Three years after the unexpected death of Waylon Madison Sauer, a beloved 17-year-old Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) student known for his positivity and kindness, his friends, family, teachers, and the broader Island community honored his memory with the third annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
On Sunday, Islanders filled the local high school gymnasium in Waylon’s honor for the Waylon Madison Sauer Memorial Basketball Tournament, to memorialize his love for basketball and the uplifting presence he brought to the Island’s community.
“We’re so grateful. It’s an emotional event for us, but also really heartwarming, and it’s really incredible how many of our own friends make the effort to be here,” said Wenonah Madison, Waylon’s mother. “My son Amos, who’s a junior, and his friends showed up to support him and our family. It really means a lot.”
“He [Waylon] wasn’t the best player on the team, but he had a lot of heart,” she added.
Waylon, who was a junior in high school and a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), died on Nov. 14, 2023, in a car accident on State Road in West Tisbury. The loss of the young Islander rattled the Vineyard community. The first basketball tournament in Waylon’s memory was organized by his classmates in 2024.
A total of 16 teams with rosters of five to six players competed in the 3-on-3 tournament on Sunday. After each team played seven games, team Over 30, made up of MVRHS basketball alumni, took on Vineyard Hoops, made up of current MVRHS basketball players, in the championship game.
Over 30’s roster included 2014 graduates Kane Araujo and Adonis Camby, 2010 graduate Steve Handy, 2024 graduate Josh Lake, and Island residents Max Masucci and Keeland Gomes. Vineyard Hoops had juniors Jacoby Light, Landon Lepine, Leo Napior, and Fletcher Zack, as well as sophomore Taurus Biskis. In the final seconds of the game, Over 30 was up five points, and held onto the ball to run out the clock and secure the win for the third straight year.
Lake, who was a grade above Waylon, said he comes back to compete because of the heartwarming Island community. “Waylon was a special person,” said Lake. “I like to come back and get a piece of it [the community] whenever I can.”
Waylon’s siblings also took to the court. After the championship game, Zuzu Sauer, 9, carried the championship trophy, and her sister, Jaleah Sauer, 10, presented the medals to Over 30 at center court. Amos Sauer, a junior and MVRHS hockey player, joined Over 30 for the title game. Madison said Araujo always makes an extra jersey for him to wear if they play in the championship.
Madison added that the day has special meaning for her children.
“It means a lot to them,” she said. “You quietly grieve along with your life all the time, every day. But it is heartwarming for them to see so many people show up for their brother. His name is always up on the wall here … This is just special, that’s all.”
Other teams that competed included the MV 1st Responders, which notably included Oak Bluffs harbormaster and MVRHS alumna Emily DeBettencourt; the MVRHS hockey team’s Dirty Danglers; an MVRHS group of juniors called the Pink Princesses; team Theo Moore, who wore cooking aprons as uniforms; a group of middle-schoolers and high school freshman called Six Pack; and team Mook, made up of Waylon’s high school friends who came back from college to compete. Team Mook included 2025 MVRHS graduate Kert Kleeman, a close friend of Waylon who was instrumental in starting the Waylon Madison Sauer Scholarship Fund and the first memorial tournament.
Team Billy also came to compete. Most recently, Team Billy raised more than $100,000 for pediatric cancer research through their annual Jimmy Fund walk remembering William (“Billy”) John Fournier, who passed away on July 4, 2024, at 3 years old from a rare liver cancer called hepatoblastoma.
Prior to the first tipoff on Sunday, donations to the memorial basketball tournament reached more than $100,000, and donations continued to come in throughout the day.
“The junior class did a lot of the work, so we’ll share the proceeds with them, and they’ll use some of it for some of their future things, like prom and whatever else they’re up to, and then they’ll donate some of it to the scholarship,” said Madison.
Kleeman and Otis Forrester, close friends of Waylon, launched the scholarship fund in Waylon’s name as a capstone project in 2024; today, it has raised more than $70,000. MVRHS 2024 junior class president Tayna Silva organized the first basketball tournament in 2024, and the tradition is being carried on by Amos’ class.
Amy Jacques-Purdy, a social studies teacher at MVRHS and junior class advisor, along with Erin Slossberg, Spanish teacher and junior class advisor, led the junior class in carrying the torch and organizing this year’s event.
“The kids did a lot of the support work, contacting sponsors, and they did a lot of the work at the actual tournament, picking up and selling food, and selling T shirts. A lot of our kids from the class of 2027 also played, which is great,” Jacques-Purdy said. “We generally get a good group of kids because they know the family and community well, and they are a tight-knit group.”
She added that the juniors also created a new logo for the event. “It’s a team effort for sure. It’s a heavy lift, but it’s so worthwhile. Teams come back year after year, which we are really grateful for,” said Jacques-Purdy. “We are so fortunate to live on an Island with such a caring and supportive community. They are financially supportive, but they also just show up, and it’s telling.”
“It’s an awesome day, and it’s a really good way to remember a really good, talented, sweet young man,” she added.
Nell Coogan, a guidance counselor at MVRHS who was part of organizing the first tournament in 2024, reflected on the continued tradition.
“It’s really a testament to how special this community is. I think with the students having Amos [Sauer] in that junior class, everybody understands and feels the sadness and the loss, but really loves to come together to celebrate who Waylon was and have a great time together,” Coogan said. “When something tragic happens in a place like this, the amount of people who come together — you don’t even know all their connections, or if there even is one — it’s just that we are connected because it’s an Island, and we care so much about each other.”
Coogan expressed hope in continuing the tradition. “It’s always hard as the years go on, and I think that’s the piece that’s great about this tournament,” Coogan said. “If there’s a way to keep it going not only to remember a great human we lost, but for the community to get together and have that fun experience, it would be amazing.”
Waylon’s memory has been honored in other ways as well. In November 2024, hundreds of friends and family of Waylon donned wetsuits and came together for a paddle-out at Squibnocket Beach, where they formed a circle past shorebreak in unity and held a moment of silence before dropping flowers in the water. The first memorial basketball tournament for Waylon was held earlier that year in April, when hundreds of Islanders flooded the Pachico Gymnasium.