It all started with machetes.

In 1994, 17-year-old Lance Burgo was playing basketball with friends in New Bedford. The city hadn’t turned the lights at the court, so the group lined up their cars around the blacktop to light the game. They’d been playing for about half an hour when a van pulled up.

Inside were two girls carrying machetes and a man looking for a drug dealer.

“My son is kind of like me,” recalled Lance’s father, Steve Burgo. “He got up in the guy’s face and told me, he said, ‘Look, there’s no drug dealers here.’” Lance told him they were just there to play basketball and the guy ended up leaving.

But for Steve Burgo, the moment was a turning point.

“I told him, ‘I’m tired of this,’” Burgo said. “Because something had happened at Buttonwood Park kind of on the same idea a few weeks before that. So, I said, ‘No, no — I’m going to build a court in the backyard so I know you guys are safe.’”

Everyone laughed at the idea. But two weeks later, thanks to Reis Asphalt, a court stood in Burgo’s backyard and 20 kids were already there playing.

“We had a lot of Division 1 ball players playing in my backyard, which was an amazing thing,” he said.

How it all began

Burgo, now 74, had been a baseball player first, then a high school basketball standout at Dartmouth High. Coaching became his passion, and by 1994 he had a backyard full of kids with nowhere else to play.

That was when his father told him bluntly: “You’re going to start a league because these kids have no place to go.”

At first, Burgo hesitated. He worked as an executive at Sears for 32 years and didn’t think he had the time. But his father pushed: “You’re going to find the time.”

“I did,” Burgo said. By the end of his first year, he had 72 kids in the program. That number grew to 120 and held steady for a decade as the Burgo Basketball Association became the non-profit organization it is today.

“Basketball is my life,” he said. “I love the game. I love watching kids play the game. I love teaching the kids how to play the game. That’s why basketball.”

Journey to a recreation center

The Burgo Basketball Association continued to grow, eventually moving in 2004 to leased land on Slocum Road. 

Years ago, he told longtime referee Mike Conceicao, “Mike, this is my dream. This is what I want to do.”

And it’s become a reality, with the association averaging 1,500 to 1,700 kids each year. Burgo said any changes made in the association over the years have been done to keep up with his growing league.

And the dream for the last 20 years has been to build a recreation center on the property — one with four or five indoor courts, classrooms, a walking track and soccer fields out back.

“Until that building’s done, I won’t feel like I’ve done my job,” Burgo said.

The plan has faced setback after setback. Lease restrictions made it impossible to secure financing. Costs skyrocketed after the pandemic. Before Covid, the required 65,000 square feet of steel would have cost $862,000 and it is now $3.6 million, so the project needs to be built in phases, he said.

Still, in March of last year, on his father’s birthday, Burgo signed a 30-year lease for the land, opening the door to move forward. He is now waiting on major sponsorships.

“So whoever comes up first is the person that’s going to get that opportunity,” he said of the facility’s naming rights.

He wants to avoid bank loans if possible. “The less money we have to spend and we can get donations to do things, the better off it’s going to be for the kids,” Burgo said, noting he didn’t want to leave a mortgage for the next generation to deal with.

He encourages anyone who can to help out in meeting their goal. 

“The people with the money in this town need to know what a gem they’ve got here. They need to know that these kids need them,” Burgo said. “They need to step up for the kids. They need to help all these organizations — not just mine.”

However, he said he is determined for construction to begin within the next year – even if that means a trip to the bank.

The next generation

As Burgo looks to the future, his grandson, Donovan, is already stepping into leadership.

Donovan, 19, graduated from Dartmouth High School in 2024, where he was voted most athletic. He’s now studying physical therapy and playing baseball at UMass Dartmouth, while serving as the association’s vice president.

Burgo recalled when Donovan was just four years old helping carry a board across the property and he stopped and said to him: “Grampy, I’m going to do this when I get older.”

Now he is. Donovan oversees scorers, referees and the smooth operation of tournaments, taking on more and more responsibility as time goes on. 

“They said it’s never run smoother,” Burgo said of the referees who worked with Donovan this year.

“This is the brightest part of the BBA coming. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Burgo said. “I’ll be honest with you, I’d be lost without this little guy.”

The family’s presence runs deep in the association. Donovan said, “We have everyone here in our family practically every night, with my aunts and mom all working in the concession, me and my sister scoring and just all of our cousins doing whatever they can around here.”

Burgo’s wife, Donna, is the backbone of it all. “She’s like the unsung hero of the BBA,” Donovan said. 

Burgo added, “Without this woman by my side, this wouldn’t happen. She’s given up about 26 years of her life.”

Lots of people to thank

But the list of association supporters stretches long: local officials, volunteers, companies and friends who poured sweat, time, and resources into building the organization into what it is today.

Burgo credited sheriff’s department crews, former principal King, ground worker Michael Silva, and Dartmouth Public Works Director Tim Barber, who completed all the engineering plans. He also listed referee Mike Conceicao, Buddy Wheatley, Tom Goodine, Chuck Lally, David Andrade, Wayne Williams, Brian Cordeiro, Alekz Hirschmann, Preston LaBonte, Graham Gisherman, Manny DeBritto and Chris Mendoza as integral to the association’s legacy.

“It’s amazing the people who actually stepped forward to help us,” Burgo said.

Through it all, he remains grateful — and focused on the kids.

“I want to leave something for the kids of the greater New Bedford area,” Burgo said. “I want to leave something for them and I know it’s going to be in good hands. I want to leave Dartmouth better than when I got here.”

And though he said he will feel like a failure until the recreation facility is built, his impact is already written across generations.

“I’m the richest man in the world,” Burgo said. “There’s not a place that I go that I don’t see kids from the past who honestly come up to me and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Burgo,’ and my answer to them is, ‘Thank you for being a part of my life.’”