How it all started...

I always had a ball in my hand from the time I first started to walk my family knew I would play ball. My family being one of Jehovah's Witnesses did not believe in sports and social extracurricular activities. My Uncle Clay for Cali came down one summer and I was in the yard playing ball. My Uncles and my dad were actually good ball players so Uncle Clay saw something in me. I remember it like it was yesterday my dad Unc getting into a heated argument and he told my dad Kelsey can be good "You need to let that boy play" A year or so went by and my dad finally agreed to let me play. I was labeled as a late bloomer because I lacked all the fundamentals of the game I knew nothing about basketball just wanted to play. The 2nd person responsible for me starting to learn fundamentals and believed in me was Ernie Murray (former. Arkansas Razorback). When I was in the 9th grade Mr. Murray started a tutoring program called Lights On After Dark. It focused on tutoring, getting good grades first, then when we finished tutoring we could go play basketball. I'll have to be honest the only reason I joined was to see the girls in there and play basketball. My focus was not on my grades nor school. Mr. Murray readjusted my focus. My grades were terrible, I was constantly getting in trouble, I had no vision even though I was a kid I was lost. Mr. Murray showed me the endless opportunities of playing basketball. That whole semester Mr. Murray showed me the basic (fundamentals) Mr. Murray took me to the Coach of the High School for tryouts my 10th grade year and sad to say even though me and Mr. Murray thought I would make JV I didn't make it! I was hurt devastated but I never gave up. I kept working.

​

If I couldn't do anything else I could shoot that ball! I developed my shot and nothing else. I taught my self how to shoot. Going into 11th grade tryouts I went in thinking I would shoot my way into a spot, once again I didn't make it! I still never gave up! I then started to learn how to dribble because I learned thats what I lacked from tryouts. I got real cool with a few of the guys on the team playing with them I got better but I still lacked the FUNDAMENTALS of the game. I had no one to take the time out to show me. I had a few friends that went to another High School that summer, so I transferred. They talked to the Coach and got me in 7th grade Basketball period. I trained the whole summer the whole preseason worked my tail off only to be cut the day before the first game! I was hurt so bad that my parents ended up going out of town one weekend and I had my Uncle sign a withdrawal form from school and got back registered at my old High School (yeap I got in trouble a few weeks later when they finally figured out what I had done) A few weeks later after meeting with my counselor I realized that when I transferred back I would not have enough credits to graduate. So I was forced to transfer back to that High School where I would graduate with the bare minimum 2.5 GPA. By this time I had figured out it was important to get my grades in order to attend College.

 

I still did not give up on ball. While playing ball in the gym one day a Coach (Garland Broom) saw me playing pick up ball he came to me afterwards and said you Jeremy little brother aren't you? I told him yes sir and he got my number. Mr. Broom was over the then called YBA (Youth Basketball Association) After learning this I was excited! I finally thought I would be able to play! Come to find out I was too old the league stopped at 17u. I felt like that was it I wouldn't be able to play ball at all. So I started my College planning I waited till probably two months before graduation to start applying for schools. I was introduced to a school for Auto Collision Repair Called UTI where I became a recruit. They offered me a scholarship to attend their school. In the process I was still playing ball. Some time went by and I saw Coach Broom again and he said you ready to play? I said I'm too old Coach, he told me to come here and he said I changed the rules so you can play don't let me down! That was it! I finally had my opportunity. Some one finally believed in my potential and it paved the way. My dad was very strict on me but at that time he started to really support me playing. I started to google Colleges and got Coaches emails so I could network to try to find a college to play for. My first and last season in the YBA I played for Coach Dwayne Brown who became like a second father to me. He taught me how to play defense along with my shooting ability... I led my team in scoring and was MVP of the team while winning the YBA Championship.

