Why Best Virginia

There are places that shape you. For John Flowers, West Virginia was that place.

As a former West Virginia University standout, Flowers did not just play basketball in Morgantown. He made history there. In 2010, he was part of the Mountaineer squad that punched its ticket to the Final Four, a run that electrified the state and cemented his bond with a community that gave him everything.

But when the final buzzer sounded on his playing career, Flowers found himself asking a question that drives every great athlete turned change maker: What do I do with all of this?

His answer was Best Virginia.

The name says it all. Not just West Virginia, but the best version of it.

Flowers launched Best Virginia with a clear-eyed mission: to use the universal language of sports to highlight the beauty, strength, and untapped potential of a state that the outside world too often overlooks. He had seen firsthand what sports could do, how a locker room builds brotherhood, how a packed arena unites strangers, how one historic tournament run can make an entire state feel ten feet tall.

Best Virginia focuses on building youth programs that give the next generation of West Virginia kids access to the same opportunities that shaped him. Because Flowers knows that sports are not just about wins and losses. They teach discipline, resilience, teamwork, and self-belief. They give young people something to belong to.

Beyond the youth, Flowers has set his sights on reconnecting the alumni network, the former players, coaches, and fans scattered across the country who still bleed blue and gold and carry West Virginia in their hearts. Sports have a way of creating a tight-knit community that no boardroom ever could, and Best Virginia is the thread pulling those people back together.

At its core, Best Virginia is a love letter to a state written in the only language John Flowers has ever needed: the game.

And if 2010 taught us anything, it is that when West Virginia shows up, the whole country pays attention.

Best Virginia is just getting started.