MACK basketball games return to North Amityville's Bolden Mack Park

A North Amityville-based basketball league that had its permit suspended by Babylon Town following a stabbing after an event earlier this summer has resumed games at its community park.

The MACK Academy has run a summer basketball league for youth and adults, as well as after-school and career mentorship programs, since 2017. MACK, which stands for Making Athletes Career Knowledgeable, operates its basketball program at Bolden Mack Park in North Amityville, with 400 youth and 300 adults participating last year.

Babylon officials allowed the games to resume at the park after MACK agreed to hold only games and tournaments there, and to move its deadline for ending games an hour earlier. 

“I’m just glad that we can still do the games, and the kids in the community can benefit from them,” MACK co-founder Andrew Ayodeji said. “Bolden Mack Park is like their Madison Square Garden so they’re eager to be back.” 

Suffolk County police said that on June 28, about an hour after the league’s opening day event ended at the park, a woman was stabbed. She was taken to the hospital, but the extent of her injuries is unclear. A police spokeswoman said Demeatreous Phillips, 42, of West Babylon, was arrested July 24 and charged with second-degree assault in the stabbing. Phillips pleaded not guilty at arraignment, according to online court records, and does not have an attorney listed. 

That MACK special event, with vendors and a planned musical performance, drew more than 1,000 people to the small park. MACK’s town permit allowed the organization only 600 adults and children at the event, and the town subsequently suspended its permit for the games at the park.

Two sides reach agreement

A hearing on the matter early last month led to several weeks of discussions between the town and MACK’s attorney.

Earlier this month, the two sides reached an agreement codified under a new Memorandum of Understanding between the town and Minority Millennials, the nonprofit under which MACK is a subsidiary, according to MACK co-founder Dan Lloyd.

The five-year memorandum states that “no other events of any kind” can be held by the group at the park except basketball games and tournaments.

“They’re going to return to what they originally started with, which is a basketball league and a very good one,” Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer told Newsday.

Schaffer said the town has offered to work with the group to find other locations for special events but that they can’t be held at the park because it’s unable to handle the crowds.

“You can’t have 1,500 people on a postage stamp,” he said.

The memorandum also specifies that games must end at 8 p.m., rather than the 9 p.m. deadline under the previous permit.

In addition, all vendors, security personnel and any special athletic or musical guests at the games have to be preapproved by the town.

“That’s standard for what’s required under any permit for the use of any facility but we wanted to reiterate it and put it into this agreement so that it's front and center,” Schaffer said.

'Moving forward again'

The group still has to renew its permits every year, but the new agreement “governs” the issuance of those annual permits, Schaffer said. The document also outlines fines starting at $2,000 for any violations of the terms, a condition that Schaffer said “keeps everyone on their toes.”

Ayodeji said he’s happy with the agreement, noting that discussions with the town allowed the group to address what he said were untrue allegations of alcohol and marijuana sales at the June event.

“That was one of the biggest things that we wanted to get clarity about,” he said.

The league had to suspend games for a time and then held them in Massapequa and Long Beach, according to Lloyd. Ayodeji said he’s “OK” with the end of special events and was “ecstatic” to have the games resume at the park two weeks ago.

Britney Brewster’s son Amir Dickerson, 16, has been a part of MACK for nine years. She said the two were “heartbroken” when the games were suspended at Bolden Mack Park.

“For the last nine years that’s something that we looked forward to doing as a family and as a community,” she said, noting the park is where Dickerson first started playing ball.

Brewster said Dickerson, who is a star basketball player for Amityville High School, has matured through the league while improving his skills and keeping up his grades.

“I’m happy that everything is moving forward again,” she said of the agreement with the town, adding that having the games elsewhere “just wasn’t the same.”