After a COVID-19 pandemic pause in 2021, the annual Basketball Booster Club / WANY Radio Auction returned this past weekend with one of its most successful nights in several years.

According to event organizers, with items that were sold Friday night, along with cash donations that were given by local professionals and individuals, it appeared as if the final tally was going to be very close to $9,500.

The radio auction has been one of the longest continuous fundraising events in Clinton County, originally held in the mid 1980s and held annually every year, until it had to be halted last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when health officials were not allowing crowds to gather due to the spread of the disease.

“It was good to be back at the broadcast table again with my longtime co-host and friend Jack Flowers last weekend,” co-host Al Gibson said this week. “The items that were donated were plentiful and top quality, but the work that went into the program by the parents before and during the auction was what made this one such a success – they all deserve a huge pat on the back.”

The premise behind the Booster Club / Radio Auction is to provide funding for the varsity girls’ and boys’ basketball programs at Clinton County High School, to help with funding of supplies and other needs that might not be possible otherwise.

Hopefully, funding that comes through the annual event helps the smaller Clinton County program compete on a more even level with programs from larger schools where program funds are more readily available.

In the top photo, Auction Co-Hosts Al Gibson and Jackie Flowers, right, count down one of the program’s segments while volunteers answer telephones and track the bidding process. Above, more volunteers at work during Friday’s auction program.