Former Panther basketball All-American Craig DeWitt, ’81, was bugged that the second largest tennis stadium in the world sat empty 95% of the time.

So while driving by the Indian Wells Tennis Garden one day, the light bulb in DeWitt’s brain lit up resulting in an historical first ever National Basketball Association outdoor game.

In his third year as the Superintendent of Operations and Game Services for the Coachella Valley Recreation and Park District, DeWitt’s daily routines include managing recreation staff and facilities for 14 communities in the sun drenched California Palm Desert area.

Hence, his daily drive by the 16,000 seat tennis stadium which annually hosts the two week Pacific Life Open, rated the 5th largest tennis tournament in the world. But, according to DeWitt, other than some concerts the tennis stadium "sits empty 95% of the time.

"So it got me to wondering what would be some other uses that could be a big enough draw to fill the stadium. When I worked back in Illinois, I ran a Gus Macker tournament for 13 years in Sterling. Or course, those are all outdoors so my first thought was a 3-on-3 basketball tournament here but then I started thinking about an NBA game…why not think big."

Consequently the Phoenix Suns will play a preseason game at Indian Wells under the lights on October 11.

DeWitt’s idea-becomes-reality spun out of a contact with Richard Heckmann, a co-owner of the Suns and a desert valley resident. "I wrote him a letter and he responded within a week telling me to expect a call from the Suns President. They were very excited about the possibility to conduct an outdoor game and help us raise money for our foundation that supports recreation in the valley."

An official press conference on February 19 will discuss game details and announce the opposing team. Team officials are also working with Fox Sports and the NBA to telecast the game nationally.

DeWitt is also confident he will have little weather problems. "We get about five days of rain annually out here and it’s only rained six days in October in the past ten years so we’ll just postpone it a day if we have to…but the chance of rain is about zero."

While he’s spending considerable time with the organization of the NBA contest, DeWitt has plenty of other events that occupy his time.

"Bill Gates has a home in our area so we go from serving the richest to the poorest. We have a few cities that are third world type poor…a lot of immigrants that work on farms or in the service industries in hotels and resorts.

"The best part of the job can also be the most challenging. The positive is I get to work with people from every economic status and ethnic background. But with a variety of population it’s a challenge to create programming and opportunities for life experiences that can connect with all different types of people.

"We also host concerts like the Turtles and Foghats…groups from my college days. And we just started First Tee which is a youth golf development program sponsored by all the major golf associations.

"This is a beautiful area…two hours from LA and San Diego and right next to Joshua Tree National Park with 130 golf courses throughout the valley."

And now add an NBA outdoor experience to the list of activities that DeWitt continues to bring to southern California.

Story by Dave Kidwell