The introduction of organized basketball in the Virgin Islands has been credited to the late Mr. John P. Scott, a former Commissioner of the Department of Commerce, who selected the Virgin Islands as his home in 1936. The first Basketball Association was formed on St. Thomas in 1959 and in 1961 the Virgin Islands Basketball Federation (VIABF) was incorporated. Through the efforts of the Federation an Association was organized on St. Croix in 1963. The first officers of the Federation were Mr. Verne Callwood, Sr., President; Mr. Mario Watlington, Vice-President; and Mr. Leo Penha, Secretary-Treasurer. In 1964 the Federation became a fully affiliated member of the International Amateur Basketball Federation (F.I.B.A.).  

The International Basketball Federation (F.I.B.A.), removed the use of the word Amateur at the 1984 World Congress, it is the largest Federation of the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) with some 211 countries as members. FIBA has five regions throughout the world, which are Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The Virgin Islands is a member of the Americas region and is governed in this region by the Pan American Basketball Confederation (COPABA), which was formed in 1975. This Confederation includes the Caribbean, Central America, North America and South America. The region is divided into three (3) zones, which are the North American Zone, the Central American and Caribbean Zone, and the South American Zone. The Virgin Islands is part of the Central American and Caribbean Zone, which has three (3) sub-zones (committees), the Caribbean Committee, the Caricom Committee and the Central American Committee. These three sub-zones together formed what is known as the Central American and Caribbean Basketball Confederation (COCENCABA), founded in 1926. On June 16, 2001 the Committees of COCENCABA were reduced to the Central American Committee and the Caribbean Committee. Today Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are now part of the Caribbean Committee formerly known as Caricom.  

The Virgin Islands began international competition in the Caribbean Committee, and participated in the 1^st Centro Basket Tournament in Mexico City, Mexico in 1965. The Virgin Islands Male National Team placed 5^th behind Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Panama. Members of our first Male National Team included Robert Craig, Erick Winter, Mosses Navedo, Caswill Callender, Dennis Mcavoy, Jaime Scott, Austin Thomas, Derek Hodge, F. Grisby, B. Scipio, J. Bryan, M. Fuentes and E. Calwood. Our first regional games appearance was at the X Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1966, where the Male National Team placed fifth behind, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba and Panama, and in front of the Dominican Republic, Barbados and El Salvador. Members of this Men National Team included Rudolph Milligan, Ray Hodge, Irving Mulcare, Rudy Farrell, Caswill Callender, Louis Penn, Eldridge Blake, Melvin Tatum, Alric O’Reilly and Lloyd David. Our Women National Team also competed at the X Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico and placed fourth behind Mexico, Cuba and Guatemala, and in front of the host country Puerto Rico. Some members of the Women National Team were Cristina Bartley, C. Foy and Silvia Thomas. On November 25, 1967 the Male National Team competed in the II Centro Basket Tournament in San Salvador, El Salvador where the Men National Team won the Bronze Medal, the first ever for the Virgin Islands Basketball Federation. The team placed 3^rd behind Panama and Cuba, and in front of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Since then the Virgin Islands has had numerous Male and Female National Teams entered in various Centro Basket Tournaments and Central American and Caribbean Games. Our Boys and Girls National Teams have also competed on the Junior and Mini-Basketball level, and in 1974 the Boys National Team won the Bronze Medal, at the Centro Basket Championships for Boys and Girls in Guatemala City, Guatemala. In 1975 our Women National Team competed in their first Centro Basket Tournament, which was the 3^rd such event, in the city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Women National Team placed sixth in a six-team tournament. Members of the team included Deborah Donovan, Denise Frazer, Marva Patterson, Janice Grant, Carol Smith, Marilyn Creque, Silvia Thomas, Corrine Daniels, Carmen Donovan and Audith Blackman, and the coach was Louis Penn. The Virgin Islands was selected for its first Pan-American Games in 1979, when the Male National Team competed in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Some of the members of the Men National Team included Arthur “Guto” Solomon, Ronald “Ranche” Charles, Steven “Smokey” Frett, Will “Pee Wee” Petersen, Kennard “Kirby” Callendar, Wayne “Dibango” Harrison and Clayton “Slim Jim” Miller. The Head Coach was Glen “Kimble” Williams, who was assisted by Myron “Buddy” Henneman. The team lost a close game the USA National Team that included players like Kevin McHale, Isiah Thomas and Ralph Sampson, and won an overtime thriller against the Brazil National Team. Our Men National Team qualified for the 1987 Pan-American Games, which was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, where our team lost a close game to the Brazilian National Team. In July of 2000, the Virgin Islands for the first time competed in the XV Caricom Basketball Confederation Championships for Senior Men and Women in Barbados. The Male National Team won the Silver Medal and the Women National Team completed the games with a 3-3 record. In August of 2000 the Federation competed in its first Central American and Caribbean University Games, at Inter-American University in Puerto Rico, where both a Male and Female University National Team represented the Federation. These games were under the auspices of the Virgin Islands University Sports Federation, and the Male University National Team won the Gold Medal by beating Puerto Rico in the championship game. 

