Lexington’s Kentucky Basketball Commission on the move

LEXINGTON, Ky (WTVQ) – When it started, The Kentucky Basketball Commission had one goal, provide maximum player development and education.

They did more than that.

Co-Owner Tom Bower says most weekends thousands of players of all ages, coaches or families would walk through their doors for tournaments..

“There were some weekends we were hosting the bigger tournaments in the country on any given week here in Lexington,” said Bower. “We’d have some pretty big events. Several Hundred thousand people per year come through the door.”

Did they see that success coming?

“We did, we knew with our connections nationwide and especially in the state of Kentucky, we knew what it was going to be because we had the experience and the know how,” said KBC Co-owner Julius King.

Bower says a big reason for their early and then continued success was because the two have been in this community for years.

“We’ve been out here serving, really serving people and helping people outside of business for so many more years before KBC even started,” said Bower “Not to sound arrogant, but we did know what was going to happen because we’ve been out here working with people for so long.”

When the situation of the building owners changed KBC was going to need to buy the building to continue. After securing a loan, KBC submitted paperwork to buy the building. Then the pandemic hit and the economy shut down. The bank wanted to hold off on that loan for 30 days, during that time the owners got a better offer and that was it. King and Bower hold zero ill will toward the owners for their decision.

“In a way when we do sit back and look at it, we do feel blessed that frankly we turned in that paperwork when we did,” said Bower looking back. “If it had been weeks earlier, we would be the happy, proud owners of that building, but with no revenue coming in for the foreseeable future.”

With racial tension currently at the forefront, king wants people to know KBC’s success is an example of what people from different backgrounds can do when they join forces.

“Let’s show everybody how it’s supposed to be,” said King “Let’s show them what it looks like when a black man and a white man can come together, run a business, run it at a high level and be very successful and turn it into one of the hottest brands in the country.”

As for KBC just like when they first started, KBC has the crew ready to run.  They just need to know who got next.

“It’s not the end of us though man. We’ve always been mobile. Camp One we were always mobile. We always moved around and did events at different places. So we’ve got some stuff cooking. We ain’t going nowhere. We’re here to stay.”