MARYSVILLE — The Washington Rampage of the American Basketball Association are a month from the start of their inaugural season.

Kinshasa Martin, owner of the Rampage, wants you to be involved.

Martin used to watch the Everett Explosion, founded in Everett in 2006 but now in Monroe, and saw that they built a foundation for minor league basketball in the state of Washington. He wants his team to make a difference for fans everywhere.

“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Martin said. “I see how people in the community support their sports, but I don’t see the sports giving back. If we come along and give both, then we’re bound for success.”

Rampage point guard Ryan “The General” Webb played varsity basketball at Montlake Terrace High School before starting for four years at Seattle University. Head coach Chuck Fraine, who has known Webb for several years, runs a triangle offense featuring pick-and-rolls. Both volunteer at the Marysville Community Food Bank on 88th Street NE.

“I’ve played ball against Ryan since we were in second grade,” said Fraine, who hails from Monroe and preaches hard-nosed defense to match Marysville’s blue-collar atmosphere. “We grew up in the same neighborhood, we were rivals in high school, and now he’s playing for me and calling me coach — I can’t be more than a month or two older than him, and there are guys on the team older than me. I don’t have to train them, I just have to get them to make better decisions.”

Former Washington State University quarterback Gary Rogers will sign as the team’s power forward to join Webb and small forward Leigh Swanson as “The Rampage Three.”

Martin’s first order of business is to introduce the Rampage to the community for whom they play.

Opening night, 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 at Totem Middle School, will be Military Night when the Rampage will honor military personnel for their game against the I-5 rival Seattle Mountaineers, for whom Webb played for about a week in 2010. Former Seattle Supersonics star Shawn Kemp has also been invited.

The Rampage will play their games at the Marysville Boys and Girls Club, but will make an appearance before then at Grocery Outlet in Marysville on Nov. 5 to collect toys on behalf of Toys for Tots with Octaviana Martin, Kinshasa’s daughter and duchess of the Regal Majesty Pageant.

The Rampage will host a Marysville Basketball Invitational, sponsored by Marysville Awards and Gifts, on Nov. 18 and 19, Marysville’s first-ever pro basketball invitational. Marysville Awards and Gifts will present trophies for the top player of each game and of the tournament, as well as the championship trophy. Proceeds from the event will go to Toys for Tots and the Food Bank. Admission to the tournament costs $3 and a toy or $3 and three cans of food. In addition, $3, a toy and three cans of food buys admission for both days.

“I’m a firm believer that if you give, the community gives back,” Martin said. “From the owner down to the last person who has anything to do with the organization, that’s what we’re about.”

 

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