On Sunday, August 9, 2015, P.C. Cobb Field House played host to the first “Together We Ball” Basketball Game and Community Fair. The Dallas Police Department and various Dallas area pastors came together and played a friendly game of basketball. Tip off was at 4 p.m. and it was game on.

The event’s inception came about when representatives from the African American Pastors Coalition approached members of the Dallas Police Department with the idea of uniting the police department with the community, through basketball.  The idea came in the midst of tension between citizens and law enforcement across the country, and it was not by chance that game day was on the one-year anniversary of the shooting incident in Ferguson, Missouri.

State Representative Eric Johnson was the Master of Ceremony, alongside Senior Pastor Richie Butler of Dallas’ Saint Paul United Methodist Church. The original plan was a match-up between police officers and pastors, but after much thought, event organizers believed it would be better to integrate the teams with players from both sides.

This family-friendly event brought out Councilwoman Tiffinni Young, Dallas ISD Trustee Bernadette Nutall, Park Board member Yolanda Williams, and several members of the community.  There was music, entertainment and plenty of folks showing off their Whip/Nae Nae skills! The event was sponsored by the African American Pastors Coalition, the Dallas Police Department, the North Texas Conference of United Methodist Churches, the Dallas Black Police Association, the Dallas Police Association, the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization, the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Black Police Association and Project U.N.I.T.Y.

The goal is for this to be an annual event that gets bigger and better each year; and while this was just the first year, it was a slam dunk.