The South Dakota family that entertained millions on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” program last year with a unicycling basketball show is making stops in Iowa tomorrow and next week. Bruce Crevier, his wife Diane, and their 12 children comprise Champions Forever Ministries and they’ve performed in 35 countries while perched and pedaling far above the basketball court. “Basically, we do a basketball show and we incorporate ball-handling moves and also unicycles and a high-energy format that gets the attention of our audience,” Crevier says, “and then we share a message about what it means to be a champion in the game of life.”
Most of the family’s appearances are in schools as they like to do what Crevier calls “preventative maintenance,” encouraging kids to make the right choices.As above) “I’ve been in over 500 prisons doing my basketball show, as a visitor of course,” he laughs. “I’ve seen a lot of people that have made a lot of the wrong choices. Sometimes, you think you’ll never end up there but the fact of the matter is, a lot of people can end up there and do end up there.”
That’s why they try to reach young people when they’re still in their formative years, he says. Crevier holds four Guinness world records, including one for spinning 21 basketballs simultaneously. “I also hold the world’s record for spinning one basketball for the longest time without stopping which was a long time,” Crevier says. “I ended up spinning it for 22 hours and 12 minutes. My finger and my arms were very sore.”
Appearances by the Champions Forever basketball show are planned for Sunday in Oskaloosa at the Upward Basketball Program and on Thursday (March 27th) at Webster City Middle School as part of a daylong Character Counts celebration. Learn more at: www.championsforever.com
(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)