Hoops tourney to feature Newton Apparel

Iowa State basketball fans may be tuning into the ESPN family of networks this weekend to watch The Basketball Tournament.

Former Cyclone players will be taking part in a 72-team tournament where the winner gets a $2 million winner-take-all prize.

The T-Shirts being worn by eight former Cyclones were made by Steve Terlouw at Newton Apparel.

“I am a big Iowa State basketball fan,” Terlouw said. “I have been watching them since I was little and have coached in some camps up there, too. I also coach at Kingdom Hoops with Curtis Stinson.”

Stinson is one of the eight players competing for the Hilton Magic Legends. The rest of the roster includes Royce White, Bubu Palo, Jameel McKay, Diante Garrett, Tyrus McGee, Darrell Bowie and Donovan Jackson.

The shirts made by Terlouw and Newton Apparel were designed using Royce White’s “Anxious Minds” logo. And they are obviously Cyclone colors.

Terlouw got the opportunity to design the shirts because of a connection he has with former Newton boys assistant basketball coach Matt Crawford, who also served as a director at the Newton YMCA and played pick-up basketball with Terlouw.

The Hilton Magic Legends play their first game at 8:40 p.m. Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. The “Legends” are the No. 3 seed out of the Midwest Regional and will face No. 14 seed Illinois BC.

The tournament bracket looks like what fans see during NCAA March Madness time. The “Legends” play at 5 p.m. on July 27 in Atlanta if they win their first-round game. The quarterfinals in Atlanta are July 29. The semifinals move to Baltimore on Aug. 2 and the championship game is Aug. 3 in Baltimore.

Crawford is one of the organizers of the Hilton Magic Legends team. He also had a good relationship with Ross Ford, who was the previous owner of the T-Shirt company. He called his business T’s In Motion.

Crawford said he chose Newton Apparel because he likes to use businesses in Newton when he can even though he moved to Waukee several years ago.

“Choosing Steve and Newton Apparel was an easy decision for me,” Crawford said. “I’ve known Steve for a number of years and he was exactly the type of person we wanted to head an important project like this that will be seen on national television.

“We got a chance to see his new facilities and they are outstanding. The quality of his work on this really shows. He took great care of us.”

Terlouw said he changed the name partly because too many people were confusing T’s In Motion with In-Motion Dance Studio. And he wanted to use the Newton name.

The Newton Apparel building is still a work in progress, but Terlouw currently has items for sell in his showroom, including Newton Cardinal hats. He hopes to eventually to have gear from PCM, Colfax-Mingo, Baxter and Lynnville-Sully in the showroom, too.

“We have to get licensed to sell official Newton Cardinal gear now so we are working on that,” said Terlouw, who is an alum of PCM. “We don’t have to be licensed to sell gear from those other schools.”

Contact Troy Hyde
at thyde@newtondailynews.com