments of the 2024 Good Guys event involved a tribute to long-time eastern NC sportswriter Junious Smith III, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2023. With players from Kinston High and FFHS surrounding him and his family, Smith was given a banner signed by all the players, and a new award for a player was presented in his honor. Sabra Dawson/FFHS Shorelines Yearbook

Steve Hanf
Author: Steve Hanf

Steve Hanf is a former professional sportswriter who teaches the journalism classes at First Flight High School. The dormant Nike Running Club app on his phone offers a reminder of the seven half-marathons and one full marathon he completed … several years ago. 

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