The Rickman fundraiser is at hand. Attention all hoops fans, and anyone looking to do a solid good deed. This Saturday, March 15 the old PHS gym will come to life with the special fundraiser for a very special person.

Most fans of Mohawk sports know the story of former standout athlete Erica Rickman, and her battle with an inoperable brain tumor. Rickman, the daughter of Barry and Melissa Rickman, was diagnosed late last year and has just recently completed an aggressive round of treatment at St. Jude's in Memphis.

Despite the rigors and side effects of the treatments, along with the memory loss and problems associated with the tumor, Rickman has maintained a positive attitude and has vowed the beat the disease.

This Saturday a fundraiser has been planned to help the Rickman family offset Erica's medical bills, and help them continue to provide her with their much-needed support.

The idea was the brainchild of Billy Joe Seal, and to some extent this reporter, and will hopefully generate hundreds of dollars for the cause.

The fundraiser will include an old fashioned "Pig" tournament, a free-throw shooting competition and a timed "hot shot" shooting competition. All the various competitions will be divided into age groups for both boys and girls, and there will be an open division for anyone. The highlight of the day will be an All-Star basketball game featuring players from Piggott and Rector. As we go to press the rosters were still being formulated.

The registration gets underway at 9 a.m. with the "Pig" tournament slated for 10:00. At 1 p.m. the free-throw competition gets underway, followed at 3 p.m. by the "hot shot" contest. The big All-Star game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m. this Saturday.

There is a five dollar registration fee for each of the competitions, and participants are welcome to enter all three. There will also be other games and fun for those in attendance.

Regardless of whether or not you come out for the competition, you're going to want to be there Saturday night for the basketball game. Anytime you get the opportunity to put Piggott and Rector ballplayers on the floor at the same time you're going to be entertained. And with those kind of bragging rights at stake you can be sure the competition will be intense, and fun.

Admission to the ball game is just two bucks, or a dollar for students, and it should be well worth the price of admission. At halftime of the game the awards for the various competitions will be handed-out, and a check will be presented to the Rickman family.

I know there are a lot of things you could do this Saturday, but you won't find a better effort to support. And if I have anything to do with it we'll all have a good time.

If you can't attend, but would like to help anyway, an account has been set-up in Erica Rickman's name at Piggott State Bank.

While I've got your attention I'd also like to encourage everyone to support the Mohawk softball and baseball teams. The squads will be playing a full schedule this spring at Independence Park, and on the road, and would really appreciate seeing the bleachers full of Mohawk fans.