The 2025 Juneau Lions Club Gold Medal Basketball Tournament returns for their 76th annual display of hoops talent from across the Panhandle and, sometimes, with roster picks across the state as players have migrated out of Southeast.
“Our rosters are diverse each year,” Juneau Lions Club President Tim Wilson said. “A lot of times that happens as players age up into other brackets and younger players enter the tournament. Then again, a lot of th e country wise email marketing list names will be familiar to Gold Medal fans. We are excited about some of the new features this year.”
Of special note will be Sunday’s opening games
For the first time the opening day will be filled with more games than the usual Sunday brunch bracket with action from 9 a.m. to the final game starting at 8:30 p.m.. The B, C and Women’s brackets will all be in action.
“This year we have a Women’s team coming down from Hooper Bay,” Gold Medal spokesman Tim Wilson said. “I’m excited to see how they do. The Women’s bracket is becoming more and more popular. We even had thursday will feature the eagle raven dance group a Women’s team from Whitehorse making a request. But they were about two weeks later with their Letter of Interest.”
Monday will feature the opening ceremony including the National Anthem performed by the Alaskan Youth Choir. Flags will be presented by the Alaska Army National Guard and guest speaker is Matt Carle from SEARHC.
Tuesday is another packed schedule of games from morning aero leads through night and will feature the return of the Open bracket, formerly known as the A bracket.
“We brought the Open bracket back,” Wilson said. “We felt we really needed to do this to give Juneau teams the opportunity to play in the Gold Medal Tournament. The Open bracket is the best way to do that. The biggest change in the Open bracket is one very specific rule: A player can play on any team in the Open bracket and still represent their community in the B, C, Masters, or the Women’s bracket. In turn we are hoping to get some good games in the Open bracket.”
Wednesday will feature a memorial presentation by Lion Sasha Soboleff and Lion Sandra Lujan.