Continental Basketball Association (1985-1994)
Tombstone
Born: July 11, 1985 – The Louisville Catbirds relocate to La Crosse, WI
Moved: May 6, 1994 (Pittsburgh Piranhas)
First Game: December 4, 1985 (W 103-89 vs. Evansville Thunder)
Last Game: April 14, 1994 (L 109-88 vs. Quad City Thunder)
CBA Champions: 1990 & 1992
Arena
La Crosse Center (6,011)11986-87 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide & Register
Opened: 1980
Marketing
Team Colors: Grey, Black & Burnt Orange21986-87 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide & Register
Ownership
Owners:
- 1985-1988: Sandy Gordon, Philip Gelatt, Norm Gillette, Sr. & D.B. Reinhart
- 1988-1994: Norm Gillette, Sr. & D.B. Reinhart
Best Seller
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La Crosse Catbirds Logo T-Shirt
Available from Rebound Vintage Hoops
Background
The La Crosse Catbirds were a very popular minor league basketball franchise in western Wisconsin during the late 1980’s and early 90’s. At the time, the Continental Basketball Association was the official developmental league of the NBA and CBA players were just one call away from a coveted 10-day contract with an injury-riddled NBA club.
The Catbirds arrived in July 1985, after local Pepsi bottler Norman Gillette and three business partners purchased and relocated the CBA’s Louisville Catbirds. The greater La Crosse community of approximately 350,000 residents immediately took to the Catbirds and helped the team shatter the CBA’s single season attendance record during their debut season of 1985-86. The Catbirds would lead the CBA in attendance for each of their first five seasons.
The Catbirds won CBA titles in 1990 and 1992.
From Catbirds to Bobcats
The novelty began to wear off in the early 1990’s. During their final season in Wisconsin in the winter of 1993-94, the Catbirds ranked 9th among the CBA’s 16 clubs in attendance. After nine seasons in La Crosse, Gillette and partner D.B. Reinhart sold the club. At the time of the sale, no other franchise in CBA history had lasted as long as the Catbirds in one city under the same ownership. In those nine years, the team had only one losing season.
New owner Bob Murphy moved the club to Pittsburgh, where the team was known as the Piranhas. The franchise lasted just one season in western Pennsylvania before folding.
After one winter without pro basketball, La Crosse got a new CBA expansion franchise in the autumn of 1996. The La Crosse Bobcats played five seasons between 1996 and 2001.
Trivia
Life in the CBA: During their final postseason run in April 1994, the Catbirds were forced to play a key playoff date at Viterbo College’s tiny Student Activities Center because the La Crosse Center was booked by the Wisconsin Cheesemen’s Association for a dairy festival.3Reeve, Tad. “Viterbo finds a way to pack ’em in”. The Tribune (La Crosse, WI). April 6, 1994
La Crosse Catbirds Shop
Catbirds Women’s Cut Logo T from Rebound Vintage Hoops
Life On The Rim: A Year in the Continental Basketball Association
by David Levine
Order Today at Amazon
La Crosse Catbirds Video
2006 WXOW ABC 19 retrospective on the Catbirds era with coaches Flip Saunders and Don Zierden, re-aired in 2020.
The Catbirds host the Quad City Thunder at the La Crosse Center. 1988 game broadcast.
In Memoriam
Former Catbirds owner D.B. Reinhart passed away on April 13, 1996 at age 75.
Reinhart’s business partner in the Catbirds Norman Gillette, Sr. passed away three months later on July 12, 1996 at age 90.
Head coach Flip Saunders (Catbirds ’89-’94) died of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on October 25, 2015 at age 60. Los Angeles Times obituary.
Links
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2 Responses
http://t.co/mX8VSkjlJK ’92 CBAChamps #Catbirds launched my 10+ NBA yrs & my ’99 NBAChampionship #Spurs #notableplayer #FlipSaunders #Callup
…very cool that a former Catbirds player who made it would make a shout out here, but not surprised- almost every NBA game i’ve been to has been less intense than the Flip Saunders-led Catbirds show….it was a strange phenomenon I witnessed as a 5th grader, I would almost compare it to maybe like the circus coming to a small town and the ringleader, performers, and audience all take it to the next level. That game 7 in 92 was the best representation of basketball as a sport/game I witnessed, came down to the last second.