According to a few notes and additional lore passed down through the years, the idea for what was to become the Minneapolis Dunkers was the brainchild of Minneapolis businessman and sports promoter Chet Roan.

He engaged Minneapolis Tribune sports columnist Charlie Johnson and Gerry Moore, executive director of the Greater Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, in a conversation about starting a breakfast group to meet on occasion with local and visiting sports figures of note.

The three, who during the 1950s would be leaders of the movement to build a new stadium and attract major league baseball and football to the area, agreed that there would be multiple benefits to bringing the region's business and civic leaders together around the theme of sports.

Roan was charged with writing the rules. Moore agree to run the ad hoc group out of the Chamber offices, and Johnson was assigned the task of finding many of the original guests and of finding a name for the group. It was Johnson who came up with the name of Minneapolis Dunkers, and he also suggested that the group's officers hold sports-related titles. The person in charge of meetings was to be the Head Coach. His backup was the Water Boy. The person who ran things from meeting to meeting and year to year was the Head Trainer. Instead of a Board of Directors there was to be a Coaching Staff.

Moore, since his office was doing most of the work, was named the first Head Coach. Cliff Sommer was the Water Boy and second Head Coach. William MacPhail Jr. was the Trainer. Chas. O. Pyle, Roan, and Johnson were the Assistant Coaches, and the six of them became the Founders. Along with A. E. Pouliot, they also became the first Coaching Staff.

All of this was accomplished in a meeting, referred to as a Practice Session, on October 20, 1948. The group decided to seek an initial charter membership of 35, and agreed that they would try to schedule a meeting before the Christmas holidays.

The name of the group was changed from Minneapolis Dunkers to Twin Cities Dunkers in 1992, reflecting a geographical expansion of membership. On January 1, 2021, the organization became a legal entity, Twin Cities Dunkers, LTD.