Teams Bounce Magazine and Zip City share a moment of silence for Stephen “Zip” Mulderry @ the Ham-Fish opener Monday.

On Monday June 8th, the Ham-Fish Tournament kicked off it’s 18th season down on Pitt St in the LES. The league, run by Bill Lynch, started in 1992, and is one of my favorites to play in. 2009 marks my 17th consecutive year running down there. Bill calls me “Juan Stockton” (former Utah Jazz all-star guard John Stockton who was known for not missing games throughout his career) on his megaphone loud speaker.

In 2001, Stephen “Zip” Mulderry, my homeboy and a former teammate, took MVP honors and won the chip. A couple of weeks later, he died during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center where he worked. The next summer, Bill renamed the tournament the Stephen Mulderry Memorial League in honor of our boy “Zip.” His old squad Zip City still competes, and every summer Bill pits our squad Bounce Magazine against theirs for the season opener. This round we took an L. I’ve been sidelined with a forehead injury for the last two weeks and will return for our next contest on Thursday June 18th @ 6:45pm.

Catch the action at Ham-Fish Monday thru Thursday at 6:45pm, and Saturdays at 1:30pm. The court is located inside Ham-Fish park, Pitt St. just below East Houston St. in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The nearest trains are the F to Second Ave., 6 to Bleecker St., or R/W to Prince St. It’s a 10-15 minute walk East, just ask anyone which direction the FDR is. For reference, Avenue C becomes Pitt St. south of East Houston.