Perseverance is important for any new endeavor, but establishing summer basketball in Lawrence required more than its share.

When dissatisfaction with the conditions at Haverhill's All-Talent League led to dissension, former Lawrence High standout and 2001 Greater Lawrence Christmas Tourney MVP Wilkins Victor saw the opportunity to make his dream of high quality hometown hoops become reality. With the help of childhood friend Roberto German, the Lawtown Summer Classic came to life within six hectic months and will complete its inaugural season with its playoff round starting this Sunday.

"A couple of friends asked me if I could start a league," Victor said. "Sixty percent of the players here used to play in the ATL but they were unhappy with the league and unhappy with the court."

"The idea was in Wilkins' head for a couple of years," German said. "He wanted to make sure he worked with someone respected in the community who could help organize a business plan and get things going."

Roadblocks were many, with the league's home site providing an apt analogy. Playing at a nicely remodeled Sullivan Park, in the shadows of a new Lawrence High School and refurbished Veterans Memorial Stadium, is one thing. But in a city with a vast history of basketball success, government priorities could be called into question when the park was rebuilt with just two hoop courts, overflowing with activity on a recent Sunday afternoon, while six pristine tennis courts sat unused.

But Victor and German, new to the machinations of city government, wanted to make Lawtown work by making an impact athletically and, more important, in the community it wishes to serve.

"We wanted to address some of the hardships young males face in the community," German said. "Too many folks think it's a small thing, but basketball opens doors for many people, not just for basketball but for positive experiences in all ways and to take ownership of your actions."

One of the ways the league is making an impact is by respecting its home base.

"It's not right to have graffiti on the backboards and the court, it's not right to have the area trashed," German said. "We have to take responsibility."

As part of its entry fee and as a way to show pride in its new community, Lawrence High's varsity squad cleaned up the park, generating "30 to 40 bags of trash" from the project according to German. The message almost was lost on the youngsters when the bags sat uncollected for three-to-four weeks, but as German sought to save the situation by having the players find a site to take the trash, the city removed the bags.

"It was pretty discouraging but we sat with the kids and addressed it," German said.

Discouragement was an ample ingredient in the entire process. Victor endured a demanding permit process running through many levels of City Hall. Even with verifiable manpower committed to cleanup and maintenance, the city wouldn't provide equipment to aid the task, a negative turned positive with the creative help of the Housing Authority. And the biggest obstacle of all was the lack of an indoor court that created weather cancellations three weeks in a row.

But one huge positive shone through it all — the army of Victor's interested basketball brethren. Former teammates from the Lancers and Salem State committed themselves as did respected opponents from the Merrimack Valley Conference and college, local hardcourt legends, all looking to establish Lawrence as a home for the valley's best summer ball.

"Guys fly in from Florida on Saturday to play Sunday," Victor related. "Players from New York drive down. We get people from Salem, Mass., Lowell, Peabody. Whoever came here came by word of mouth."

"I know all the guys and it's definitely more fun to play basketball on a Sunday afternoon," 2002 Eagle-Tribune Super Teamer and Merrimack College standout Olatungie Lightfoot-Taylor said. "I want to stay in shape somehow. I'm not a cross country runner. There's not an ounce of (Steve) Prefontaine in me."

"We've finally got a good league here," said Jose Otero, a former Central Catholic star who now works for the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club. "I've played elsewhere — a winter league in Haverhill and all, but there's no comparison. This one is more competitive. With this league here and Hoops for Hope coming back (after a year away), it's good to have that history back."

Stevie Martinez, a product of the Lawrence Boys Club and who excelled at New Hampshire's Proctor Academy, said "the local legends try to let it be known we were here first. You've got to earn (your reputation). For the older guys, it's been perfect this summer. They continue to care."

With initial plans for a 10-team league, response was so strong that Lawtown started with 14 teams from as far away as Holyoke, Springfield, and Rhode Island. Victor even had to turn away four squads looking to join. But the sky's the limit for next summer.

"We hope to get more sponsors involved, not just for the additional funding but to just make for a great Sunday event where kids and families can come out and have fun," Victor said. "We want to get indoors, something I think will happen, and we want more teams. I hope we can get an NCAA sanction to increase the level of play more."

For now, the Lawtown Summer Classic closes out with its playoffs this Sunday and next followed by a clash with the best of the Boston Ballout League Aug. 17. For Victor, German and the league's other pioneers, the hope and expectation is that a tumultuous first year turns into something the players and the community can cherish for years to come.

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Who's who of Lawtown hoops

A brief list of Lawtown Summer Classic members reads like a history of area hoop success. Some of the participants and their accomplishments:

Wilkins Victor

League director, Lawrence High grad, 2001 Gr. Lawrence Christmas Classic MVP, 2002 E-T All-Star, captain of Salem State College team as a senior

Stevie Martinez

Won Amelia Reeve Social Action Youth Award for teens throughout Massachusetts as member of Lawrence Boys and Girls Clubs, two-year captain at Proctor Academy in Andover, N.H. including New England championship squad in 2001, first minority class president in 152-year history at Proctor, played for Lasell College in Newton

Olatungie Lightfoot-Taylor

Lawrence High grad, 2002 E-T Super Teamer, MVC MVP, co-captain and double-figure average scorer for Merrimack College in 2008 despite surgery for tumor and broken hand

Jose Otero

Starting guard for Central Catholic, 2002 MVC All-Star and E-T honorable mention, played at Worcester State College

Luis Perez

Lawrence High standout, two-time MVC Division 2 MVP, led area scorers in 2004 (26.2 PPG) and was seventh in Eastern Mass., E-T Super Teamer, played for Southern New Hampshire University and Northern Essex