Pro basketball returning to Cedar Rapids?

It appears professional basketball could be returning to Cedar Rapids and the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

“Could be” are the key words.

But if enthusiasm counts for anything, it looks like this dream could become a reality.

In June, the American Basketball Association announced it had awarded a spot in its ever-expanding league to the Cedar Rapids Roadrunners.

“We are very excited about having our first team in Iowa,” ABA CEO Joe Newman said in a news release at the time. “And in Bruce Adams we have the perfect owner to lead expansion there. I have no doubt that this will be a very successful team.”

Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids and professional basketball always bring doubts. The last couple of teams that were ready to land in town never got off the ground.

“It’s going to be tough,” Stan Hughes said. “This is a very, very tough area” for a venture like this.

“But I’m not going to get into something that’s not legit.”

Hughes is a well-known name in basketball circles in Eastern Iowa. Originally from Washington, D.C., he has a long basketball resume — playing for and later coaching at Simmons College of Kentucky (Lexington) before coming to Iowa to start the first prep school in the state (Quakerdale in New Providence).

He coached at Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Anamosa and currently is on the Coe College men’s staff.

But you get the impression, this venture is about more than just basketball to the 56-year-old Hughes, who will be the team’s coach.

He wants it to succeed. He thinks Cedar Rapids needs something like this, something to bring “excitement” and families downtown.

“I would love for this to work,” he said, “not for me, but for the city.

“I’m hoping and praying the city really gets behind this ABA thing.”

He especially thinks the youth in Cedar Rapids need this — something for them to look forward to and a place for role models young players can aspire to be like.

He wants to build this team around college players — from Coe, Cornell, Mount Mercy and the like — and mix in “some community good guys.”

He wants his players to be “ambassadors,” not only for the team but for the youth in Eastern Iowa, visiting schools and reading to students.

Basketball is important to Hughes, whose “life changed” in 2016 when he suffered a stroke and had brain surgery. His real passion, however, is working with young people, educating them about the game he loves and about life.

He is founder and CEO of EGOs Academy — “Education, Growth, Outlook and Sportsmanship.” His wife, Molly Lamb, is president.

“I’ve been very, very fortunate in this basketball thing,” he said. “I had a good run. (But) I love helping kids. I love working with kids.”

And the Cedar Rapids Roadrunners, he thinks, are a perfect vehicle to reach and teach many kids.

If the ABA sound familiar to basketball fans, it should. The original ABA ran from 1967 to ’76 before merging with the NBA, producing such stars as Julius Irving, Rick Barry, Moses Malone and Cedar Rapids’ own Bob Netolicky.

This “relaunch” has “grown to become the largest professional sports league in the world,” according to its website. The league lists 133 teams in seven regions.

Cedar Rapids is planning on playing in the Midwest Region along with the St. Louis Spirit, Little Rock Hawgs, Illinois Skulls, Indiana Lyons and Memphis Rhythm, to name a few.

The season is expected to start in November 2023 with games at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse.

The first of three tryouts is Sunday at Williamsburg High School, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Adams wasn’t available Tuesday, but said in the release announcing the Roadrunners inclusion in the ABA he’ll “spend this coming season visiting other teams, attending some games and learning everything I can about running a successful ABA team.”

Hughes said he’s not sure how Adams “got my name” — joking “I must be doing something right” — but said the owner is “going in the right direction.”

“He’s trying very hard to get it to work — and I think it can work.”

But, Hughes warned, there is no time to waste. When he worked with Gary Rima at launching the Cedar Valley CourtKings, the two worked for months getting the word out.

“You need to get this train going now,” he said.

The question, as always, is will that train actually stop in Cedar Rapids.

Comments: (319) 398-8461; jr.ogden@thegazette.com