WESTON, Mass. — Ryan Altman vividly remembers the weekly outings with his late grandmother, Barbara Widett. The painting, the trips to bowling or mini golf. Every Tuesday, they would get together to do an activity, and finish off the day by going to get ice cream.
“She meant everything to me,” Altman said. “Those days, I will remember forever. You don’t remember a lot of things when you’re seven years old, but that right there, is something I’ll never forget.”
Altman lost his grandmother to pancreatic cancer in 2015, and he’s never stopped honoring her since. Ten years later – and fittingly, on another Tuesday – he did so in the best way he could. For the third time, Altman participated in the A Shot For Life All-Star Game, an annual basketball showcase in which local athletes raise money for cancer research.
This year’s edition is another day Altman (Brookline, Mass.) won’t soon forget. With his family watching him play from the stands of Benson Gymnasium – the Rivers School gym he called home for three NEPSAC championships and two ISL titles – one last time, Altman powered Team Blue to a 175-170 win with a 24-point, 15-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, a stat line reminiscent of some of the best games of his storied career.
