Gabriel Butler/The Ithacan Barney Beins, professor and chairman of the psychology department, tries to dribble past senior Joe Rockhill during a Lunch Box basketball league game March 5 at the Ben Light Gymnasium.

Weekdays in the Ben Light Gymnasium, right around noontime, it’s not unusual to see a basketball travel back and forth between 40 years of talent.

Every week, Monday through Friday, students, faculty, alumni and anyone else who shows up get together from noon to 1 p.m. to play some round ball — and everyone is eligible to participate, regardless of age, sex or skill level.

The Ithaca College Lunch Box basketball league has been a time machine for more than 40 years. Because of their time on the court, students and faculty have created relationships that exist beyond the classroom. They can relate on a more personal, rather than professional, level while playing basketball.

Games are played in a four-on-four, half-court format. The teams are usually evenly matched with students and faculty co-existing on the same team. However, sometimes players get the urge for an “old” versus “young” game.

The older players, like Jonathan “Doc” Laskowitz, a professor of sociology, don’t shy away from that challenge.

“Sometimes they just think they’ll kill us,” he said of the students. “We’ve played together for 25 years, so it’s almost like we have our eyes closed when we’re passing. We know where people are going to be.”

Laskowitz, a participant in Lunch Box games since 1977, said the teams are usually mixed because it makes for a better game, but added, “We get a kick out of whooping them sometimes when it’s the old against the young.” Laskowitz claims the older guys win about half of the old-versus-young games.

Most students play their on-campus basketball at the Fitness Center, and although there are competitive games there, Lunch Box-style of play is the way the game was designed.

“Guys know how to play more with their heads,” senior Matt Roche said. “It’s less of a one-on-one game.”

Students who play the “older style” of ball at noontime are often surprised by the skills possessed by some of their elders in lost arts of the game, such as the mid-range jumper or the sweeping hook shot.

“Guys know how to play, make cuts and pass,” freshman Teddy Risk said.

The older players have been wowing students since before Bombers’ head baseball coach George Valesente was an undergraduate student at Ithaca in the 1960s.

Valesente said he began playing in the Lunch Box league because it was a great way to get a workout “rather than going out and jogging.”

Stephen Mosher, a professor in the sport management and media department, and the other players in the league agree with Valesente and continue to show up despite the risk of not looking so good.

“Us older guys like to play no matter how embarrassing we look,” Mosher said. Although Mosher has nothing good to say about his own basketball skills, he actually has a decent jump shot when he can find some open space on the floor.

It’s evident that there are very few moments where anyone feels embarrassed, regardless of what some of the men look like with their shirts off (yes, they do play shirts versus skins).

Actually, it is quite common to see a younger player embarrassed after being schooled by a veteran Lunch Box member.

The combination of ages presents a different atmosphere in the Lunch Box league that is obvious to all its players.

“It allows students and faculty to see each other in a different dimension,” Laskowitz said. “It humanizes the relationship. On the court you see a whole lot more about the person.”

“It connects students and faculty in a relaxed way,” Valesente said. Valesente, a participant in the first-ever Lunch-Box reunion picture last year, also said the league is a way for students and faculty to gain an appreciation for one another.

“I’ve found that students that have played with me and taken classes with me work a little harder,” Laskowitz said. “It seems to work better because they don’t just know me as Professor Laskowitz. I’m a guy that also plays ball.”

And Laskowitz plays ball well. Very rarely is Laskowitz left unguarded due to his well-respected hoop game.

Professors teach students the lessons in the classroom, but the Lunch Box provides an outlet for the students to become teachers.

But if students don’t bring their “A” game to lunch, the professors will continue to teach, but on the hardwood instead of the chalkboard.