Before 2009, Mark Tyndale was a Simon Gratz and Temple graduate who never personally met Danny Rumph. He was a gritty dude from North Philly with a knack for scoring. A desire to work his way up to the NBA through the G-League (formerly D-League).
In the summer of 2009, just before training camp, Tyndale came through the annual Danny Rumph Classic to play with one of the Classic’s first bomb squads, Redz Creative Cut. At the weekend’s end, Tyndale was named Rumph Classic MVP.
Since then, it’s been nothing but love for the Rumph. However, the basketball and the MVP aren’t the focal point of Tyndale’s admiration.
“It’s a great thing for the city of Philadelphia,” Tyndale says about the Rumph. “It brings a lot of camaraderie to the city. It’s a great atmosphere and it’s for a great cause. That’s what people may lose sight of — what it’s for. That’s why I love supporting. That’s why I always will be a Rumph supporter for life.”
The Rumph has grown since Tyndale’s playing days, including women’s games and both boys and girls middle school showcases ahead of the championship on Monday night.
What sticks out to Tyndale, though, as he has pivoted to assistant coach of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, are the kind-hearted personalities of Danny’s mother, Candy, and uncle, Marcus. He also points out the work that Rumph’s friends Mike Morak, Sharif Bray and Sharif Hanford.
Candy and Marcus began the Daniel E. Rumph II Foundation to help discover heart issues in young children across Philadelphia after hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), the leading cause of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) for modern youth, claimed Danny’s life in 2005 at the young age of 21 just before his senior season at Western Kentucky.
Now, the Rumph Foundation is celebrating the conclusion of it’s 19th annual basketball tournament honoring the former Hilltopper and raising funds to help #SaveTheNextBrightStar.
“I think that people really did it to help people stay alive,” Tyndale said. And when you lose somebody so close, like [Candy] lost her son, she doesn’t want to see another mother lose their son for the lack of resources that the gym might have had. …I think that’s why people are so passionate about it because it ain’t about money, it’s about the principle.”
Tyndale was at Temple during Rumph’s tenure at WKU, and remembers the day he tragically collapsed at the old Mallery Recreation Center. Some of Tyndale’s Temple teammates were at the pickup session with Rumph, and told Tyndale about what happened once they got back to campus.
Having so many mutual friends and acquaintances as Rumph, Tyndale was able to quickly hear about the type of person Danny was, which triggered something in him. As soon as Tyndale was eligible for the tournament without messing up his college eligibility, he signed up to play in the annual weekend tournament.
“I just heard he was a great person,” Tyndale recalled. “I heard he was a great athlete, great student, great son to his mother and a great friend. I heard nothing but good things about him. They said he was funny.
I talked to somebody last night that I had no idea that they even knew Danny, and they went to school with him. They were just telling me stories about him. Saying he was a super funny guy, charismatic, and they say he was just great to be around. I heard he was a fun person. So I love to hear stories like that.”
Tyndale played multiple summers at the Rumph, believing he deserved more than just his one MVP award. Although they would be nice to have, Tyndale doesn’t really care about the accolades.
How the Classic captivates an entire city for a full weekend for something as positive and serious as the Rumph Foundation’s cause enamores the former Owl. Yes, the atmosphere and NBA cameos are great — and Tyndale fondly remembers lacing his shoes against former Philadelphia 76ers wing John Salmons. But what Tyndale enjoyed is playing for Danny, someone he never knew.
“It was great to put the team on my back,” Tyndale said. “And I had some great teammates and great support. I always play with a chip on my shoulder to this day, if I ever get out there. It’s just I always got something to prove. I think it’s just a Philly mentality. Like, you always want to represent for yourself, your playground, the name on the back of the jersey and, obviously, we’re doing it for the name on the front of the jersey, which is Danny Rumph. So you just always want to put on a good performance for the crowd and for the people that came before you.”
