World Basketball League (1991-1992)
Tombstone
Born: November 2, 1990 – WBL expansion franchise1Shedloski, Dave. “Area in for treat if WBL can live up to the hype”. The News-Sun (Springfield, OH). November 28, 1990
Folded: July 31, 1992
First Game: May 3, 1991 (L 122-100 vs. Florida Jades)
Last Game: July 31, 1992 (W 119-111 vs. Saskatchewan Storm)
WBL Champions: 1991
Arenas
1991-1992: Ervin J. Nutter Center (10,632)
Opened: 1990
1992: Dayton Convention Center
Marketing
Team Colors: Blue & Green
Radio:
- 1991-1992: WONE (980 AM)
Radio Broadcasters:
- 1991: Guy Fogle
- 1992: Guy Fogle & Greg Gahris
Ownership
Owner: Milton Kantor
Attendance
Fun While It Lasted has cobbled together a partial record of Dayton Wings attendance and World Basketball League attendance more broadly. We still don’t have a league-wide attendance average for the 1992 season.
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Sources:
- 1992 World Basketball League Media Guide (1991 Wings & WBL figures)
- 1992 Wings figures re-built by Fun While It Lasted from Dayton Daily News game stories and box scores
Our Favorite Stuff
Dayton Wings Logo T-Shirt
The early 1990’s saw a minor league sports boom in Dayton, Ohio. Winter nights offered both ice hockey’s Bombers and the indoor soccer Dynamo. The opening of the Nutter Center in 1990 enticed both of those clubs to move over from Hara Arena and led to the arrival of the World Basketball League’s Dayton Wings in the spring of 1991. The Wings were dominant, posting a 62-22 regular season record and winning a league title in their debut season. But the WBL’s financial scandals sunk both the team and the league the very next year.
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Background
The Dayton Wings were a short-lived minor league basketball team in the World Basketball League (1988-1992). The WBL was a league for players 6′ 5″ and under (raised to 6′ 7″ in the final season of 1992) where guard play ruled and defense was anathema.
The Wings, owned by local grocery chain owner and basketball nut Milton Kantor, were an expansion team in 1991. They quickly established themselves as one of the best teams in the WBL, winning their division with a 36-15 record and then defeating the Calgary 88’s in the 1991 WBL championship series. Key players included minor league warhorse Alfredrick Hughes and former Georgetown guard Perry McDonald.
During the Wings second season in the summer of 1992, the team raced out to the best record in the league at 26-7. But late in the season, investigators discovered that league founder and owner of the Youngstown Pride franchise Mickey Monus embezzled approximately $10 million from his Phar-Mor discount pharmacy chain to prop up the money-losing WBL. Monus’ fellow WBL owners were unaware of the scheme, but were also dependent on the money that the Pride owner had been pumping into league coffers. Amidst the scandal, the league shutdown on August 1, 1992 without managing to complete its fifth season of operations.
Dayton Wings Video
The Wings host the Calgary 88’s at the Nutter Center. SportsChannel America broadcast from June 22nd, 1992.
In Memoriam
Former Wings owner Milt Kantor passed away on December 23, 2012 at age 85.
Downloads
1992 Dayton Wings Game Results & Attendance
1992 Dayton Wings Results & Attendance
2012 FWiL interview with former WBL Director of Public Relations Director Jimmy Oldham
Links
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