In 1966 several sports-minded citizens of the Virgin Islands agreed that something had to be done to provide our athletes a better chance to compete on an international level. The first requirement to become a member of the International Olympic Committee (I.O.C.) was to have at least five (5) sports federations become affiliates or members of their respective International Federations. At the time the Virgin Islands had six (6) sports federations affiliated with their International Federations, namely, Basketball, Fencing, Track and Field, Volleyball, Weightlifting and Yachting. These Federations became the founding bodies of the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee and the founding members were Mr. Calvin Wheatley, Mr. Julio Francis-Edwards, Mr. Verne Callwood, Mr. Len Stein and Mr. Tracy Jaekel. Presently the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee has twenty-two (22) federations as members of that body.   

In the 1980’s the Federation grew to a membership of five (5) with the St. Thomas Women Basketball Association, the St. Croix Women Basketball Organization and the Livingston Bramble Basketball Association joining the St. Thomas and St. Croix Basketball Players Associations. In 1985 Mr. Ray Iles became the first FIBA certified referee from the Virgin Islands, and FIBA has since certified eight (8) referees from the Virgin Islands, of which four (4) are presently holding active licenses. In June of 1986 the Federation hosted its first International Event in the Virgin Islands, which was the XII International Clinic for FIBA Referees in America. The clinic was held in St. Croix from June 16^th to the 20^th, with the following countries in attendance, Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; British Virgin Islands; Dominican Republic; Guyana; Jamaica; Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; and the Virgin Islands. One year after the FIBA Referees Clinic the Federation organized and formed the St. Croix Basketball Officials Association, an organization for referees and table officials to improve the quality of basketball in the Virgin Islands. Also in 1987 the Federation conducted its first Olympic Solidarity Coaches Clinics on both St. Croix and St. Thomas. These clinics were conducted by our National Coach, Mr. Tevester Anderson (Head Coach Murray State University), and coordinated by Mr. Angel Morales of the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (Now Secretary-General of the V.I.O.C.). The Olympic Solidarity Program is funded by the International Olympic Committee as an effort in assisting National Olympic Committees in improving the quality of sports in their respective countries.  

After a series of meetings on St. Croix and St. Thomas, the Federation presented and adopted in 1988 a Five (5) Year Action Plan to promote the orderly growth and development of basketball in the Virgin Islands, by establishing an organizational framework for the supervision and implementation of National and International competitions. The plan outlined the Federation’s intent to establish workable relationships with member and non-member organizations, to promote a high ideal of sportsmanship and acquainting the general public of the recreational and social value of basketball. 

