Each year, Weber’s Bulldog Basketball Camp presents an Illumination Award 🏆 at the end of the week to a special camper who “lights up” the camp, both on and off the court. It’s our largest and most prestigious award, and always goes to the person who made the brightest 💫 🌟 and most positive impact on the coaches and players throughout the week.

This year, the award has been renamed in honor of a very special camper-turned-coach, who was a part of our basketball program for over a decade.

Joseph T. Wezwick was Coach Bill Weber’s younger cousin by marriage, and he started coming to this camp when he was just 11 years old. Joseph played many sports, but basketball was, by far, his favorite. He didn’t live in Maryland — but in fact, almost 500 miles away in South Carolina. However, Joe said of all the camps he had ever been to (and there were many), our camp was his favorite. So, every summer his dad would drive him and a friend up to Maryland to attend for a week or more. As Joe got older, he started working at the camp, where he was able to coach his younger cousins, the same way he had been coached all those years before.

Joseph was only 25 years old when he passed away, suddenly, on June 8, 2021. This has been a huge loss, not just for his family and friends, but for everyone who was ever lucky enough to play basketball with, or coach alongside of, Joe here at camp. The Weber family recently spent spring break vacation with Joseph. Together, we did a lot of what we love most – shot hoops and watched the thrilling NCAA Final Four games on TV. So many of our family’s memories with Joseph are synonymous with joy, fun, and a shared love of basketball. That is why this month, we felt it was only fitting to rename our biggest and brightest 🏆 in his honor.

The first-ever Joseph T. Wezwick Illumination Award will be handed out a week from today, Friday, July 16th to the child who “lights up” camp — the same way Joseph did for so many wonderful summers. Joseph’s camp teams never won the Championship title in all the years he attended. However, we think he would be proud and honored to know that his name will now be on a Championship Friday trophy at the end of each and every week.

The Weber family misses him terribly, and it is our hope that every camper who attends next week, and every week after, has as much fun at our camp as Joe did each and every single year.

🏀 🌟 🏆

-The Weber’s Bulldog Basketball Family