The Volcanos were a minor league basketball outfit that played one Continental Basketball Association season during the winter of 1979-80, splitting games between Honolulu and Hilo. The team conducted a highly public but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to lure Wilt Chamberlain out of retirement. Following the 1979-80 season, the Volcanos moved to Billings, Montana, playing three more CBA campaigns before folding in 1983.
The Hawaiian Islanders competed in Arena Football 2 (AF2) the small market developmental spinoff of the original Arena Football League, from 2002 to 2004. The team played at the Neal Blaisdell Center, a 6,500-seat auditorium near downtown Honolulu. Charles Wang, the billionaire owner of the NHL’s New York Islanders, owned the franchise along with his daughter Kimberly. The AF2 franchise derived its name from the elder Wang’s hockey team. The team disbanded in October 2004 after three season of heavy financial losses.
The Hawaii Leis were founding members of World Team Tennis, an innovative co-ed pro tennis promotion that brought international superstars Ilie Nastase and Margaret Court to Honolulu during the Leis’ three-year run from 1974 to 1976. Owner Don Kelleher moved the Leis to the Pacific Northwest for the 1977 season, splitting time between Seattle and Portland as the “Sea-Port Cascades”.
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