Continental Basketball Association (2001-2002)
Tombstone
Born: August 2001 – CBA expansion franchise
Moved: September 4, 2002 (Great Lakes Storm)1TRIBUNE SPORTS STAFF. “CBA replaces Flint”. The Bismarck Tribune (Bismarck, ND). September 6, 2002
First Game: December 1, 2001 (L 107-106 @ Grand Rapids Hoops)
Last Game: March 23, 2002 (L 126-111 @ Grand Rapids Hoops)
CBA Championships: None
Arena
IMA Sports Arena (5,200)22001-02 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide
Opened: 1969
Marketing
Team Colors: Columbia Blue, Navy & White32001-02 Continental Basketball Association Official Guide
Ownership
Owner: Jeff Grayer, et al.
Background
The Flint Fuze was a hastily organized minor league basketball outfit that lasted a single season in the steadily shrinking Michigan city of Flint. Hometown hero Jeff Grayer, a former prep star at Flint Northwestern High who went on to represent the U.S. at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and play nine years in the NBA, was part-owner and head coach of the Fuze.
The Fuze joined a troubled league known as the Continental Basketball Association that was trying to stagger back to its feet after a series of near fatal blows over the past couple of years. The CBA was an official partner of the NBA throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, effectively serving as “triple-A” basketball for the senior circuit. But a disastrous sale of the entire league to former NBA superstar Isiah Thomas in August 1999 left the 55-year old league bankrupt and out of business just 18 months later.
A group of former CBA franchise holders who had sold out to Thomas two years earlier re-organized the league during the summer of 2001. They re-acquired the intellectual property rights to the league and their former clubs from the bankruptcy court for a pittance and began to put the CBA back together. But meanwhile, the NBA had launched their own directly-owned minor league, the National Basketball Development League (known today as the “G-League”) in 2001. The arrival of the NBDL in the fall of 2001 called into question the purpose of a re-booted CBA.
Defused
The Fuze slogged through a single desultory campaign in the new CBA. Grayer’s squad finished 17-23 and out of the playoff picture.
The team competed for fans and sponsors with another winter tenant at IMA Sports Arena, the Flint Generals of the United Hockey League. Both the Generals and the Fuze struggled with deplorable conditions in the building during the winter of 2001-02. The Generals were forced to postpone games due to unplayable ice conditions. The Fuze, meanwhile, attempted to play midwinter games with the arena’s heating system on the fritz.4Cooper, Craig. “There’s nothing cool with Flint’s ice”. The Quad City Times (Davenport, IA). January 25, 2002
At the end of the season, new investors took over the club and moved the team 20 minutes north to the small village of Birch Run, Michigan. The team changed its name to the Great Lakes Storm and played three more seasons. Jeff Grayer initially moved north with the team as well, but departed in 2003 after coaching one more season.
The CBA went out of business for good in 2009.
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