Canton Academy hosts ‘Teddy Bear Toss’

Canton Academy hosted their second annual “Teddy Bear Toss” for the children of the University of Mississippi Medical Center on Monday night during halftime of the girls’ basketball game against Winona Christian.

This is the second year of the event, where at halftime of a selected game around Christmas time, all the fans in the crowd toss a stuffed animal onto the court, which are later donated.

Canton Academy Girls’ Head Coach Jacob Iles started the event last year after first witnessing the event at a minor league hockey game in Ft. Myers, Florida. 

“It always stuck in my mind because it was such a unique idea and looked great visually with all the stuffed animals flying through the air and out on the ice,” Iles said. “It’s not just your normal toy drive, it allows the fans and community to be more excited and interactive about it and we have seen great results in our first two years doing it.” 

There were all different types of stuffed animals flying through the air during halftime from almost everyone in the crowd, on both sides, including all of the players from both Canton Academy and Winona Christian. 

It was a great turnout and you could feel the excitement buzzing through the air with fans waiting for halftime.

“I think we had the same participation as last year at the minimum, but likely even more,” Iles said. “It’s only our second year of doing it and we are wanting to try to grow it, it’s all about getting the word out for next year.” 

They were able to stuff four big bike bags full of stuffed animals and Iles estimated that the number of stuffed animals donated was in the hundreds. Canton Academy will be donating the stuffed animals to the UMC later this week and will continue to spread awareness about the event before next year.

As for the game, the Canton Academy Girls’ team was able to come away with a 30-25 win over Winona Christian. Junior Tillie Oglesbee led the Lady Panthers with 14 points on the night.