The Jacksonville Stingrays were a doomed minor league basketball outfit that lasted for only six weeks in the World Basketball League (1988-1992) during the spring of 1992. The WBL was a summertime minor league for players 6′ 5″ tall and shorter (seriously). The Stingrays were 5-14 at the time of the midseason demise in June 1992. The team averaged a reported 579 fans per game for eight home dates in the 10,000-seat Jacksonville Coliseum.
The Illinois Express was a short-lived minor league basketball team in the funky World Basketball League. The WBL’s unusual gimmick was that all players had to 6′ 5″ tall or shorter, with the idea that this would lead to a fast-paced, guard heavy, run n’ gun style of play. After spending a year in the Windy City as the Chicago Express in 1988, the team moved to the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield and played two summer seasons in 1989 and 1990 before folding.
The Rockers were a minor league basketball team that made a fleeting appearance on the Memphis pro sports scene during the early 1990’s. The team played a summertime schedule in the World Basketball League at the Mid-South Coliseum in 1991 and 1992. Though the Rockers’ lifespan was brief, the club helped position two players – former Memphis State standout Vincent Askew and future New York Knights All-Star John Starks – for lengthy NBA careers during the later 1990’s.
The Las Vegas Silver Streaks were the first champions of the World Basketball League in 1988. The WBL was an unusual summer-season minor league basketball circuit that required all players to be 6′ 4″ or shorter. Jamie Waller, a 6′ 4″ guard out of Virginia Union who played right at the league’s height limit, led the WBL in scoring in all three of the Silver Streaks seasons from 1988 through 1990.
The WBL was a minor league by design. It also featured an unusual gimmick – all players had to be 6′ 4″ or shorter. It was a high scoring, fast breaking league designed to showcase guards. The league played a summer time schedule, allowing its players to seek employment year-round, going overseas or playing in the Continental Basketball Association during the fall and winter.
The Worcester Counts were a men’s minor league basketball team from central Massachusetts that lasted just a single season in the World Basketball League. The WBL had an unusual gimmick: players could be no taller than 6′ 5″. The Counts’ best known player was former University of Indiana star Keith Smart who hit the game-winning shot in the 1987 NCAA Championship game against Syracuse.
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