Founded in 1985 in Jacksonville, Florida, the tournament has grown and evolved over the years. Today, Masters Basketball – National Championships is recognized as the Nation's Premier Master’s Basketball Tournament and we are preparing for the 24th Annual Championship.

The Tournament was brought to Broward County, Florida in 1987 by John Dougherty, a teacher and coach at Coconut Creek High School, and was supervised by John until his passing in 1988. Our most prestigious award, “The John Dougherty Sportsman Award” is named in his honor.

From 1989 until 1993, a committee, comprised primarily of members of the Coral Springs Basketball Club operated the event, assisted by the City of Coral Springs Park and Recreation Department, led at the time by the dynamic Jack Doughney. The tournament was played in the gymnasium of the Coral Springs City Center.  In 1994, the gym was closed to remodel the building into a  Center for the Arts with a 1600 seat theater and the tournament was at a serious crossroads.

Fortunately, through Jack Doughney’s efforts, the City of Coconut Creek, Florida stepped forward and assumed complete responsibility for operating the tournament. Under the capable management of Recreation Supervisor Wayne Tobey, the tournament continued to flourish for the next 7 years. The games were played at the Omni Field House, a facility on the north campus of Broward Community College. This very satisfactory arrangement ended in 2000 when the Coconut Creek City Commission withdrew their funding.

In late 2000, under the leadership of then Coral Springs City Commissioner Rhonda Calhoun, in her role of Chair of the Coral Springs Sports Commission, a new Committee was formed.  This group entered into an arrangement with the City of Coral Springs to hold the Championships in the new Coral Springs Gymnasium in May of 2001.  Dave Hulett, a long time participant and former co-chair of the event was named Chairman of this group. The committee once again folded the tournament within the corporate structure of the Coral Springs Basketball Club and the 2001, 2002 and 2003 Championships were successfully completed with this arrangement.

In December of 2003, considering the national stature of the event, and for insurance and financial reasons, the committee decided to incorporate the tournament. On December 18, 2003, Men’s Masters Basketball – National Championships, Inc. was filed as a Florida “not for profit” corporation, supported by a new Board of Directors of experienced businessmen, all with a strong interest in the game of Basketball. Dave Hulett of Coral Springs was named as Chairman of the Board.

In 2005, the Board voted to add a Consolation bracket. This move, created a guaranteed 4th game for all teams and gives a minimum of 50% of the field an opportunity to play a 5th game in either a Championship or Consolation finals.

This enhancement fit the mission statement of MBNC to provide the maximum value for the dollars invested by our team participants and to ensure that MBNC maintained it's position as the “Nation’s Premier Masters Basketball Tournament”.

In advance of the 2007 tournament, the Board voted to add a Women’s Division. In researching this idea, we found that although many opportunities existed for women to play Basketball at the Masters level, the only events we could find were 3 on 3. We believe that MBNC is the only major national master’s basketball tournament offering women an opportunity to play 5 on 5 full court basketball. The Board will continue to grow the women’s side of the tournament and we believe that much like the men’s side developed, we will experience significant growth of the Women’s teams in the next several years.  On February 5th, 2007, our corporate name was changed to “Masters Basketball – National Championships” with the word “Men’s” being deleted.

Since the 2007 tournament, several significant events have taken place. The Board accepted the resignation of Dave Hulett as Chairman of the Board and was faced with the problem of finding someone to lead the corporation into the future. This proved to be more difficult than anticipated.  As the Board looked to the future, the primary mission was to keep the tournament alive and viable so that today’s players in their 40’s and 50’s would be able to look forward to playing in their 60’s and 70’s.

As a first step in this direction, The Board of Directors was restructured with five members being voted to the Board, all of whom have demonstrated a devoted “Hands On” commitment to MBNC. This new Board is lead by our newly elected Chairman, Joseph Horsfall of Parkland, Florida. Joe is a native of Madison, Wisconsin and a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is the Chief Operating Officer at Double Eagle Distributing, a large Budweiser distributor located in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Joe along with David Ross of Morristown, Indiana; Marilyn Rule of Coral Springs, Florida; Marshall Brown of Coral Springs, Florida; and Kevin Florence of Coral Springs, Florida, comprise the Board.

The new Board's first major decision was that in order to keep the tournament alive, it would be necessary to have a paid Tournament Director.  They created the position of Chief Operating Officer and this position will also hold a seat on the Board of Directors. Dave Hulett of Coral Springs, Florida, with 10 years of experience in operating the tournament, was hired to fill this spot for the 2008 fiscal year.

The key to the future of MBNC will be determined by the success of the Board in obtaining higher levels of funding through Sponsorship and Advertising revenue. If successful, team entry fees can stay at reasonable levels and an attractive stipend can be offered to the Chief Operating Officer to run the tournament.

The successful outcome of this effort will depend to a great extent on the assistance the Board receives from our core group of Team Organizers in leading us to potential sponsorship contacts. The Board continues to believe that our demographic is very attractive to many companies and we need just one major sponsor willing to fold the event into their marketing and promotion effort to guarantee the future of MBNC.

As the Board prepares for the 24th annual tournament in May of 2008, we are expecting to welcome approximately 50 teams to the Gym, playing in 7 Men's Divisions ranging from age 40 to 70+ and in 2 Women's Divisions, Under 30 and 30+.

In the final analysis, what MBNC comes down to is fiercely competitive and quality basketball in all of the age divisions. That is what makes the Championships so special , is why teams continue to return year after year and is why MBNC is indeed the “Nation's Premier Masters Basketball Tournament.