Shreveport Crawdads

Continental Basketball Association (1994-1995)

Tombstone

Born: 1994 – The Columbus Horizon relocate to Shreveport, LA
Re-Branded: April 24, 1995 (Shreveport Storm)¹

First Game: November 18, 1994 (L 103-86 @ Sioux Falls Skyforce)
Last Game: March 26, 1995 (W 113-111 vs. Mexico City Aztecas)

CBA Championships: None

Arena

Hirsch Memorial Coliseum (8,400)²
Opened: 1954

Marketing

Team Colors: Gold, Green, Purple & Red³

Radio:

1994-95: KEEL (710 AM)

Radio Broadcaster:

Brady Boyd

Ownership

Owner: Eli Jacobson

Attendance

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Source: 1995-96 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide & Register

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Continental Basketball Association
Logo T-Shirt

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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.

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Background

This woeful and well-travelled Continental Basketball Association franchise touched down in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1994. The Shreveport Crawdads traced their lineage back to the formation of the CBA’s Sarasota Stingers in 1983, a team that was founded by con artist Jeffrey Fischer with money stolen his from stock brokerage clients. Over the next eleven years, the franchise wandered through Florida (Florida Stingers), West Virginia (Charleston Gunners) and Ohio (Columbus Horizon) under various ownerships and name changes.

Through all the upheaval, the Stingers/Gunners/Horizon remained remarkably consistent. The franchise never made the CBA playoffs in eleven seasons and finished last in their division six times. The move to Shreveport did nothing to break the curse. The Crawdads finished in dead last place with a 17-39 record during the 1994-95 CBA season.

Notable Names

The Crawdads amassed a small collection of former NBA 1st round draft picks on their roster. The former phenoms included:

Kevin Brooks (Milwaukee Bucks ’91)
Roy Marble (Atlanta Hawks ’89)
Rumeal Robinson (Atlanta Hawks ’90).

The team also negotiated with long-time NBA vet Terry Catledge but failed to come to terms on a contract.

Trademark Dispute

During the 1994-95 season, the Hickory Crawdads, a North Carolina minor league baseball team established in 1993, objected to Shreveport’s competing use of the Crawdads name. Since Hickory officials had trademarked the Crawdads brand, Shreveport was compelled to change its identity.

In April 1995, team owner Eli Jacobson announced that his team would be known as the Shreveport Storm for the 1995-96 season. Minor League Baseball also had a team called the Storm in Lake Elsinore, California. But unlike the Hickory Crawdads, the Lake Elsinore owners did not hold a trademark on the name.⁴

The Storm played one final season in Shreveport in 1995-96. Like the Crawdads the year before, the Storm finished in last place with a 17-39 record. The Crawdads/Storm franchise went out of business in September 1996.