‘Trip of a lifetime’ has endured nearly that long for West Reading All-Stars

Stu Jackson and his new teammates from the West Reading Summer League didn’t know what was in store for them when they boarded an airplane and headed to California to play basketball 50 years ago. For some it was the first time away from home; for others the first time on a flight.

Ed Kuhn, the summer league founder and director, made arrangements for the team to play a series of games against Sacramento-area all-star teams, and to visit sites in the region.

The following summer a Sacramento team visited West Reading — and the Cultural Exchange Program was born.

Neither Kuhn nor anyone involved imagined it would have such an extended life.

“We didn’t know quite what we were getting into,” said Jackson, part of the inaugural nine-player team that included Bobby Reese of Holy Name, Fred Wittich of Mount Penn and Dave Angstadt of Gov. Mifflin, “but as it turns out it was a fabulous trip.”

Schedule
Tues. June 14	@ Exeter	1:00
Thurs., June 16	@ Warwick	6:00, 7:00*
Friday June 17	@ Conrad Weiser	2:00
Friday, June 17	@ West Reading	6:00, 700+
Sat., June 18	@ Berks Catholic	7:00

Reese once called it the “trip of a lifetime.”

“We played against some good competition,” Jackson recalled. “We played well. Quite frankly, I was better for the experience.”

The Cultural Exchange Program is celebrating its golden anniversary Saturday with a reunion picnic at West Reading Playground. Wittich, Reese and others among the nearly 500 West Reading all-star alumni will speak about what the experience meant to them.

A team from Elk Grove, a Sacramento suburb, will arrive Monday for a week full of games against local teams and visits to some iconic regional attractions.

The Exchange returns for the first time since 2019. The roots of the Cultural Exchange are so strong it took a worldwide pandemic to pause it.

“To see that it’s gone on for 50 years is truly amazing,” said Jackson, who made the first trip in 1972, before his senior year at Reading High. “At the time I had no idea that this would go on for as long as it has.

“All the credit goes to Ed Kuhn for his vision. He has to feel some satisfaction (for) the opportunities that he’s provided so many players to participate in an event like that.”

Kuhn, always reluctant to stand in the spotlight, is extremely proud of the enduring nature of the Cultural Exchange and the summer league, which he launched in 1965. More so, the former West Reading player is pleased to have helped foster the growth and development of a sport near and dear to his heart.

“I get a lot of satisfaction (out of the fact) that we have an avenue for those kids to play,” said Kuhn, now 80 and ready to turn the reigns of the Exchange Program and the Summer League over to others.

Going forward, Adam Ressler, who served as a coach on several trips to Sacramento, will run the Cultural Exchange Program. Sal Raccuglia will run the various summer leagues.

Ressler played in the Exchange Tournament when Sacramento visited in 1995 but appreciates the magnitude and meaning of the trip much more now, after helping supervise and shape it.

“At that age, you (just) show up to play basketball,” he said. “(At the time) I appreciated that a team was coming all the way from California and that people got to go there. Once I got to coach, then I realized the logistics, the costs, the organizations, the people doing sponsorships, meals.

“Those kind of things suddenly come into focus and you gain a much larger appreciation for doing something for that long, and the amount of work and effort that goes into it.”

League directors, high school coaches and local media are involved in picking the all-star team. Only players who participate in the West Reading Summer League are eligible.

If selected, players pay for their airfare. Expenses for the rest of the trip are taken care of by the Cultural Exchange Program, and by host families in Sacramento, who house and feed the players.

Contributions cover the annual costs. Kuhn said he seeks to raise $5,000 annually to cover expenses and is always impressed by the generosity of former players, their parents or other friends of local basketball.

“Ed has been the catalyst in keeping it afloat for 50 years,” said Ressler. “It’s pretty incredible the dedication, the time and energy that was put into it to keep it going for this long. To give players the experiences that they’ve had is really pretty awesome.”

For many years Sacramento sent an All-Star team — former NBA players Kevin Johnson and Bill Cartwright among them. More recently it has sent a team from a local high school.

Franklin High will play five games during its visit, against high school teams from Exeter, Warwick, Conrad Weiser, Wyomissing and Berks Catholic. Players will attend a Reading Fightin Phils game on Tuesday, June 14; visit Washington, D.C. on the 15th; New York City on the 19th; and fly out of Philadelphia on the 20th, with a stop first to see the “Rocky” statue along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The list of local players who have taken part in the Cultural Exchange Program reads like a Who’s Who of Berks sports: Longtime NBA forward Donyell Marshall; Chris Finch, the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves; Chad Henne, who’s had a long career in the NFL; and Stevie Mitchell, who’s now playing at Marquette.

Kuhn, who can tick off the roster of almost every Exchange team over the last five decades, says the 1972 team may have been the best. It included Mike DeCusatis and Jeff Blaum of of Wyomissing, Dave Voelker of Holy Name, Jeff Weidenheimer of Wilson, and Jackson’s Reading High teammate, Cliff Durham. John School was the coach.

Ronald Reagan, the Governor of California, invited the team to the governor’s mansion; Kuhn still has the letter from the future President.

The players toured vineyards in northern California, went to Lake Tahoe and explored San Francisco. In between they won three of the four games.

Jackson went on to a great career in basketball: He played at the University of Oregon and at the University of Seattle; was head coach at the University of Wisconsin and of the New Knicks; worked for years as a top NBA executive; and now helps run the Big East Conference.

That summer trip and the experiences he gained, he said, have never left him.

Jackson had never played with or against guys such as Reese or Angstadt until that trip. (Reading High played in the Central Penn League at the time and didn’t face Berks teams often.) Those West Reading teammates have remained lifelong friends, Jackson said.

“The type of things that give your life a little bit of fabric are the relationships that you make that endure,” said Jackson. “I’m grateful for that (trip), and I’m better for it.”