When Gus Macker, also known as Macker co-founder and owner Scott McNeal, suddenly announced Macker General Manager Patty Donovan was part of the Gus Macker Hall of Fame as a special surprise inductee during planned inductions in 2018, she was stunned.

   “Pure and total shock,” she said. “Oh my gosh, it is just a huge honor for me. My whole world has been Macker for the last 30 years. To receive that honor is just amazing. It just means the world to me. I never really thought about it because I was just working here.”

  Over 30 years ago Patty, a Belding resident for life, became a volunteer for the Gus Macker tournament that had come to town from its original birthplace in nearby Lowell.

  “A job just happened,” she said. “I was volunteering because I thought it was a great event. I didn’t ask for the job. The Belding tournament back then was so many teams and it was big work around the clock. I helped one night doing some clerical stuff and after a while they just said maybe we should make you fulltime. You are here all the time anyway.”

  She grew with the company, before computers, reading a well-worn copy of 

  “I did things I never thought I could do,” she said. “I was kind of forced to learn, and the people I worked with here made it easier. It always was a family here, always has been and it just felt natural to be doing my part. I love the people, the interaction with the city, love the players, just the whole atmosphere because it really is a wholesome family event. It is a festival families come to, and they believe in it. That makes it something that stands the test of time. No alcohol, no tobacco, just hometown fun. You don’t find may things that bring a whole community together like a Macker.”

  Patty is in her late 60s, but she feels younger because the young people who play in Mackers help her feel young.

  “We are old fogies around here now, and I will probably be here with my walker one day, but it can be the most stressful week in the office getting a tournament together and then you get out on the street and you see all the families having fun, all the different people from all over the country, and you feel great about what you are doing,” she said.

  McNeal calls her the glue of Gus Macker basketball.

  “We’ve lasted all these years because we had somebody like Patty on our team,” he said. “She is a special person. She gets Macker. She is part of Macker. She is family.”

2018

The Queen Of Belding