The Vancouver Nighthawks were a dead-on-arrival minor league basketball promotion that set up shop at the gargantuan B.C. Place stadium in the summer of 1988. Team owner Don Burns abandoned the club early in the season. The Nighthawks finished in last place in the six-team World Basketball League and quietly folded. The World Basketball League had one peculiar rule: eligible players were allowed to be no taller than 6′ 5″ tall!
The Winnipeg Thunder were a minor league basketball team that played fitfully for parts of three summers at Winnipeg Arena in the early 1990’s. The team had the misfortune to play in not one but two ramshackle leagues that went out of business in the middle of season. As a result, the Thunder managed to complete just one of the three seasons they embarked upon.
World Basketball League (1990-1992) Born: 1990 – WBL expansion franchise Folded: July 31, 1992 First Game: May 11, 1990 (L 117-115 vs. Las Vegas Silver
World Basketball League (1992) National Basketball League (1993) Born: 1991 – WBL expansion franchise Moved: 1993 (Edmonton Skyhawks) First Game: May 1, 1992 (L 111-105 against
The Calgary 88’s were a minor league hoops team that competed in all five seasons of the short-lived World Basketball League (1988-1992). The WBL was restricted to player 6′ 5″ and under and featured an odd geographic mix of teams scattered from southern Florida to Western Canada. The team derived its name from the 1988 Winter Olympic games that took place in Calgary.
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