2nd YES USVI Classic HBCU Basketball Tournament Merges Sports, Culture, Tourism
ST. THOMAS, USVI - An old roster crowed several times outside my beachside room to alert me it's time for today's 2nd YES USVI Classic HBCU Basketball Tournament. Today's games will feature teams from West Virginia State, Clinton, Kentucky State, Edward Waters, Virginia State, and Tusculum challenging for the tourney's title at Antilles High School.
Dec. 30, 2022; 2nd YES USVI Classic HBCU Basketball Tournament participants; Credit: YES, Ernest Ruffin
The three-day event has exposed the young student-athletes to the island culture, food, and experiences they wouldn't have experienced in the United States. "It's a really important event for us. The Department of Tourism has identified the African American market as one of our target markets," Joe Boschulte, USVI Department of Tourism Commissioner, told HBCU Legends.
"We feel this event will help our expansion into sports tourism to reach that HBCU market. It also allows the kids from HBCUs to showcase their talents, similar to what Deion Sanders did for HBCUs at Jackson State."
Head coaches Jamaal Jackson of Kentucky State, and Cory Sloan of Clinton mentioned that most of their student-athletes had never been outside the U.S. The tournament exposes them to see people of St. Thomas and their warm hospitality. After watching a few Kentucky State players, they embraced their time at the beach and watching the sunset from their balconies.
On Friday afternoon, Sloan and his assistant coach ran the Kid's Basketball Clinic at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School with over 40 children from St. Thomas and St. John islands participating. Ernest Ruffin is the executive director and founder of YES and the tournament. "The YES USVI HBCU Basketball Tournament is an off-shoot from the YES Basketball Challenge in the U.S., and we have the championship games in St. Croix," Ruffin noted.
He is a basketball Hall of Famer of his alma mater at Bloomfield College. A conversation with the basketball coach about a tourney in USVI sparked the vision of today's event. "Last season, four teams were invited, COVID struck, and three teams made it. This year, we invited eight teams. Unfortunately, Fisk has traveling issues due to Southwest Airlines, and Livingstone had a tragic loss of a player over the Christmas holiday. Whatever we do, we want to make sure that we give back to the local community. We want to make the local kids benefit from us being here the way we benefit from being here."
Dec. 30, 2022; YES Executive Director Ernest Ruffin; Credit: Kyle A. Mosley, HBCU Legends
The tournament has merged the locals from St. Thomas and St. John with HBCUs and Division 2 programs. As we observed the young talent at the clinic, you could see the boys and girls with an understanding of the game. Hopefully, a few will one day have an opportunity to leave and become student-athletes abroad and represent the two islands the how
Virgin Islander native Aliyah Boston is doing at No. 1 ranked South Carolina.
HBCU Legends will have reports and videos on the 2nd YES USVI Classic HBCU Tournament games.