Over three years since Amelia Nowak took the court at South Anchorage, her memory will now be felt every season.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Ever since her days with the Wolverines, the ripples Amelia Nowak left at South Anchorage High School are still flowing. “She was a brilliant light,” Wolverines Head Coach Larry Wilson said.
“Everyone that was around her was impacted by her positivity and her energy.”For the first time in program history, the Wolverines girls basketball team hosted an in-season tournament — an honor, and memorial, to Nowak.“I remember her talking to me about wanting to have a tournament at South ... it was her dream to be surrounded by her fellow athletes and just have a weekend of fun competitiveness.” In the years since her death, the program had been working behind the scenes to get the tournament in motion. “I had never run a tournament before. I’d been to plenty, attended plenty, but never organized one,” Wilson said. “Her mother really stepped up and found a way to make it happen. “Between her mother and other members of the booster club, it was me on the phone calling a million coaches trying to put it together and we got it done.”“The parents helping run everything here today has just been a blessing. They are some of the best people I have ever met,” Stephens said. “When you join a basketball team, you become a family and the parents become family. It’s a connection that lasts even after your years as a basketball player have ended.” In total, five varsity squads came together for the tournament: South, Houston, Chugiak, Kodiak and Lumen Christie. Delta Junction was meant to take part too, but was forced to withdraw due to weather restrictions. Three JV squads took the floor as well.“I can say it saved her life,” Stephens said. “When she moved here, it was in 2018 and she was a freshman, she didn’t have a lot of friends.Once she picked up the sport, Amelia, who her mother says battled with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, thrived. “She made a huge group of friends and that just continued to grow. It helped her make connections and it was a great outlet for her physical energy,” Stephens said. “Being physically active helped her so much and created a family here in Alaska.”“Let’s just say my house was very loud,” Stephens said. “There was a lot of sleepovers where I have videos of them singing, and it was so loud at one point in time that the house was shaking. That was a normal Saturday night at our house; Amelia having her basketball friends over, and that’s some of the best memories I have of them.” Sitting in the same bleachers where she once watched her daughter shine, Stephens can still remember the joy, and fear, she brought to the Wolverines crowd. “They use to call her the flopper,” Stephens said. “If the ball was going out of bounds, that kid flung her body after that ball and would kick it back in with her hands. “Every year, she would win the scrappy award and it really showed in the way she played. I think just watching her throw her entire self, including her body, into the game was one of the most terrifying — yet strangely proud — moments I’ve ever shared with my child. As a mother, I was freaking out thinking she’s going to get a concussion. As a fan and her cheerleader, I was just proud of how much heart and joy and fun she put into the game.”“She was amazing,” Sophia said. “I think the best way I’d describe it is she was very zen. She was in the mode all the time. She would work out, she would give good advice and she was really just the best older sister I could ask for.”“One of my best memories with her was a game we had at East,” Amelia’s former teammate Skylar Morris said. “We were down by probably 15 at halftime and we were in the locker room. She came out more positive and motivational like ‘We got this, we’re going to get it back.’ “Sure enough, we ended up winning the game. I look back at clips on it and how cheerful she was the entire time.”“I remember one of our assistant coaches who had just started with us,” Wilson recalled. “Amelia had been on vacation and came back and got sick and wasn’t really practicing very well. “I just remember her saying ‘oh that kid.’ I was thinking in my brain, ‘Just wait until you see her play,’ and sure enough, it was like halftime and she’s like ‘I love that kid.’” Growing into a talented hooper, Amelia was an All-State selection with the Wolverines. After graduation from South, she was set to play ball with the University of Western Washington.Over three years now since her passing, Stephens says this won’t be a one-time thing. “Knowing that this will continue on every year for as long as we possibly can do it, means the world to me and I think it means the world to her family too,” Stephens said. In that time, the legacy her daughter left at South and the lessons those can learn from her life will never falter. “Don’t drink and drive,” Stephens said. “They were just waiting at a stop light when all of this happened, when a man who made a completely different choice struck them and killed them both. “I would want every single person here to recognize that there is beauty and joy in every single life and we must do everything we can to protect those around us. That includes the choices that we make every single day. “It’s my sincere hope that people when they leave today, they leave knowing that every action they take, every person they interact with, they leave a little piece of themselves with,” Stephens added. “Amelia left big chunks of herself everywhere in Alaska and especially here in this gym. I hope they walk away with a little piece of her and remember her when they are out making choices.”Cause of death revealed for Wasilla doctor charged with possessing child sexual abuse material‘Any details will help’: Friends of man visiting from Texas missing for days near Healy struggle to understand his disappearanceDefending Iditarod champ takes home second straight Copper Basin 300 title
Derek Duerr Amelia Nowak Memorial Tournament South Anchorage Basketball South Anchorage Wolverines South Anchorage Girls Basketball Alaska Basketball Stephanie Stephens Larry Wilson
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