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The CBL History
The concept of the Community Basketball Leagues (CBL) was created by Jamar Johnson, Chief CBL Commissioner and CEO in 1996. As a life-long basketball player, Jamar was very familiar with all the amateur based basketball leagues and programs throughout the United States, but Jamar recognized a need and an opportunity to create a national recreational basketball league that could offer an incredible and unique experience for recreational players and community residents – our fans.
The uniqueness of the CBL comes from a professional basketball league structure that incorporates health and wellness promotion and life skills education classes and workshops that are facilitated by national and local business partners for the players and the community residents. From the start, the CBL was envisioned to be a different kind of recreational basketball league, one that was professionally managed and one that raised the bar on quality and service for the players, fans, and business partners (sponsors).
For recreational players, the CBL has the look and feel of the NBA. For the community residents, the CBL provides a very family oriented entertainment outlet at an admission price they can afford, FREE! For business partners, the CBL provides an opportunity to partner, position, and have brand and/or image interaction with 216,000 players (youth and adults) and an opportunity to put out 394,187,721 advertising impressions.
Inspired after reading a book called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell and in 2007 Jamar started CBL business operations. The CBL had its first official season in the summer of 2009. The adult league registration sold out two weeks before the league started. The CBL league was also able to garner the financial support of 20 businesses and 30 individuals and/or families during the 2008-09 economic depression.
Jamar launched the CBL with eight staff members. Eric Curry, Deputy Commissioner, Rob Isabell, Video Production Engineer, Jemn Hershberger, Front Office Manager, Octavia Doyle, Office Assistant, Jasmine Hershberger, Intern Student Trainer, and Gary Robinson, Terry Woods, and Larry Johnson, Account Executives.