Macomb’s Jerric Stovall had an idea back in 2018 that he wanted to start a competitive basketball league for talented players that weren’t able to play basketball in college, for one reason or another. Stovall played basketball, himself, in high school in Macomb before having surgeries on both knees, which would delay his collegiate basketball dreams. Once recovered, he played for a season at Rockford University in 2007-2008, starting 13 of 23 games, averaging four points and four rebounds a game for the Regents.
Following his playing career, Stovall had the desire to remain in the sports world and came up with the notion of starting the Liberty Basketball association in the Quad Cities. The league held its games at TBK Bank Sports Complex for awhile before moving to the Fieldhouse in Alexis for a short stint.
Stovall says the current league plays games at the Community Center in Roseville, Illinois and includes players from all over the state of Illinois and even border states of Iowa and Missouri, “Mostly it saturates the West Central part of Illinois. We do cover the tri-state area of Iowa and Missouri, however. We have a team from Quincy that had players from Palmyra and Hannibal, Missouri. We also have a decent amount of players from the Quad Cities area that are still involved in the league since that’s where it started.” There are 14 teams in this year’s summer season in Roseville and is currently a week away from starting the playoffs.
The LBA has two separate seasons which play in the summer and then again in the winter. Depending on how many teams are participating in those sessions, the regular season is 16 games, plus a playoff series with the top eight teams moving on to the postseason. Stovall says that having two seasons helps with players that are looking for a place to play before their collegiate season begins in the winter. “Our summer season begins around Memorial Day weekend and we try to finish before Halloween. We take six weeks off and then pick back up a week or so before Christmas and run through March.”
The league has a wide range of talented players, including some with experience at the professional level. Stovall says that type of player is paramount to having a league that is able to flourish. “We look for players that have, first and foremost, professionalism and experience. We reach out to players who have had four years of college experience. Sometimes you get an opportunity to have a player with NBA or EuroLeague experience that is in between contracts. Also, we have players that play in a bevy of semi-pro or minor league circuits. We try to be consistent with that level of player. But there’s also avid players, 18 years and up, that didn’t get a chance to play in college so we give them a chance to relive their playing days.”
For more information on the LBA, go to their website or call Jerric Stovall at (309) 255-1559 or send him an email at jerricstovall@yahoo.com.
For the entire interview with Jerric Stovall, click HERE.