In 1999 the Twin City Basketball Association (TCBA) became a member of the Federation with the specific responsibility of taking over the jurisdiction of the St. Croix Basketball Players Association and providing an entity to operate and conduct the Senior Men Basketball Summer Leagues and any other activities that do not conflict with existing programs of members of the Federation. 

It is our hope that we can promote and implement Basketball programs in the Virgin Islands, in an organized approach to the administration of the game, while providing organizations, teams, coaches and players with the appropriate level of representation and participation in the development of the sport of Basketball in the Virgin Islands. To this end the Federation hosted a Basketball Officials Clinic on both St. Croix and St. Thomas. These Clinics were part of the Caricom Project funded by FIBA and administered by the Pan-American Basketball Confederation (COPABA) to upgrade and improve the quality of Basketball in the region. These Clinics were held March 30, 31 and April 1, 2001 on St. Croix, and on April 2, 3 and 4, 2001 on St. Thomas. The audience was intended to include Referees, Coaches, Physical Education Instructors, Table Officials and Journalists. We had 22 participants at the St. Croix clinic and 19 participants at the St. Thomas clinic. The instructor was Mr. Fred Hogan, a FIBA certified referee, instructor and member of the World Technical Commission, who resides in Canada.  

The year 2001 was a banner year for the Virgin Islands as it relates to International competition. We began our competition on July 11 to the 15 at the XVII Centro Basket Tournament in Toluca, Mexico where the Senior Men National Team made it to the medal round and placed fourth of the eight teams to qualify for the first time to the Tournament of Americas. The Centro Basket Tournament is composed of the top teams in the Caribbean and Central America, while the Tournament of the Americas is for the top teams from North America, South America, and Central America and the Caribbean. 

The Federation for the first time since 1974 entered a Junior Women National Team in International Competition at the 4^th Caricom Junior Basketball Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, from July 27 to August 5, 2001, and our Junior Men National Team also competed at this tournament. The Junior Women National Team competed against four (4) other national teams and won the Gold Medal at this competition. The Junior Men National Team competed against six (6) other national teams and completed the competition by winning the Silver Medal. Lynia Liburd was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player in the female division and Jerome Gumbs received the Sportsmanship Award in the male division. 

Our triumph at the Centro Basket for Senior Men created an atmosphere for tough decisions for the Virgin Islands, our Federation now had to field two Men National Teams almost simultaneously during the month of August.  Our Senior Men National Team competed in the Tournament of the Americas in Nequen, Argentina, from August 15 to the 26, and the University Men National Team attended the World University Games in Beijing, China, from August 22 thru September 1^st. These competitions required our Federation to field two separate teams, on two sides of the globe, at the same time. The Tournament of the Americas Team became the third team from the Caricom Basketball Confederation (CBC) to participate in this tournament, and the second CBC team to win a game at the Tournament of the Americas and moved on to the second phase of the Tournament. We finished 7^th among the top ten (10) teams in North America, South America, and Central America and the Caribbean. The top five (5) teams qualified for the World Championships in 2002. 

The University Men National Team had won the Gold Medal in 2001 at the Central American and Caribbean University Games and qualified as the representative from this region. Our team lost two close games against the host country, China and Greece, but went on to win six (6) consecutive games, becoming the eventual winner of the consolation round. The team record was 6-2. 

Our 2001 activities culminated with the “Youth Delinquency Prevention Basketball Clinics” on the islands of St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix. These clinics were held from September 24 to the 29 and sponsored by the Law Enforcement Planning Commission, with assistance from the Territorial Public Defenders Office. Our clinic instructors were Tevester Anderson, Head Coach Virgin Islands Senior Men National Team, and Head Coach at Murray State University; Glen “Kimble” Williams, former Head Coach of the Virgin Islands Senior Men National Team, and Hall Of Fame inductee at St. John’s University and in the Virgin Islands; and Christopher Woolard, Assistant Coach for Murray State University and former Assistant Coach at UCLA.