DAWSON BILSKI

HERMANSVILLE — The Frank Rodman Community Club in Hermansville takes center stage beginning Wednesday evening, as the 87th Gold Medal Classic independent basketball tournament tips off.

With 71 teams entered for 2026, the historic tournament will run until March 22, making Meyer Township in northern Menominee County the annual basketball metropolis it has been for over 8 1/2 decades. There are players on team rosters from all corners of the U.P. with many from northeast Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wis., and other areas in the country.

Opening night will tip off at 6 p.m. with a Class D tilt between tournament stalwart Wildwood of Hermansville taking on LL3J of Carney. Three more games will take place opening night with 7, 8 and 9 p.m. games.

Once Saturday arrives, the Class B schedule begins, which has some experienced and exciting names on this year’s rosters. Bloniarz Farms of Perronville, who won 10 consecutive Class B titles will be looking to recapture the crown that eluded them in 2025. Bimbo’s Wine Press of Iron Mountain is the defending Class B champion.

Former Western Michigan and Michigan State University cager and Powers native Jason Whitens will play for Bloniarz. Whitens, who now resides in Green Bay, Wis., was a three-time Upper Peninsula Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Class D Player of the Year in 2015-2017 at North Central, sharing the 2017 U.P. Class D POY honor with North Central teammate Dawson Bilski.

Bilski, who was a Michigan Tech University standout, will join Whitens on the Blonairz roster this weekend. Bryce Bilski, the older brother of Dawson and a Gogebic Community College and North Central standout, will also play for Bloniarz.

Bimbo’s is captained by former Iron Mountain two-sport All-U.P. performer Marcus Johnson — a 2,000 point scorer and prolific player for the Mountaineers. He’ll be joined by fellow IM alum and two sport All-U.P. performer Oskar Kangas.

Kangas, a current University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh player is bringing a couple of his teammates, including 6-foot-8-inch Milwaukee, Wis., native Riley Rindfleisch.

Johnson’s older brother and current Iron Mountain boys basketball head coach Kyle Johnson will also play for Bimbo’s. A possible late addition may be former Kingsford All-U.P. and 2025 Associated Press All-State selection Gavin Grondin of Lake Superior State University.

Gold Medal Classic Hall of Famers and Carney natives Mike and Jacob Polfus are also on the Bimbo’s roster, as well as their longtime teammate, Gold Medal and former Norway High School standout Joey Pontbriand.

Team Elevated of Menominee will return to Class B action, with former NBA Development League player Anthony Moody making his third straight appearance. Moody, an Appleton, Wis., native, was a standout at the University of Mary in Bismark, N.D., before becoming a draft pick of the Sioux Falls Sky Force in the former D-League.

Menominee native and former Central Michigan University wide receiver Keagan Monroe is also on the Team Elevated roster, which also includes former players from Ripon College, Gogebic Community College and the University of Wisconsin-Marinette.

Former NC teammate of Dawson Bilski and Whitens, Marcus Krachinski is also on the Bloniarz roster. Krachinski, who played basketball at Northern Michigan University, isn’t the only former Wildcat cager on the Bloniarz roster. Mid Peninsula High School alum Brett Branstrom, who was an NMU standout, will join former Superior Central and Michigan Tech player Jordan Chartier.

Another Class B roster with some notable former U.P high school standouts is Greenwood of Gladstone. The Castor brothers from Gladstone, Reece and Rane, will play for Greenwood.

Former Brimley two-sport standout in football and basketball Marcus Harris is on the Greenwood roster. Harris is a former Bay College and LSSU hoopster .

Former Bay College sharpshooter and Dollar Bay alum Ashton Janke, as well as Forest Park and Finlandia alum Austin Carlson, will play for Greenwood. Tucker Taylor, who was a two-sport star at Gwinn High School and is a former NMU football player, is also on the Greenwood roster.

The McNeil Oilers of Crystal Falls will field a Class B squad to keep their longtime annual entry streak alive. MTU Club will also return to take part in Class B action, as well as long- time tournament participant Lee’s Greenery of Powers.

The full Class B schedule will be released later in the tournament.

Thursday and Friday night will also feature four contests each night at 6, 7, 8 and 9 p.m. respectively. The Junior High girls and boys divisions, which are both round-robin format, will be the first three games on Friday night. The JH girls will conclude on Saturday, while the JH Boys will wrap up on Sunday.

A Class EE contest will conclude the Friday night slate at 9 p.m. with Jay’s Tobacco of Marquette taking on Shelby’s Quick Mart of Carney.

Throughout the 12-day tournament, high school seniors from many U.P. Schools will be participating in both men’s and women’s competitions. Those schools include Norway, Forest Park, Florence, Wis., Menominee, Bark River-Harris, North Central, Marquette, Stephenson, Carney-Nadeau, Westwood, Iron Mountain and Kingsford.

New to the tournament in 2026, will be the Alumni Division. All participating players must have graduated from the respective town/school they’ll be playing for. Games in the Alumni Division will take place Wednesday, March 18 and Thursday, March 19, with the championship game being the final game of the entire tournament at 7 p.m. on March 22.

The six teams entered into the Alumni Division are Stephenson, sponsored by Jim’s Plumbing of Wallace, Florence, Wis., sponsored by Xcell Graphics, North Central Area Schools, sponsored by “R” Place in Spalding, and Bark River-Harris, sponsored by Alpine Construction. Alumni teams from Iron Mountain and Norway have also entered.