Men's Basketball Hosts Play For Derek Game
2/3/26
Mercer men’s basketball had a special game on Saturday, January 31st. The team had a Play for Derek Game in honor of Derek DiGregorio who passed away this summer. Derek was the son of Head Coach Howard’s Levy’s close friend Steve DiGregorio who had AT (Ataxia Telangiectasia) a rare genetic disease. Derek accompanied Mercer men’s team on one of their trips to Washington DC when they visited the Supreme Court and Washington Wizards practice facility. Derek enjoyed coming to Mercer’s games and loved photography. He could be spotted at MCCC games taking photos of the team and players from his wheelchair.
Coach Levy gave a very moving speech about Derek before the game sharing about the many accomplishments of Derek, who Levy called a real life superhero. A charity called Derek’s Dreams was established several years ago so the Play for Derek game took on a Dream theme.
A table was setup inside the gym with a poster that spectators were encouraged to write their dreams on. This poster was presented to Derek’s mother Nadia after the game. Songs with dreams in the lyrics or titles were played during halftime and timeouts as a tribute to Derek’s Dreams.
Mercer men got a thrilling 103-95 overtime win to move to 5-3 in Region play. The win capped off a great day and was a win Derek would have been thrilled to see. There is no doubt he was there in spirit and helped motivate Mercer to grind out a tough win.
For more on MCCC men’s basketball visit: https://www.mccc.edu/athletics_men_basketball.shtml