 

My dad recorded every game. From those recordings I made a highlight and started to send it to different Colleges. I sent my film to Cedar Valley, North Lake, Eastfield, Brookhaven, and Mountain View which where all D-3 community Colleges in Dallas, Tx. No emails, No emails, No mails for weeks! One day my phone rings, I answer, the man on the phone says "This is Coach Leroi Phillips I'm the head Coach at Mountain View Community College,  I've watched your games and I feel like you have a lot of potential and could be apart of our team. All it took was one person to believe in me and it opened up so many doors in a City that I would now call home. Coach Brown took the time to take me to my to tryout and I made it! I made the team! Even though I made it, the hardest transition I failed my first year was fundamentals. I would go to the gym work on defense and how to shoot. Coach would always tell me work on your weaknesses not my strengths. I never grasped that concept until my junior year in college.  Coach Philips gave me the blueprint to get better and created my hard work ethic! I worked so hard I went from playing less the 2 mins per game my Freshman year to playing about 12 mins a game. I went from maybe 30 points my whole Freshman season to doubling or tripling that average my Sophomore year. I kept working and working.

 

Going into my Junior season I had played my two years and had no clue to where I was going to transfer to finish my last two years. I finally landed a tryout at Paul Quinn College with Coach Keith McKinney. I made the team and received my first full scholarship! After playing one semester I transferred to Dallas Christian because I felt it was a better fit. I finished my last two years with Coach Charles Williams. Coach Williams was the first Coach to introduce me to skills and drills. Like his skills and drills showed me a different part of my game I never had experienced. I struggled my junior year due to injury and preparing myself to have my first child I couldn't finish my junior year. My senior playing on the team that won the NCCAA D-1 Championship I wanted more Coach Williams had talked me into training to go pro. He put me in a position to get that opportunity. He was the first Coach I actually called my Dad.

 

During this time after my senior year once again education was not my focus. I just wanted to play ball! I started to do skills and drills with a AAU organization called EYG ( that my Coach was over) that's were I learned to train kids to teach them fundamentals, every thing I lacked growing up. After training with EYG (Elevate Your Game) Coach Williams showed me how to really be a good Coach and train kids. While training to play professionally I ended up signing with a semi-pro contract with the Texas Wranglers of the United Basketball league where in my first season I led the team in scoring, was named the Championship game MVP, and Rookie of the Year. That led me getting a tryout out for a overseas team in Mexico in the CIBACOPA league. After not having anywhere to play and still training I was recruited by a newly founded team in the ABA in Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock Lightning). After one season that team folded. I then ended up making another team in the UBL the Conway Cyclones where in my first season I helped lead our team to the Championship. My next 3 seasons I played with the Conway Bobcats where we won 3 Championships in a row. After having a near life taking motorcycle accident I still played but never pursued playing professionally again. After almost dying I was searching for my purpose trying to figure out why God kept me so I got back into Coaching and training. After Coaching with a few different organizations (Team Pine Bluff, Arkansas Cardinals) in 2019 I joined forces with Brian Cal with United Arkansas Basketball which is now Bryson Warren United, one of the best AAU programs in the State of Arkansas.

 

In 2020 I started TBK training to give back to the kids of Pine Bluff the training kids like me lacked within fundamentals. Along with training I wanted to focus on the importance of education, tutoring, and College prep the things I lacked at a earlier age but learned later in life. My overall goal of TBK was to inform, prepare, and plan! Basketball taught me those life lessons. It prepared me to learn to have a back up plan once that ball stops. Now preparing hundreds and thousands of kids to prepare for College so that they can be successful in whatever endeavors they choose to take is my organization's biggest priority.  Through TBK kids will become the best individuals they were meant to be one bounce at a time! The basis of my TBKenrichment program was formed by Lights on After Dark... what Mr. Murray did for me was showed me tools that I would use later on in life! without Mr. Murray there would be NO TBK! Thank you Mr. Murry for believing in me and giving me the foundation of my entire basketball career playing and Coaching. If it wasn't for you none of this would have been possible!!!

​

​

R.I.P Cleophas Clay Alexander

​