By Ken Jackson

Ron Riley knows his basketball.

He’s played it, coached it, taught it and these days he's running it.

The former NBA forward and the career all-time leading rebounder at Southern Cal oversees the vast youth basketball program at the St. Cloud Civic Center.

At a ceremony Friday in Gym B of the Civic Center, the city's Parks and Recreation Department will dedicate it as the Ron Riley Youth Basketball League.

Right after the 6 p.m. ceremony, a series of all-star games, with rosters made from the league's 300 or so players, will take place. Fan challenges will be held between games. City Manager Tom Hurt will be the guest speaker.

“Somebody in City Hall wanted to take advantage of marketing what we have here,” he said.

The league, which Riley built from the hardwood up when he came to the department in 1992, now has 28 teams of boys and girls ages 7 to 16. The league is close to concluding its spring season, but summer league registrations are right around the corner.

That's up from 10 teams when he started. It grew to the point that the city had to add a second gym to its municipal facilities, he said.

“They built that on behalf of all our new teams,” he said. “And we're running out of room now; pretty soon we'll need to build another one.”

Parks and Recreation Acting Director Julie Graf said that the honor is most deserving.

“He has been working with the city’s youth for 18 years; he helps keep them busy, he teaches them camaraderie and he helps increase their self-esteem,” she said. “He accomplishes this while they’re all having fun. He’s led a great and successful program. We’re very grateful to have Ron with us and we honor him by renaming the league that he has worked so hard to make a reality.”

Riley, 59, played for the University of Southern California from 1969-72, averaging 13.7 rebounds per game. For the next four years he played with the NBA's Cincinnati Royals (later the Sacramento Kings) and Houston Rockets, averaging 5.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

More recently, he was an assistant coach for the St. Cloud High School boys program in 1999-2000 and at Harmony in 2007-08 and he was head coach for the St. Cloud girls in 2008-09.

Riley said that despite all the administrative duties involved with the league, like making schedules and grouping kids onto teams, he still tries to interact as much as possible.

“I'm around the kids all the time,” he said. “I try not to be too much of a coach, I leave that to our dedicated coaches.”

Therein lies the biggest challenge, he said, of keeping and maintaining a steady roster of volunteer coaches. More volunteers will be needed in the upcoming summer and fall seasons. The recreation department also is taking registrations for its over-30 adult 4-on-4 league and men's and co-ed softball leagues.

For more information on the St. Cloud Parks and Recreation programs, visit www.stcloud.org or call 407-957-7243.