{"id":647083,"date":"2026-05-03T14:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T14:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647083\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T14:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T14:38:10","slug":"basketball-playing-friends-dedicated-a-gym-to-a-leader-of-dadball-greg-anderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/647083\/","title":{"rendered":"Basketball-playing friends dedicated a gym to a leader of \u2018Dadball,\u2019 Greg Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n

\u201cIn loving memory of Greg Anderson \u2014 Amazing husband, father and teammate,\u201d read gold letters etched into a plaque on the wall of the basketball court at the Germantown<\/a> Life Enrichment Center. <\/p>\n

What the plaque, notably, does not reference is Anderson\u2019s athletic prowess. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis shot was, to be honest, blockable,\u201d said Doron Taussig, who played basketball with Anderson. \u201cWe developed a running joke that it was a sin to block Greg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, \u201cyou wanted Greg on your side,\u201d Taussig added, for his good humor, down-to-earth nature, and selflessness. <\/p>\n

The plaque honoring Anderson was unveiled Saturday. It was a little more than a year after he suffered a cardiac arrest and died at age 50 playing pickup basketball on that very court with a group of men dubbed the Dadballers. The name was due to the players, mostly young dads, often bringing their kids to Sunday morning games.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s event celebrated not only Anderson\u2019s life but his and the other Dadballers\u2019 efforts to help keep the Germantown Life Enrichment Center financially afloat after several tight years. <\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: After one of its most beloved players suddenly died, the \u2018Dadball\u2019 pickup basketball group is fighting to save the gym where they play<\/a><\/p>\n

Anderson\u2019s wife, Melanie, stood under a basketball net and addressed about 200 people in folding chairs at the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think about legacy it always seems to be about big things, but true legacy, the legacy which echoes on, is in the tiny sacred ways we show up for each other in life,\u201d she said. \u201cHis engagement and dedication to GLEC was a piece of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group, including Anderson, started out playing 2-on-2 at Allens Lane Park in West Mount Airy<\/a> in 2013, but quickly decided to seek refuge from the elements and began searching for an indoor court. <\/p>\n

Soon, Germantown Life Enrichment Center became their new home. The center allowed them to play on Sunday mornings in exchange for $5 a player and some signed paperwork, much less cumbersome of an ask than many other similar indoor courts require.<\/p>\n

A few Dadballers, including Anderson, joined the GLEC board, which helps the center maintain its recreational offerings, like a pool, boxing area, services for seniors, and childcare, as well as its shelter for homeless men housed on the top few floors across 128 units. <\/p>\n

The GLEC was barely surviving financially heading into 2020, said Lyn Kuebler, executive director and CEO of the center. But the pandemic worsened its financial positioning and it never recovered. By the spring of 2025, when Anderson died, the facility was underwater on utility bills and the shutoff warnings were starting to pile up, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor years I couldn\u2019t get help. For years,\u201d Kuebler said, tears starting to well in her eyes.<\/p>\n

But things changed over the course of the past year after the Dadballers helped bring in about $100,000 \u2014 a desperately needed injection that helped the GLEC stay on top of utility bills and hire a fundraising consultant to help strategize the best ways to court philanthropic dollars and government grants. <\/p>\n

\u201cFinally people are noticing this place is valuable and needs to be saved,\u201d Kuebler said. <\/p>\n

Last year, the GLEC received $1.5 million from Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh to spend on the shelter part of the facility. About a week ago Kuebler got word the center had been awarded a $5 million appropriation from the city to also spend on the residential part of the building. That money will go toward improvements to HVAC, elevators and bathrooms, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can sleep better at night,\u201d Kuebler said. \u201cI\u2019m not worried the doors are closing any day now. … My heart tells me we\u2019re going to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After having such an impact on the GLEC, it seemed only fitting to dedicate the gym to Anderson, said Taussig, who thought of the idea along with the other Dadballers about a week after Anderson\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like the right thing to do,\u201d Taussig said. \u201cThis should be his gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a black curtain fell to the floor revealing the glistening plaque amidst cheers from the crowd, Taussig christened the gym with a new name. <\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to The Greg!\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min \u201cIn loving memory of Greg Anderson \u2014 Amazing husband, father and teammate,\u201d read…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,313105,85],"class_list":["post-647083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-dadballers-greg-anderson-gym-dedication-germantown-life-enrichment-center","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}