Check out what the YMCA has roped Buddy Bailey into doing this week.
Bailey, a familiar face around town both for his work as a furniture pitchman and his days as a basketball star, will rappel 130 feet down JL Tower with a broken hand -- his shooting hand, no less -- in a cast.
"I'm a tough guy," Bailey joked.
The YMCA is making its first fundraiser in Anchorage an usual one, hiring a company called Over the Edge to run an event that will send about 50 people rappelling down the side of the 14-story JL Tower building in midtown.
Bailey will be among a handful who will descend on Thursday afternoon from 1-4 p.m., a prelude to the main event on Friday that will run from 9 a.m. until about 4 p.m.
"You have your golf tournaments and your list of races, the 5-Ks and the 10-Ks ... We thought this would be a good fit for Anchorage," said Patrick Flanigin, president of the YMCA board of directors. "Every year we have an annual campaign to donate, but in terms of having a fundraiser, this'll be the first big fundraising event the Y has ever done."
Participants will raise money in the form of pledges, with $1,500 as the target for each individual.
Bailey, of Bailey's Furniture fame, said he was thrilled to be asked to participate. He'll emcee the Friday event and will spend part of the time pumping up the YMCA.
"It's been such a big portion of my life, in being a young basketball player in Alaska. It really impacted my life in a big way, so I was really glad and honored that they asked me to emcee," he said.
Bailey, 26, started playing hoops at the Y as a third grader. Among his rivals was Mario Chalmers, who played in this year's NBA Finals with the Miami Heat and is back in town this week for his Miracle Shot basketball camp at Bartlett.
Bailey said he expects Chalmers to come to part of Thursday's event to show his support for the YMCA -- but don't expect to see Chalmers rappelling.
"Due to his NBA contract, he's not allowed to do that stuff," Bailey said.
Bailey said he's never rappelled but isn't worried. "I've done mountaineering-type stuff with hunting and I'm not afraid of it at all."
Over the Edge, which has its roots in Nova Scotia, claims an accident-free track record. Participants, who sign a liability waiver, must wear both a waist belt and a harness, and below them two people will be holding ropes. No experience is required and no training is given.
Flanigin said the YMCA will pay Over the Edge about $29,000 to provide equipment and trained personnel to work the ropes and get people harnessed. The price also includes exclusivity -- no other non-profit in Anchorage can stage an Over the Edge fundraiser.
If $75,000 can be raised through pledges, "that would be super," Flanigin said. The YMCA operates on a $2.5 million annual budget, he said, "and like most non-profits, the YMCA has certainly felt the economic (pinch)."
Reach Beth Bragg at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335.
By BETH BRAGG
bbragg@adn.com