In honor of Black History Month, the Church of Scientology Nashville hosted a program on the roll of Black athletes from the early years of basketball, and launched a new community initiative—City Hoops—aimed at engaging youth through sports.

The Church of Scientology of Nashville and the Black Legends of Professional Basketball Foundation co-organized a Black History Month program to honor African American athletes of the 1950s and to launch a new citywide sports initiative—“City Hoops.”

By placing basketball hoops around Nashville, City Hoops aims to engage youth by providing “a place to go, put down their cell phones and develop real social skills, healthy bodies and a strong community.”

Toni Fitzgerald of Nashville Fox 17 TV moderated the discussion, which featured Dr. John “Jumpin Johnny” Kline, a 1950s Harlem Globetrotter and founder of the Black Legends of Professional Basketball Foundation; Eldridge Askins, founder of the United Amputee Basketball Association; and Pastor Enoch Fuzz, civil rights leader and pastor of Corinthian Missionary Baptist church.

The evening’s theme was basketball: the many contributions Black athletes have made to basketball and the role they played in developing diversity in American society; the benefit the City Hoops initiative will bring the community; and the much anticipated arrival of a new semipro basketball league, coming to Nashville this year.

To set the tone for the evening, Dr. Kline exhibited a collection of early-20th-century sports memorabilia in the Church’s atrium.

“We are honored to host this event and exhibit in our church,” said Rev. Brian Fesler of the Church of Scientology Nashville, “and we are looking forward to volunteering to make the City Hoops initiative an unqualified success.”