Former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga guard Ricky Taylor saw the growth of the Rocky Top Basketball League in Knoxville.
He hopes to be able to bring that same level of competition to Chattanooga.
The Ricky Taylor Pro-Am league will begin Tuesday night at Notre Dame. The league consists of four teams of 8-10 players. Included are former or current professional players, college players and some high schoolers.
There won't be any current UTC players in the league, due to NCAA rules. Only college athletes who participate in NAIA or junior college will be playing this year, although Taylor hopes to get some Mocs on rosters next year.
Ricky Taylor
former UTC basketball player, now graduate assistant at Tennessee Temple UniversityThere will be two games each Tuesday, at 7:30 and 9 p.m. The playoffs begin on Aug. 18.
"This is something I'm putting on to ensure that current pro players have game experience," Taylor said Thursday. "When I played pro I was unprepared, and after a while I got tired of driving to Knoxville for the Rocky Top League when there was talent here. I wanted to utilize that talent, bring people together and give fans something to cheer about.
"This is a chance to prepare everybody for their next level."
The Mocs' sixth-leading Division I scorer with 1,225 points (2009-12) will have a variety of roles within the league. Aside from being the namesake, he's also going to have the title of player-coach. Other coaches include Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe coach Mark Oliver, Victor Martinez - the chief executive officer of the streetball organization Court Kingz - and "C.T.," who runs Klipz Barbershop on Brainerd Road.
A few of the players participating will be former East Ridge standouts Philip Jurick and Alex Wells; Trey Suttles (Tyner, now at Armstrong Atlantic) and Jorden Williams (McCallie, now at Sewanee); Jonathan Adams, who prepped at Baylor before playing collegiately at Old Dominion; and former area prep standouts Dontay Hampton and Jeff Smith, who played at UTC. There will be a number of high school players on rosters.
Taylor, a licensed minister who uses the Twitter handle @ministerofbball, plans to use a portion of the evenings to talk with the players as a way of giving back.
"Some of the high school students look up to us, and by some being on the team, we can share insight," Taylor said. "If they have aspirations to play pro, I can minister to them - provide some spiritual perspective and community outreach.
"I want us to be able to provide entertainment as well as encouragement. My vision is three things - physical, spiritual and academic - and we want to be able to provide guidance in all three of those areas."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.