Capital Region Pontiacs

Continental Basketball Association (1992-1993)

Tombstone

Born: October 2, 1992 – Re-branded from Albany Patroons¹
Moved: May 26, 1993 (Hartford Hellcats)²

First Game: November 21, 1992 (W 97-94 vs. Grand Rapids Hoops)
Last Game: March 26, 1993 (L 113-108 @ Quad City Thunder)

CBA Championships: None

Arena

Knickerbocker Arena
Opened: 1990

Marketing

Team Colors:

Ownership

Owner: Joseph O’Hara

OUR FAVORITE STUFF

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

Throughout most of the 1980’s Albany, New York boasted the country’s best minor league basketball team: the Albany Patroons. Between 1982 and 1991 the Patroons won five division titles and two championships in the Continental Basketball Association, the NBA’s developmental league of the era. The team sent a raft of players up the NBA, along with head coaches Phil Jackson, Bill Musselman and George Karl. And Albany boasted a raucous, sell-out atmosphere at the ancient 3,000-seat Washington Avenue Armory.

With no pro hockey in town during the 1980’s, the Patroons owned the winter sports scene in New York’s capital region. Everything changed with the opening of 15,000-seat Knickerbocker Arena in January 1990. The Patroons moved in that fall, but the fan base didn’t expand to greet the cavernous capacity or increased costs of the Knick.

In October 1992, on the eve of the Patroons’ third season in the new arena, owner Joseph O’Hara announced a naming rights deal with a consortium of Albany-era Pontiac automobile dealers. The move involved changing the name of the team to the “Capital Region Pontiacs” just six weeks ahead of tip-off for the 1992-93 CBA season. The CBA initially vetoed the deal, reportedly worth $75,000, before approving it along with a fine on the Albany franchise that amount to nearly half of the sponsorship’s value.³

This unpopular move, combined with the increased expenses of the new arena and the CBA’s increasing reliance on air travel, effectively killed the franchise argued local Albany sportswriter Chuck Miller, a long-time observer of the CBA.

On The Court

The Pontiacs were OK in competition, finishing 2nd place in their division with a 28-28 record. But it was a far cry from the lofty standards set by Jackson, Karl and Musselman’s Patroons squads of the past. Head Coach Kevin Mackey was fired in midseason with a 19-19 mark and the Pontiacs missed the playoffs.

Notable players included top scorer Brooke Steppe, a former 1st round draft pick of the NBA’s Kansas City Kings (#17 overall, 1982), and 7′ 5″ center Chuck Nevitt, famously nicknamed “The Human Victory Cigar” for his garbage time appearances with a number of NBA clubs during the 1980’s and early 90’s.

Demise

Fans didn’t take to the name change and attendance plummeted from 3,166 per game in 1991-92 to under 2,000 by midseason of 1992-93.⁴

Rumors of the CBA’s imminent demise in Albany began to circulate midway through the 1992-93 season. Albuquerque, Billings, Providence, Rochester and Worcester were all floated as potential destinations for the franchise. In the end, the former Patroons/Pontiacs moved to Hartford, Connecticut under new ownership in May 1993. Renamed the Hartford Hellcats, the team would fold in midseason two years later.

The last Pontiac automobile, meanwhile, rolled off a Michigan assembly line in January 2010.