Donkey Basketball: The Greatest Show on Earth?

FAIRBURY, Neb. -- Donkey basketball swept through Fairbury this weekend and it brought the community out to support those playing. 

“Bringing the community together,” said organizer Tammi Mans. “I’m ecstatic about the amount of people here. I haven’t seen the gym this full in a long time so we’re really happy about that.”

Fairbury hasn’t seen donkey basketball since some of the current staff at the school were students. 

“I see a lot of older FFA alumni kids that were seniors that year that we did it, and so they’re back here and some of them have little kids and it makes me feel old,” said event organizer Thomas Dux.

Ride donkeys across a basketball court and make a shot. Simple enough, right?

Not so much.

“Yeah, it bit my knee,” said Jakolbe Atkins, donkey basketball player. “Trying to get on the donkey might have been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Sometimes it would stop and other times, I would try to jump on but the moment I put any part of my body on it, it started bucking me off.”

First, the donkeys bucked the participants off. 

“Man, I thought I broke my wrist there those first couple of times,” Atkins said. “Landed straight on it. I tried to catch myself but I shouldn’t have.”

Then the donkeys were pretty stubborn. 

“Well, I actually just went to the side of it,” said Lexi Mau, donkey basketball player. “<y reins actually weren’t correctly lined up, so I actually ended up having to get off. But I just jumped up and it was actually pretty simple. He didn’t run or anything. He didn’t move. He just stood there.”

Most of the time, the donkeys standing in place wasn’t the best strategy. 

And the classic potty break. The game would stop every time a donkey defecated. 

“Shoutout to our pooper scoopers out there,” Dux said. “A couple of FFA boys. Even though Ron keeps saying it’s a crappy job, those guys are the ones for it.”

But after a while, the players got used to the game. 

“I would say just going out,” said Lauren Wanamaker, donkey basketball player. “You know the boys out there were doing everything they could to get the donkey to move. Kicking them. Doing whatever they could.”

After three games, the Fairbury FFA won the tournament. It was an experience, many in that gym, fans and players, would never forget.

“It was a lot of fun,” Atkins said. “I only got donkeys that bucked so it made it a lot more fun. Trying to get on them was the hard part.”