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Venice Beach & Basketball

2017 is the 125th anniversary of basketball some come out celebrate

The Godfather of Streetball

Early in the summer of 1979 Kenn I. Hicks and his family moved to California from New York. Being associated with organized sports all    is life, enlisted the support of his friends Bill Strayhorn and Mark Price in organizing a group called “the New Social Workers” which  sponsored several local holiday basketball tournaments. Although the local tournaments were successful, Hicks possessed a strong desire  to expand these tournaments into those comprised of teams from all over the United States. Having been exposed to the Harlem Rucker  Summer Basketball League in New York City, Hicks was impressed with the enthusiasm generated by talented players competing from  many different cities and states. The Outdoor format always raises the level of competition due to the spectators, and the player’s  friends/family seeking excitement. Outdoor basketball is where legends are born and carried by word of mouth everywhere. Each time a   story is told it gets more exciting and interesting. Hicks went to high school with the legend, Earl “The Goat” Manigault at Laurinburg   Institute in North Carolina.

 The New Social Workers cited Venice Beach as an ideal location for the tournament. Venice Beach offers the perfect setting for such an    event since it draws a large cross section of spectators who enjoy watching exciting basketball and who won’t settle for less than 100% from the players. Thus the National Outdoor Basketball Championship was born at Venice Beach in the summer of 1981. Over the years the tournament grew in many ways. Teams from all over the country participated in five adult divisions and seven youth divisions, with over fifteen hundred participants. You would always find many NBA players competing for the outdoor crown and pre-college players in the youth division building a reputation. It was a family affair with contests and games for the entire family.

Each summer the VBL brings back the legends in a celebration called Ron Beals Day