December 11, 2015 The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is hosting the 2nd Annual Cupertino Classic: a basketball game between teams of priests and seminarians on Monday, December 28th at 6:30 p.m. at Bishop Dwenger High School (1300 E. Washington Center Rd.) Admission to the game is free and doors will open at 5:30 p.m. The event is to promote vocations to the priesthood, and donations to the "Seminarian Education Fund" will be encouraged. Official Cupertino Classic t-shirts will be available for purchase for $10.

Last year, over 300 attendees enjoyed the competitive game and organizers expect this year’s match to be even larger. Highlights from last year’s game can be seen on the Diocese Vimeo Channel: https://vimeo.com/120593420. The event is named after Saint Joseph de Cupertino who is the patron saint of aviators and test takers. “There is a great image of Saint Joseph de Cupertino floating above his friends when he was in prayer. With a basketball in this hand, it looks like he is going up for a slam dunk,” said Fr. Andrew Curry, team captain. “It is a way to bring together the power of prayer and the importance of the priesthood with some levity.”

The roster for the Priest Team includes: Priest Roster: Team Captain Fr. Andrew Curry (North Manchester), Fr. Mark Gurtner (Fort Wayne), Fr. Terry Coonan (South Bend), Fr. Matthew Coonan (Elkhart), Fr. Jacob Runyon (Fort Wayne), Fr. Andrew Budzinski (Fort Wayne), Fr. Jason Freiburger (Elkhart), Fr. Matt Soberalski (Fort Wayne) and Fr. Jonathan Norton (Fort Wayne).

The roster for the Seminarian team includes: Team Captain Daniel Niezer, Eric Burgener, Thomas Zehr, Patrick Hake, Jay Horning, Mike Grazinski, Michael Ammer, Cody Martin, Ben Landrigan, Dominic Garrett and Mark Hellinger. Special guests include Deacon Jim & Karen Fitzpatrick, Referee Monsignor Michael Heintz and Announcers Fr. Jacob Meyer and seminarian David Huneck.