This is some background information on Justin Toebes, the man from whom the JTTrust takes its name and mission. The man who for over four decades – continued to give back to his community in every way possible. In the 44 years since, he has made an almost immeasurable contribution to basketball in our region.

Born in 1954, Justin Toebes first played basketball in his final year at Wellington College in 1973. After that he dedicated a large part of his life to helping as many people as he could, enjoy basketball as he did and also improve the quality of the sports profile within wellington and the country at large.

He made sure he was involved with basketball at every level, from playing to managing.  in 1994 He was elected on to the Wellington Basketball Association Executive Committee. A year later he was the President, a position he stayed in for ten years. He would regularly support the committee financially whenever they came up short, examples would include paying for court hire costs, apparel purchases, and tournament operation. He even covered their debts when they were facing insolvency. He joined the Board of Basketball New Zealand in 2002 and was Vice President from 2003 to 2006. As part of his tenure on the board, he ensured that the NBL competition was returned as part of BBNZ. Justin also served as the Basketball New Zealand representative on the International Basketball Federation’s Oceania Board.

When a fire destroyed the Wellington Basketball’s headquarters at Newtown Stadium in 1998, Justin was adamant about getting a new Stadium built to replace it. In order to get this done, he made sure he attended every local and greater Wellington Council meeting, he visited the Albert Park Stadium in Melbourne and talked to the architects as well as stadium designers from FIBA, to utilize their expertise in building the new Stadium. 

Justin was also part of the formation of the Capital Zone Basketball Trust, an organization that aims to help everyone in the capital get into and enjoy basketball. His help and generosity was not limited to organizations or large-scale projects, He also provided aid to many young players directly, often paying for things like travel fees (both domestic and international) so that the players were not denied enjoyment or advancement in basketball due to not being able to afford it. 

Despite being as busy as he was with all his basketball efforts, Justin was also a highly accomplished lawyer and would offer his services and legal advice to any basketball organization or individual who needed it. In 2016 he was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to basketball, was awarded the Sir Lance Cross Memorial Award by Basketball NZ and is a life member of Basketball New Zealand and the Wellington Basketball Association. 

Unfortunately, in mid-2014, he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, and he was given a continued life expectancy of 2 and half years. He lived for 4 more years longer than that before succumbing to the disease in late 2018. Even during that period of his life, when he could no longer move most of his own body, he still kept working to help improve Basketball for everyone in Wellington and New Zealand as a whole, as well as continuing to show up to as many Saints home games as he could. 

Set up by members of Justin’s friends, family, and those with strong ties to Wellington basketball, the JTTrust is committed to continuing his exemplary work.