Category: Continental Basketball Association

Illustration of Head Coach Dave Cowens on the cover of a 1984-85 Bay State Bombardiers program from the Continental Basketball Association

Bay State Bombardiers

March 3, 2013

The Bay State Bombardiers were a Continental Basketball Association franchise based in Massachusetts from 1983 through 1986. The team played its first season in Brockton at a high school gymnasium before moving to Worcester Memorial Auditorium for its final two seasons. Former Boston Celtics legend Dave Cowens coached the team in 1984-85. Ex-Boston College Eagle star Michael Adams won CBA Rookie of the Year honors with Bay State in 1986 and later developed into an NBA All-Star with the Denver Nuggets.

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1978-79 Rochester Zeniths Yearbook from the Continental Basketball Association

Rochester Zeniths Basketball & Softball

February 22, 2013

Dick Hill owned Western New York’s top television dealership in the 1970’s, selling and servicing the dominant brands of the day – Zenith and RCA.  In 1977, Hill dove into the world of professional sports, acquiring a minor league basketball franchise in the new All-American Basketball Alliance.  A few months later, Hill also purchased a expansion franchise in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League, a men’s pro league entering its second season in the summer of 1978. He named both of the basketball and softball clubs after the brand that fueled his dealership’s success – the Rochester Zeniths. Read more…

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1993-94 Fargo-Moorhead Fever Program from the Continental Basketball Association

Fargo-Moorhead Fever

January 21, 2013

The Fargo-Moorhead Fever were a well-traveled Continental Basketball Association franchise that stopped for two seasons at the Fargodome in North Dakota. The Fever also claimed neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota as a host community. Several former NBA 1st round picks suited up for the Fever including Roy Marble (#23 overall, Atlanta Hawks, 1989), Bernard Thompson (#19 overall, Portland Trailblazers, 1984) and Leon Wood (#10 overall, Philadelphia 76ers, 1984).

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Maine Lumberjacks

January 16, 2013

The Maine Lumberjacks were a minor league basketball club based out of Bangor from 1978 to 1983.  The club originated as an expansion franchise in the Continental Basketball Association in the fall of 1978.  The CBA grew out of the old Eastern Basketball Association (1946-1978), which had been a Pennsylvania-based bus league for decades.  The Lumberjacks joined the league as part of a nationwide expansion and re-branding.  During their 5-year run in the CBA the Lumberjacks roamed from coast to coast, traveling as far as Montana, Hawaii, Alaska and Alberta, Canada for games.

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2001-02 Gary Steelheads Program from the Continental Basketball Association

Gary Steelheads

December 8, 2012

The Gary Steelheads were an Indiana minor league basketball franchise that competed in three different minor professional leagues between 2000 and 2008. Steelheads investors had the misfortune of purchasing a Continental Basketball Association franchise just as the NBA prepared to launch its own proprietary farm league, the NBA Development League (known today as the “G-League”). The NBA’s league undermined the rationale and investment prospects for the remaining independent minor pro basketball leagues, most of which closed their doors by the end of the 2000’s.

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