COMPTON (SBE) – The Compton city council unanimously approved a donation from BODYARMOR to refurbish an outdoor basketball court during the regular city council meeting held May 16.
BODYARMOR is on a mission to refurbish ten basketball courts and renovate youth clinic facilities across the nation. The initiative is in the memory of late NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. The company has partnered with the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation to refurbish basketball courts around the country.
In May 2022, founder Mike Repole announced the company would donate $24 million to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation — the single largest donation in the foundation’s history.
In addition to the monetary contribution, BODYARMOR committed to donating 10 refurbished basketball courts and renovated youth clinic facilities to the foundation. The new courts will be in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, and Detroit.
It is not known if the refurbishing in Compton will be a joint project with the foundation.
According to Compton City Manager Thomas Thomas, BODYARMOR requested a list of parks from the city and selected Wilson Park which is located in Council District 2.
“I am super excited about the basketball court and the community is going to be amazed at how the basketball courts are going to look,” said Compton Councilman Andre Spicer, who represents District 2. “My district is really starting to come together.”
When asked if the project will expand to other parks, he was optimistic.
“The goal is to build up all of our parks and we just so happened to get a grant from BODYARMOR and they chose the park they wanted to donate to after we provided them a list,” said Spicer.
According to the May 16 staff report, several outdoor basketball courts throughout the City are in dire need of repair.
Prior to April 2023, the Recreation Department was without a Director and full staff. During the recruitment period, no maintenance or repairs toward the outdoor basketball courts were performed.
Since then the City Manager has hired a Recreation Director and little by little, the parks are being staffed and reopened, but there is still a great need to bring the parks back to full operations.
The value of the new basketball court is $67,000.
The council held a robust discussion on the matter, before approving, as many had questions on how the park was selected and why more documentation wasn’t included.
Councilwoman Lillie Darden had questions about whether the donation was being accepted in the proper manner.
“I have asked the City Manager [Thomas Thomas] to see a copy of the letter where BODYARMOR has offered to refurbish the basketball courts and see the information provided to them to refurbish the court at Wilson Park,” said Darden. “I would like to see the letter where BODYARMOR requested information from the City or how the city became aware the funds were available.”
City Manager Thomas Thomas explained it was an email exchange between the Grants Manager and BODYARMOR and they made the selection.
“I don’t have any information in front of me to confirm what you’re saying,” said Darden. “That’s why I asked for backup materials.”
The staff report on the item doesn’t include the emails or any award letter from BODYARMOR.
City Attorney Eric Perrodin then interjected saying the documents went through his office and therefore that’s why it was approved to be placed on the agenda for approval.
Mayor Emma Sharif then asked why there wasn’t a letter sent to the City confirming the donation.
“No letter was sent to the City, BODYARMOR reached out to the City via a phone call back in August 2022 and came full circle in the last 30 days that they wanted to donate an in-kind service to fix the court at Wilson Park and we provided them a list of parks and they selected that park,” said Trammell Woods, Grants Compliance Manager.
The Wave reached out to BODYARMOR to get more details on their donation to the City. Their website makes no mention of the availability of grant funds for cities and no mention of other basketball courts they have done.
“How did you find out about this and how did you get my name,” wrote David Rokeach, Director of Sports & Entertainment Partnerships with BODYARMOR.
When it was shared the matter was public record, as the City voted to accept the donation, he declined to answer our questions about how they came to donate to Compton but did state “we are aiming for middle to late June for the completion”.