The Richmond Elite’s Jarrod “Jay” Allen, a former player for Henrico High School and Lynchburg College, goes for a layup. (Photo by CaRes Patterson)
Inside a tan-and-rust-colored structure built by former NBA champion and Virginia Union University player Ben Wallace on Westwood Avenue, you can watch former college standouts such as Tavon Mealy of VUU and Xavier Parham from Virginia State University light up the scoreboard in pursuit of another victory. The players belong to the Richmond Elite, an American Basketball Association team that wraps up its eighth season with a March 2 game against the Baltimore Hawks at Big Ben’s Home Court, followed by a divisional championship game on March 17.
“In our eight-year time, we have been able to win four division championships,” says Jason Patterson, who helped found the Richmond Elite with his mother, team owner Joyce Patterson, and brother CaRes Patterson, a former point guard at Christopher Newport University. “Last year we went 14-1, so this year we’re trying to go 16-0,” Jason Patterson told us after the team logged its 10th straight win of the season. Despite its success, the Elite doesn’t have the name recognition of Richmond’s other professional sports teams — the Richmond Kickers or the Flying Squirrels.
“For anyone that has ever experienced a Richmond league game, they will always tell you that Richmond Elite is probably Richmond’s best-kept secret,” Jason Patterson says.
The original ABA existed from 1967 to 1976 and featured prominent names such as Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Petersburg native Moses Malone, before merging with the National Basketball Association. The current incarnation of the league formed in 1999 and comprises 123 teams.
Forward Anthony Wynn, who played at St. Paul’s College, is the longest-tenured player for the Elite, having spent five seasons with the team. Of the 14 players on the roster (in addition to four overseas), 11 attended college in Virginia.
“Brandon Rozzell was on the VCU Final Four team,” Jason Patterson says, of the former Elite guard. “He helped us [during] our first two seasons.” Rozzell then joined Sweden’s Basketball Club Luleå, winning a championship, and now plays for the Icelandic club Stjarnan.
The Elite’s community involvement includes holding breast cancer awareness events and a walk to support Alzheimer’s research. Additionally, the team runs a free summer youth basketball camp, typically at Armstrong High School.
“We’ve touched the lives of so many basketball players, youth and adults,” Joyce Patterson says. “And it’s great for families to come on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons and get some fun-filled entertainment."
