- And for our next story, we head to a parking lot on the CMU campus for the Mount Pleasant Gus Macker three-on-three basketball tournament.

Now, if you're like me and grew up in Michigan, chances are that you are very familiar with this three day b-ball tournament.

But did you also know that it started in a driveway in Lowell 50 years ago?

And did you also know that Gus Macker was an actual person?

(inspirational music) (athletes chattering) It's a simple concept, three-on-three basketball.

Three players versus three players playing half court.

First team to 15 wins and you have to win by two.

- I think historically, we're gonna look back and go, he's the guy that created the three-on-three opportunity.

And whether you do it formally at a Gus Macker or in your neighborhood backyard and you got six guys and you go, "Hey, let's play three-on-three."

Prior to 1974, there was no such name.

- [Matthew] So who is Gus Macker and why did he create three-on-three?

- It was March Madness.

We were a little tired of playing each other as kids in the driveway over and over again.

So we decided, hey, let's play for money during spring break.

So we all threw a dollar in a hat, when I say "we all," kids from the neighborhood, guys that went to school with me, all threw a dollar in a hat and we said the winning team would get the money.

Everybody had a weird nickname.

My mom worked at Amway, which is only a few miles away, and she was typing up and making copies on the machine to handle to all the kids in school.

And she just took my nickname, which was Gus Macker and put it on the top of it 'cause we didn't have a title for it and it kind of stuck.

- [Matthew] That first tournament was in 1974 in the McNeal driveway in the small town of Lowell.

Word spread quickly throughout West Michigan about this basketball tournament where anyone could play.

And it seemed as though everyone wanted to play.

- Our biggest push was we got to the middle eighties and it was a West Michigan thing.

But Sports Illustrated put an article out in 1985 and it was a feature story, 11, 12 pages, and it went nuts.

I mean, it just blew us up nationally.

- [Matthew] That article changed everything.

The basketball tournament started by a high school junior and his friends had gained national attention.

It outgrew the driveway, neighborhood, and even the city of Lowell.

Scott left his teaching job and took his Gus Macker three-on-three basketball tournament on the road.

In the 1990s, it was common to have weekend events that drew thousands of teams with even more spectators.

It took over cities.

- It's a basketball tournament, but really it's a community festival.

And I think that's where Gus has been successful for 49 years, 'cause he's bought into the rural, small communities.

You don't see these in downtown San Diego.

You see 'em in Iron Mountain, you see 'em in Mount Pleasant and you see 'em in Ludington.

Because you come into a community, bring a vibrancy to that community for a weekend and then you leave, clean it up, make it better than you left before.

And every city makes a charitable donation back to the city that hosted.

Here at CMU, Gus makes a $10,000 donation back to CMU.

- [Matthew] The Do or Die Shot, Gus Busters, Threads by Gus, Dream Court, the Toilet Bowl, these are aspects of the tournament that have made Gus Macker uniquely awesome.

- The trophies in general are way overboard.

The baskets are a little bit overboard.

The basketballs are a little nicer.

Our idea was make a Cadillac event.

You still may play another three-on-three's, but you live to play in the Macker once a year in your area.

- I always tell Gus he's done two really, really cool things in 49 years, only two.

And of course we giggle and laugh.

Gus created a toilet bowl for the teams that lost twice, played the other teams that lost twice, playing for this last trophy.

So one, it gives you a third competition opportunity, and two, you're walking away with something tangible that you remember.

The second is Dream Court.

- [Announcer] And the last player for the Peaches, Justin Jalen.

- That he has created a stadium-like atmosphere, a temporary surface, banners, flags, a public address system, an MVP that gets interviewed at the end of the game.

Every youth that plays, and we have two thirds of our teams are under 17 years of age.

Everybody wants to play in Dream Court.

- [Matthew] From kids 7 years old to those 50 plus, this event is designed for everyone.

And anyone can play and the atmosphere is definitely family friendly.

From its inception, they figure over 2 million players have competed in a Gus Macker.

In addition, the tournaments have raised over $15 million for local charities.

It is safe to say the Gus Macker three-on-three basketball tournament has come a long way from that driveway in Lowell.