Continental Basketball Association

Continental Basketball Association

sport	basketball
abbreviation	CBA
League foundation	April 23, 1946
League dissolution	June 1, 2009
Country countries	United States
Title holder	Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry
Record champions	Wilkes-Barre Barons and Allentown Jets (8 ×)

The Continental Basketball Association ( CBA ) called, was an American Basketball League . Until 2009 it was the oldest and longest-running professional basketball league in the world. It began operations in June 1946, two months before the NBA's predecessor Basketball Association of America (BAA) was founded.

The first CBA commissioner was Harry Rudolph. The league's operations, which had already become questionable after bankruptcy in 2001, was discontinued in 2009 and never resumed.

history

On April 23, 1946, the CBA was founded under the name Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League . Initially there were six teams ( Wilkes-Barre , Hazleton , Allentown , Lancaster , Reading and Binghamton ).

In 1948 the league was renamed the Eastern Professional Basketball League . Over the years, teams from Williamsport , Scranton , Sunbury, Trenton , Camden , Asbury Park , New Haven , Hartford , Bridgeport , Wilmington and Springfield have been included.

After the league was renamed Eastern Basketball Association in 1971 , it was given its current name on June 1, 1978: Continental Basketball Association . Many new teams joined the CBA, especially at the beginning of the 1980s (e.g. the Patroons from Albany , Catbirds from Louisville / La Crosse , Thunder from Quad Cities or the Sun Kings from Yakima ).

In 1999, all of the CBA teams were bought up by an investment group led by former NBA star Isiah Thomas . The plan to let a single owner control the league failed and CBA had to file for bankruptcy in 2001 and initially stop playing.

International Basketball League (IBL)

In 1999 the International Basketball League was founded . After the CBA had served as the NBA's development league for more than twenty years, the NBA's decision was announced in the summer of 2000 that the NBA Development League would be founded after the 2001 season . This meant that the CBA was no longer the official development league of the NBA. The resulting difficulties led to the bankruptcy of the CBA a year later and ensured that several CBA franchises switched to IBL.

CBA (2001 to 2010)

In the fall of 2001, the CBA and IBL teams joined forces after the CBA went bankrupt, bought the CBA rights (including name and logo) and restarted CBA operations.

In the summer of 2009, only two CBA teams were ready to continue operations in the following year, so that operations for 2010 were discontinued and not resumed.

CBA master

1946/47: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1947/48: Reading Keys 1948/49: Pottsville Packers 1949/50: Williamsport Billies 1950/51: Sunbury Mercuries 1951/52: Pottsville Packers 1952/53: Williamsport Billies 1953/54: Williamsport Billies 1954/55: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1955/56: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1956/57: Scranton Miners 1957/58: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1958/59: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1959/60: Easton Madisons 1960/61: Baltimore Bullets 1961/62: Allentown Jets 1962/63: Allentown Jets 1963/64: Camden Bullets 1964/65: Allentown Jets 1965/66: Wilmington Blue Bombers 1966/67: Wilmington Blue Bombers 1967/68: Allentown Jets 1968/69: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1969/70: Allentown Jets 1970/71: Scranton Apollos

1971/72: Allentown Jets 1972/73: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1973/74: Hartford Capitols 1974/75: Allentown Jets 1975/76: Allentown Jets 1976/77: Scranton Apollos 1977/78: Wilkes-Barre Barons 1978/79: Rochester Zeniths 1979/80: Anchorage Northern Knights 1980/81: Rochester Zeniths 1981/82: Lancaster Lightning 1982/83: Detroit Spirits 1983/84: Albany Patroons 1984/85: Tampa Bay Thrillers 1985/86: Tampa Bay Thrillers 1986/87: Rapid City Thrillers 1987/88: Albany Patroons 1988/89: Tulsa Fast Breakers 1989/90: La Crosse Catbirds 1990/91: Wichita Falls Texans 1991/92: La Crosse Catbirds 1992/93: Omaha Racers 1993/94: Quad City Thunder 1994/95: Yakima Sun Kings 1995/96: Sioux Falls Skyforce

1996/97: Oklahoma City Cavalry 1997/98: Quad City Thunder 1998/99: Connecticut Pride 1999/00: Yakima Sun Kings 2000/01: League operations were discontinued during the season 2001/02: Dakota Wizards 2002/03: Yakima Sun Kings 2003/04: Dakota Wizards 2004/05: Sioux Falls Skyforce 2005/06: Yakama Sun Kings 2006/07: Yakama Sun Kings 2007/08: Oklahoma Cavalry 2008/09: Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry 2009/10: League operations were suspended before the season

Web links

• Continental Basketball Association 1969-70 to 1973-74 - CBA chronicle by Jack Black, Joseph Hulsebus and Steve Mau on the website of the "Association for Professional Basketball Research" APBR.org (English)
• History of the Continental Basketball Association - Compilation of the CBA Chronicles from 1978 to 2001 by Robert Bradley et al. on the website of the "Association for Professional Basketball Research" APBR.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ L. John Wertheim: Nice Rebound. Sports Illustrated , November 18, 2002, accessed May 10, 2013 .