Pensacola Tornados Continental Basketball Association

Pensacola Tornados

Continental Basketball Association (1985-1991)

Tombstone

Born: December 27, 1985 – The Toronto Tornados relocate to Pensacola, FL1Ward, Bill. “CBA owners okay Toronto shift to Pensacola”. The Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, FL). December 28, 1985
Moved: 1986 (Jacksonville Jets)
Born Again: July 16, 1986 – The Bay State Bombardiers relocate to Pensacola
Moved Again: 1991 (Birmingham Bandits)

First Game: December 29, 1985 (L 102-100 @ Maine Windjammers)
Last Game: March 16, 1991 (W 128-126 vs. Columbus Horizon)

CBA Championships: None

Arena

Pensacola Civic Center (9,856)21986-87 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide & Register

Marketing

Team Colors:

  • 1990-91: Red, White & Blue31986-87 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide & Register

Ownership

Owners:

Attendance

Pensacola Tornados attendance records for the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons are not yet available.

Tilting your mobile device may offer better viewing.

Sources:

  • 1990-91 & 1991-92 CBA Official Guide & Registers (1989-90 & 1990-91 seasons)
  • Rapid City Journal, March 19, 1989 (1988-89 season)
  • Rapid City Journal, May 25, 1988 (1987-88 season)

 

OUR FAVORITE STUFF

Continental Basketball Association
Logo T-Shirt

This Old School Shirts release is strictly for the hardcore hoop heads. 
Before the NBA had the G-League, it had the CBA with teams stretched from Puerto Rico to Honolulu. During the CBA’s 1980’s and 90’s heyday, the league provided a launching pad for future NBA All-Stars such as John Starks and  Michael Adams as well as coaching legends Phil Jackson and George Karl. 
 
When you make a purchase through an affiliate link like this one, Fun While It Lasted earns a commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

 

Background

The Pensacola Tornados were actually two separate Continental Basketball Association franchises that operated in the Florida panhandle in the late 1980’s and early 90’s.

The first Tornados team arrived abruptly in December 1985, when Ted Stepien, owner of the CBA’s Toronto Tornados, yanked his team out of Ontario and moved it south one month in the 1985-86 season. Those Tornados finished out the 1985-86 season at the Pensacola Civic Center with a 15-33 record.

Tornados 2.0

Stepien moved the team to Jacksonville shortly after the season ended. But another nomadic CBA club quickly materialized to replace Stepien’s franchise. The Bay State Bombardiers, late of Worcester, Massachusetts, moved into the Pensacola Civic Center in July 1986. The new owners carried on with the Tornados name, which Stepien had abandoned.

In the fall of 1986 the Tornados brought 34-year old former New York Knicks center Marvin Webster out of retirement. The 7′ 1″ shot blocker was the #3 overall pick in the 1975 NBA draft but his promising career was short-circuited by recurring battles with hepatitis. Webster averaged 11.4 points and 13.2 in the CBA despite being “so out of shape he could barely run up and down the floor” in the words of Harvey Araton of The Daily News. Nevertheless, Webster used his time in Pensacola to earn one last shot in the NBA, playing 15 games for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1987 before walking away for good.

The End

The Tornados struggled through several seasons of low attendance and ownership transitions before finally departing town for Birmingham, Alabama in the spring of 1991.

 

Pensacola Tornados Shop

Life On The Rim: A Year in the Continental Basketball Association
by David Levine

 

 

 

Tornados Video

Tornados host the Charleston Gunners at the Civic Center. 1987 ESPN broadcast.

 

In Memoriam

Center Marvin Webster (Tornados ’86) passed away on April 4, 2009 at the age of 56. The reported cause was heart disease. New York Times obituary.

Power forward Bob McCann (Tornado ’89-’91) died of heart failure on July 1, 2011 at the age of 47.

Co-owner Eli Jacobson (’86-’89) died from complications of a staph infection on December 26, 2015 at age 69. Shreveport Times obituary.

 

Links

Continental Basketball Association Media Guides

Continental Basketball Association Programs

###

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share