A Founder's Story
The story behind AABHOF: a single conviction, a small team, and the work of writing names back into the public record.
JY
Founder & President
Subject
Jayar Young, Founder & CEO
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Founded
March 12, 2023
01 — The Question
It started with a simple question, and it wouldn't go away. Across decades of Twin Cities basketball, African American players, coaches, and contributors had shaped the way the game was played in Minnesota and far beyond it. Their names lived in old yearbooks, in box scores, in the memories of teammates and families and the people who watched them play. But you couldn't easily find them in any one place, and you couldn't point a kid to a Hall that honored them.
Jayar Young kept asking the question. The longer he asked, the clearer the answer became: if a Hall of Fame for these legends didn't exist, someone was going to have to build one.
02 — The Roots
What stayed with him was something simpler than nostalgia. It was a recognition that the people who built the Twin Cities basketball tradition, many of them African American, many of them quietly extraordinary, were never going to get the public record they deserved unless their own community built it for them.
03 — The Decision
On March 12, 2023, the Greater Twin Cities African American Basketball Hall of Fame was incorporated as a Minnesota 501(c)(3) nonprofit. The paperwork was the easy part. The harder work was the part nobody saw: tracking down stories, recruiting a board, designing an induction process, writing a scholarship into the bylaws.
Jayar built the organization the way you build a roster: one person at a time, looking for the right mix of conviction, skill, and care. The board that came together agreed on one thing without argument: do the work, and do it right.
“These names belong in the public record. So we started writing them down.”
Jayar Young, Founder & President
04 — The Work
From the start, AABHOF organized itself around three commitments, and Jayar's job has been to keep all three moving forward at once.
First, recognition: an annual induction ceremony that puts real names, real stories, and real careers in front of the community that shaped them. Second, investment: the Keith Davis Scholarship, which supports the next generation of student-athletes. Third, preservation: a growing archive of stories, video, and photographs that will outlive any single ceremony or season.
05 — The Vision
Jayar talks about AABHOF as a project that is just getting started. The ambition is to build a permanent home for this history, accessible to the community, to researchers, to journalists, and to anyone who wants to understand how the game was shaped here.
The path forward, in Jayar's own words, is the same path the organization has been on since day one: do the work, and do it right.
Milestones
Key moments along the way, with plenty more chapters still ahead.
Mar 2023
The Greater Twin Cities African American Basketball Hall of Fame is incorporated as a Minnesota 501(c)(3) nonprofit on March 12, 2023.
2023
Officers, directors, and contributing members are recruited and the organization's bylaws, induction process, and scholarship framework are finalized.
2024
AABHOF inducts its first class of Twin Cities African American basketball legends.
2024
The scholarship begins supporting student-athletes from the community, tying the legacy of the past to the futures of the next generation.
Today
AABHOF expands the archive, the induction class, and the scholarship each year, building a permanent home for Twin Cities African American basketball history.
Nominate a legend, share a photo, or support the Keith Davis Scholarship. Every contribution keeps this archive alive and growing.
Greater Twin Cities African American Basketball Hall of Fame
Protecting the history of the African American basketball players in the Greater Twin Cities.
About Us
What We Do
Inductees
Library
Nominate
Donate
Tickets
Merchandise
6908 16th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55423
612-702-9778
YouTube
© 2026 Greater Twin Cities African American Basketball Hall of Fame
Preserving the legacy · Minneapolis, MN