TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo's professional basketball team is gearing up for a new season, and this year, 11 out of the team's 12 players are from the Toledo area.
The season's opening game tips off on March 1, and the Glass City Wranglers head coach and team owner, Josh Radtkin, said when it comes to what their team brings to Toledo, it's different.
"The Glass City Wranglers focus on professional basketball and family fun entertainment," Radtkin said. "The fans that come out to our games have a phenomenal time and experience really good basketball here in our hometown."
This year is all about our hometown star athletes. Many of these players have been playing together here in Toledo since they were kids and now, they are taking on professional opportunities.
"This is a really good opportunity for them to continue their professional career. Some of our players in our league and previous players have played in the NBA G league and overseas in other professional leagues, so this is their opportunity to continue their career," Radtkin said.
Players said they enjoy the opportunity to play on the team.
"It's means a lot to me it's a good opportunity to get under the whistle with some jerseys and really compete," Eric Worthey, a Glass City Wranglers shooting guard said.
Worthy has played for the Glass City Wranglers for 3 seasons, and he said he has had several contracts overseas. He said he traveled back to Toledo from Ecuador last year and for now is committed to playing locally. He also said interaction with the Toledo community is a fulfilling part of the job.
"We go to a lot of high school games, so they are familiar with our faces, and we've done some youth clinics and skills clinics with the younger players," he said.
Radtkin said the work they do with the Toledo community brings a different layer of energy to their games.
"11 out of 12 guys are local superstars, and they are role models in our community, and they have already been playing together so the chemistry is kind of already there before we started. But now, we are kind of building on top of that," said Radtkin said.
The Glass City Wranglers season starts on March 1. General admission starts at $15.
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