Story Published: Aug 26, 2010 at 10:12 PM PST
Despite similar names, Columbia Basin Football is part of a larger organization called the Northwest Community College Football League (NWCCFL). This year, the NWCCFL expanded in Eastern Washington with the creation of Columbia Basin Football. Head coach, James Gonzales, touted the program as a new opportunity for local athletes who were overlooked in high school, injured, or never got a fair shot at playing college ball. "This gives us and them the ability to showcase their talents."
To be eligible to play on the football team, players must be a student at CBC.
But Columbia Basin College (CBC) athletic director Scott Rogers was adamant that the team was not affiliated with the college. He said he receives up to four phone calls a week from students, athletic directors and others, inquiring about the football program. But Rogers turns them all away with the same answer: "Unfortunately, CBC does not have a football team." After 20 years without a gridiron gang, CBC officials don't plan to bring one back now "It's too expensive," Rogers continued. "It's just not in the cards."
But it's not just confused callers that are a burden. The college is now looking into more serious concerns.
On Thursday, CBC spokesperson Frank Murray told KEPR the college is investigating claims that the football players are using the CBC's name in fundraisers. "(Columbia Basin Football) is a legitimate organization, no question, its just how its being represented," Rogers said.
Confusion arose when a member of the KEPR Action News team said young men came to her door claiming to be part of the CBC football team. The group wanted to raise money for the team and specifically promoted football coming back to the college.
The group is selling coupon booklets in neighborhoods across the Tri-Cities for $20 each. The booklet offers discounts for several stores, including many out-of-area companies like World Market and New York & Company. The front of each booklet is labeled "N.W. Community College FB League: Columbia Basin Football" with a logo of the team, season schedule and other information.
Nowhere on the booklet does it reference Columbia Basin College but but least one person felt they got burned anyway. Murray said one person returned the coupon book to the college, frustrated that she believed she was donating to CBC, only to find out later that she wasn't.
"The biggest concern I have is that they're raising money in the community for an organization that is completely justified to exist but they're doing under the name of CBC athletics and some people think they're donating to support the college," Rogers said. "And that's misleading."
After a quick search on the Internet, KEPR found a video produced by the Washington Sports Network - which highlights tryouts for the NWCCFL Columbia Basin Football team - only made the connection more confusing. A reporter in the video, describing the scene, clearly states: "We're at Chiawana High School for the Columbia Basin Community College tryouts for football."
Again, the CBC athletic director flat out denies a connection to the college.
President of the NWCCFL, Kory Hill, was adamant that the league is an independent, non-profit, and assured KEPR that they are very careful never to tie CBC's name to their league. He called the reporter's words a mistake and promised to fix it.
Gonzales added "I can see the confusion but, clearly, on the front of those cards it states Northwest Community College Football League so in no way were we trying to mis-represent who we are. This is our first year so we are going to have some growing pains."
RESOURCES:
Columbia Basin College Athletics:
Northwest Community College Football League (NCCFL): http://www.nwccfl.com/
Columbia Basin Head Coach: James Gonzales Phone - 360-451-1319 Email - dballcoach@gmail.com
Columbia Basin Football Combine Video: http://vimeo.com/10448019http://vimeo.com/10448019
2010 NWCCFL League schedule: http://www.nwccfl.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=43
