Ladies Professional Basketball Association (1980)
Tombstone
Born: 1980 – LPBA founding franchise
Folded: December 23, 1980
First Game:
Last Game:
LPBA Championships: None
Arena
Albuquerque Civic Auditorium
Opened: 1957
Demolished: 1986
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Mike Valentine
Background
The New Mexico Energee were one of six franchises that were supposed to play in a promotion called the Ladies Professional Basketball Association in the winter of 1980. The LPBA formed as a West Coast rival to the more established and nationwide Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL) when that more established league started to contract amidst financial problems.
The LPBA attracted a couple of talented WBL refugees, including Liz Silcott and Molly Bolin. Bolin was co-MVP of the WBL in 1980 with the Iowa Cornets.
What the LPBA didn’t have was ownership of any substance. By the time the league debuted in mid-December 1980, two of the six planned clubs had evaporated into thin air. New Mexico postponed their home opener at the Albuquerque Civic Auditorium after their basketball floor didn’t arrive in time. The league managed to play only five games over the span of one week before folding on December 23, 1980. The Energee played in three of those games and hosted two, drawing 3,174 fans combined to the Albuquerque Civic Auditorium. The Energee closed down with a 1-2 record.
The Energee’s coach was Norm Ellenberger, the disgraced former Head Coach of the University of New Mexico basketball program. At the time of his involvement with the Energee, Ellenberger still faced a grand jury indictment for fraud related to the “Lobogate” academic scandals at UNM.
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