Alumni game, scholarships help honor memory of former Ocoee basketball standout

Story and photos by Nate Marrero | Contributing writer

OCOEE Players and spectators packed the gym at Ocoee High School May 21 to honor the memory of former Knight basketball standout Bob Deronvil.

The fifth annual Bob Deronvil Memorial Classic successfully raised $2,171 to go toward scholarships for Yazivette Troche and Jules Joseph of Ocoee High School. The evening featured multiple basketball games, including an alumni game, a 3-point contest and a dunk contest. 

The event is in its fifth year of honoring the memory of Deronvil, who passed away in 2011 while playing a recreational game of basketball at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, where the former standout for the Knights was considering walking-on for the varsity basketball team.

Part of the way family and friends have chosen to honor Deronvil’s memory is by utilizing the Bob Deronvil Memorial Scholarship Fund to help one male and one female student-athlete from Ocoee High each year.

For Troche, the scholarship money will help her as she goes to Florida Gulf Coast University to pursue a major in biology.

“I am very thankful,”  Troche said. “Time was cutting close and I hadn’t received any news from any of the scholarships I applied for … I didn’t think I was going to be able to get any money for college. So the fact that the Bob Deronvil Committee raised money for both me and Jules was a blessing.”

For Joseph, who wrestled for Ocoee High School, the scholarship money will go towards him continuing his wrestling career and pursue a major in Biochemistry with a premed track at Truman State University.

“I’m so thankful because this is helping me follow my dream of becoming a cardiologist so I can help people like Bob and my grandmother who died of heart conditions,” Joseph said. “The event really meant a lot to me not just because of the money for school, but because of what it stood for.”

In the day’s first game, Grindmode topped Team Knockout, 58-51. Taylor Turdua won the three point contest, and the dunk contest ended in a tie. In the final game, Team Mills topped Team Knockout 75-73, as a lay-up and two free throws in the final minute helped propel Team Mills to victory.