Jay Ramsdell was the Commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association

Continental Basketball Association

The Continental Basketball Association was a professional men's basketball league in the United States, which has been on hiatus since the 2009 season.- History :...

 (CBA), a professional men's basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 league in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, from 1988 until his death.

Maine Lumberjacks

As a ninth-grade student in 1978, Ramsdell interviewed the owner of the expansion team

Expansion team

An expansion team is a brand new team in a sports league. The term is most commonly used in reference to the North American major professional sports leagues, but is applied to sports leagues worldwide that use a closed franchise system of league membership. The term comes from the expansion of the...

 the Maine Lumberjacks for an article in his high school newspaper. The owner was so impressed, he invited Jay to "help out" the team on Opening Night. That night Jay was assigned to the scorer's table, and by the end of the game he was the Statistical Crew Chief. Within a week, Jay had assumed the role of the team's Director of Public Relations.

CBA

Ramsdell remained with the 'Jacks until his high school graduation in 1982 when he was hired by CBA commissioner Jim Drucker as the league's Administrative Assistant. Within a year, he was the league's Director of Operations.

He returned to Bangor

Bangor, Maine

Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

, to serve as the General Manager for the Maine Windjammers

Maine Windjammers

The Maine Windjammers were a semi-pro basketball team based out of Bangor, Maine. It was affiliated with the Continental Basketball Association. It existed during the CBA's 1985-1986 season. After that season, the team was dropped, and it would be a decade before a basketball team would return to...

 in 1985/86. After that franchise folded after one season, at the age of 20, Ramsdell returned to the CBA front office as Deputy Commissioner.

With the resignation of Commissioner Mike Storen

Mike Storen

Mike Storen is an American sports executive, perhaps best known for his tenure as commissioner of the American Basketball Association.Storen started in professional sports management in 1963, after serving in the United States Marine Corps, as promotions director for the Baltimore Bullets of the...

 in 1988, Jay Ramsdell became the youngest Commissioner in the history of professional sports when he assumed the position at the age of 24.

Death

Ramsdell and Deputy Commissioner Jerry Schemmel

Jerry Schemmel

Jerry Schemmel is the radio announcer for the MLB's Colorado Rockies and the Colorado State Rams football and men's basketball teams. He was formerly the play-by-play announcer for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, calling their full regular season from 1992 to 2009, when he assumed home-only duties until...

 were on their way from the league headquarters in Denver to the player draft in Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio

Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...

 on July 19, 1989 when United Airlines Flight 232

United Airlines Flight 232

United Airlines Flight 232 was a scheduled flight from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, with continuing service to Philadelphia International Airport...

 crashed at the Sioux City

Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

airport after losing all hydraulics. Of the 296 passengers and crew on board the flight, Jay was among the 112 passengers who lost their lives in the crash.

In 1989, the CBA league championship trophy was named the Jay Ramsdell Trophy to honor his memory.