By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

The Florida Flight has left the gate on time and is en route to its connection, which it hopes ends at the World Basketball Association finals.

After the Flight’s 116-112 loss to the Jacksonville Bluewaves in the Flight’s WBA Exposure League premiere at the Kissimmee Civic Center Tuesday, the Flight is on the radar.

Willie Irick led the Flight with 27 points, and guards Dwayne Foreman and Travis Aikens added 23 and 20.

It was the first of a 16-game schedule. Tickets are $10 each per game, or $50 for a season ticket that is available at the box office.

The Flight’s next home game is May 20 against the defending WBA champion Gwinnett (Ga.) Majic.

Most games are on the weekends, allowing the players to work their day jobs, then follow their dreams of playing professional basketball, much like Flight Owner Mark King did in his short career playing in the Continental Basketball Association following a small-college career.

“We want to play high-quality basketball, but finding local talent is important,” he said. “If a person has a passion for basketball, I’d tell them they need to exercise that.”

The team was welcomed to town Friday when community leaders gathered at the Civic Center for the team’s introduction.

“This team is vital to our new economic development program,” Kissimmee City Commissioner Carlos Irizarry said. “We’re looking forward to forming a partnership with the team and the community.”

King, who Friday issued Irizarry season ticket No. 1, said the city has been supportive in every tenuous step of the way in getting a minor-league sports franchise off the ground.

“One of my mantras is that, ‘You have to create your own shot,’” he said. “The hard work? That’s the easy part. Finding the opportunity is always the toughest.”

King said he hopes to launch a junior basketball league to enforce local ties.

“Putting on camps and clinics are steps we want to take. This is prime area for us to be,” he said.

Longtime NBA player Greg Kite, who won two NBA titles with the Boston Celtics and played for the Orlando Magic, is the Flight’s general manager. He’s worked to bring in talent, using local connections he built as an assistant at Seminole Community College.

“This will be an exciting challenge for me,” he said. “This gives me the chance to stay involved with the game I love. I look forward to helping our players continue their careers, and I’ll do everything in my power to bring a championship to Central Florida.”

The head coach is Levi Cobb, who played at the University of Illinois (1977-80) and played professionally in Greece and Australia.

He coached professionally in Australia and at Seminole C.C. He coached several local high schools, most recently at Montverde Academy.

“My job is to showcase these guys’ talents, and we’re going to have some good talent, it’s just a matter of it coming together to win,” he said. “But this is an exposure league, and if any guy gets an opportunity elsewhere, I’ll be the first one to kick him out the door.”

A few players who came to April tryout camps still had  college eligibility remaining, like Kissimmee’s J.D. Bracy, who starred at Osceola High before graduating in 2000 and signing with Florida State. He never academically qualified to play there, instead ending up at Seminole. With two years of eligibility remaining, he’ll work in the Flight’s front office while he plays for Warner University.

The Flight roster includes a handful of high school coaches, including  Matt Turner (Edgewater) and Sharrod Williams (Windermere Prep).