The annual Danny Rumph Classic returns for its 19th year. Here’s what to know about the event

In 2005, Danny Rumph died at the Mallery Recreation Center because of an undiagnosed heart condition. In 2006, his family and best friends started a pickup game in his honor, which has since become a Philadelphia basketball institution, the Rumph Classic.

Now in its 19th year, the Rumph Classic will run from Thursday to Monday and is sure to bring in some Philadelphia basketball royalty. Here’s everything you need to know about the event.

The Rumph Classic is a five-day pro-am basketball tournament in honor of Danny Rumph.

The basketball tournament raises funds and awareness for the Danny Rumph Foundation. Over the five days, eight men’s teams will compete in the pro-am tournament, four teams will compete in the women’s tournament, and two boys’ and girls’ middle school teams will compete. The Rumph Classic will also feature a children’s clinic and an outdoor festival.

Rumph died in 2005 at the Mallery Recreation Center, now called the Rumph Recreation Center, in Germantown. He had an undiagnosed heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. There were no AEDs in the building, and he never had the opportunity to get a heart screening.

When he collapsed on the court, nobody knew CPR, there was no defibrillator in the rec center, and the ambulance took about 45 minutes to get there.

» READ MORE: In Danny Rumph’s honor, family and foundation work to prevent sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes

“With all those elements, he had very little chance of surviving,” Rumph Classic co-founder Mike Morak told The Inquirer. “His mom and his uncle started a foundation. They wanted to get defibrillators for all the rec centers, because none of the rec centers at the time had defibrillators in them. Then, they wanted to work on doing heart screens for young athletes that didn’t have access to doing a heart screening.”

This year, the foundation donated about 20 defibrillators to the Delaware Boys and Girls Club, and it also has donated 15 to the Philadelphia Boys and Girls Club. The foundation sponsors six youth basketball teams and also hosts events where children ages 5 to 17 can get heart screenings.

The foundation is looking to expand in other ways, including a podcasting workshop in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club, a culinary program, and other youth endeavors.

Rumph’s mother, Viola Owens, is the heart of the organization.

“Throughout the course of the year, Danny’s mom is probably doing four different events a month that range from taking care of people in her neighborhood with clothes, with shoes, with socks, and feeding them, as well as being that first resource, if somebody at a local shelter has a new family, or something happens to a family, she’s the first one there to support them with anything that they may need,” Morak said. “That could range from taking care of food, taking care of clothing. His mom embodies who we are as a foundation. That’s just how she lives day to day, uplifting the Germantown, Mount Airy community.”

The Rumph Classic will be played at the Community College of Philadelphia. The event starts on Thursday at 5:45 p.m., with the last of four games tipping off at 8:45 p.m. It continues same time on Friday. On Saturday, games tip off at 1 p.m. with the women’s tournament starting at 3:30 p.m.

On Sunday, the children’s clinic will start at 11:30 a.m. before the women’s championship at 1:45 p.m. and the men’s semifinals tip off at 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. On Monday, the outdoor festival starts at 4:30 p.m., the boys’ middle school showcase starts at 6 p.m., the girls’ middle school showcase starts at 6:30 p.m., and the men’s championship tips off at 7 p.m.

» READ MORE: Tyrese Maxey drops in on the Danny Rumph Classic, where stars and local legends align

Many Philly-area players compete in the Rumph Classic, and a number of NBA stars have also been known to show up over the years. In recent years, Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Maxey, James Harden, and Jalen Brunson have appeared at the Rumph Classic.

Philly natives Marcus and Markief Morris are frequent attendees, and Morak said Hakim Warrick was critical in helping build the event in for the community.

“Having those guys be NBA fixtures and great advocates for Philly basketball has certainly helped us grow throughout the years,” Morak said. “There’s a lot of those type of guys around just the basketball landscape in Philadelphia that also take a sense of pride in what the event is, what it means. Across the board we try to make sure that we’re integrated in the basketball community, because a lot of us that helped organize and run the event, all of us are into basketball daily throughout the course of the year. In a lot of aspects, we are the Philadelphia basketball community.”