Annual memorial basketball tournament honours Six Nations man killed in Miami

The memory of a Six Nations man was kept alive at a special basketball tournament. CTV’s Hannah Schmidt reports.

Nineteen months after Dylan Isaacs was killed in Miami, his dream of bringing more basketball to his community is living on through a tournament bearing his name.

The second annual Dylan Isaacs Memorial Basketball Tournament got underway this weekend at Six Nations Community Hall in Oshweken. The event drew in Indigenous teams from across Canada and the United States, including South Dakota, Wisconsin and Florida — where Isaacs once played with the Seminole Tribe.

Isaacs, known to friends and family as Teebz, was a 30-year-old man from Six Nations of the Grand River. He was shot and killed on Jan. 7, 2024, after attending a Buffalo Bills game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

The family told CTV News that after the football game, Isaacs was bumped by a vehicle and he and his friends went after it. There was a confrontation and Isaacs was shot several times. The shooter fled the scene.

On Jan. 9, police said they’d identified and questioned a suspect in Isaacs’ case. Their name has not been released and police did not release any further information on any possible arrests or charges.

CTV News reached out to authorities Sunday, they said they could not provide any new updates in the case, but information will be shared once it becomes available.

It’s not about the justice, that’s out of our hands," said Isaacs’s mother, Susan. “It’s just about keeping his love and everything connected.”

She said the focus this weekend was on carrying her son’s passion forward.

“Dylan’s love for basketball just brought it all to life,” she said. “It’s sad he’s not here to see this but I’m sure his spirit is with us. He wanted so much to bring the youth [to be] a part of this and to build this…our healing will never stop but this helps us get through.”

Organizers said a highlight this year was the youth skills camp, which gave local kids aged 10 to 14 the chance to train, compete and take home shoes and basketball shirts.

“The kids themselves, they said that they want to go play basketball now. So, that’s all we wanted to do — give them the opportunity,” said Cleveland Thomas, one of the organizers. “One of the things that stayed on my mind this year was we want to make sure that youth camp is even bigger and better next year and offer it to more age groups.”

Thomas said organizers are also considering hosting smaller community tournaments throughout the year to build on the momentum.

Isaacs’s friends say the tournament reflects what he would have wanted.

“He would want us to give back to this community,” said Ricky Garza, a friend of Isaacs’s. “I think it’s so dope — everybody comes from all over, the country and Canada, and where he’s from. I think he’d want that.”

Another close friend, Ikerson Hopper, said the tournament carries on Isaacs’s energy:

“Everybody’s playing the game that they love, the game that Dylan loves and he’s watching — watching everybody play and watching people get dunked on.”

For Isaacs’s family, the event is about more than basketball.

“It’s all a part of all of us to heal as Native people,” Susan said. “We heal together. It’s heartwarming for us that they can come here and share his dream.”

The finals took place on Sunday, along with a smoke dance contest.