67th LIT kicks off in honour of the late Glen Nelson

As the Luther Invitational Tournament (L.I.T.) gets underway in Regina this weekend, it is with a heavy heart for many in the basketball community.

Glen Nelson, a former professional basketball player, and local coach and official in the Queen City died last week — a little more than week before he was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at this year’s L.I.T. Banquet.

Nelson was a coach at Winston Knoll Collegiate, and one of their current coaches Michael Sylvius said they’ll be playing for him.

“It’s unfortunate that he’s not going to be here because he’s such an ambassador to our sport and everyone looked up to him so we’re super excited to play in his honour this weekend,” he said.

Luther College player Claire Ledingham is one of the organizers of the banquet and said while it’s disappointing that everyone will not get to hear Nelson speak at the event, they plan to honour him and his “amazing” contributions in other ways.

“It’s really important I think to Luther that we’re able to honour him and to do that at the banquet … but also in our play and show all the things he valued in basketball,” she said.

Troy Casper, the tournament director spent a lot of time with Nelson before he died and in the lead up to the tournament. He said it’s unfortunate they didn’t get more time with such an upbeat and inspiring spirit.

“I think it’s a good platform for people to know him without meeting him. That’s kind of the goal of the weekend,” Casper said.

“He was such a great person and how he treated people and the mission in which he went about doing what he did for 35 years speaks more than he can even say at times.”

L.I.T.’s first game gets underway on Thursday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. with a men’s game between Saskatoon’s St. Joseph School and Calgary’s Sir Winston Churchill.

— with files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray