Fabulous Flournoy

Fab Flournoy
Player information
Full name	Fabulous Flournoy
Nickname	Fab
birthday	July 31, 1973
place of birth	Bronx (NYC), USA
size	193 cm
position	Shooting Guard / Small Forward
college	McNeese State
Club information
society	Newcastle Eagles
league	British Basketball League
Jersey number	20th
Clubs as active
1991–1993 Panola JC Ponies (NJCAA) 1993–1995 McNeese State Cowboys ( NCAA ) 1996–2000 Birmingham Bullets 2000–2001 Sheffield Sharks Since 2001 Newcastle Eagles 0
National team
Until 002006	England	16
Clubs as coaches
Since 02002 Newcastle Eagles ( SpTr )

Fabulous Flournoy (born July 31, 1973 in Bronx , New York City ) is an American - English basketball coach and player. After studying in his native country, Flournoy became a professional in the British Basketball League (BBL) and accepted British citizenship . For his adopted home England he also took part in international games as a national player and won a bronze medal with the selection at the 2006 Commonwealth Games . As a player, he won the BBL play-offs a total of six times , including five times as player-coach of the Newcastle Eagles. He was honored five times as coach of the BBL season and is thus, together with Kevin Cadle, the coach with the most awards in this category of the BBL.

Career

Flournoy went to study at Panola Junior College in Carthage, Texas , in 1991 , where he played ponies for the college team in the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association (NJCAA). After completing two years at junior college, he continued his studies at McNeese State University in Lake Charles in neighboring Louisiana , where he played for the college team Cowboys in the Southland Conference of NCAA Division I for another two years . In the two-year season of Flournoy, however, the Cowboys did not get any particular successes or qualifications for national finals in the " postseason ".

In 1996 Flournoy began a professional career in the British Basketball League with the Bullets from Birmingham , who had previously won the BBL play-offs for the first time. After they missed defending their title, they were tied with the First Greater London Leopards in the 1997/98 season at the end of the main round , but they lost in the first round of the play-offs. This cleared the way for the Bullets, who won the title in the play-offs with BBL top scorer Tony Dorsey . Dorsey then moved to the Manchester Giants and the Bullets were eliminated as defending champions in the 1999 play-offs against the Giants. In the following season 1999/2000 the two opponents faced each other in the final game of the play-offs and again the Giants with BBL- MVP Dorsey retained the upper hand over the Bullets. Then Flournoy left the financially ailing Bullets, which like the Giants were later disbanded, and moved to the Sharks from Sheffield . Under coach Chris Finch they won the "Northern Conference " of the BBL and reached the play-off final, which was lost to the Leicester Riders .

For the 2001/02 season Flournoy moved to the Eagles from Newcastle upon Tyne . The Eagles had been one of the BBL's longest-running, but also most unsuccessful, franchises up until then . The last title win was the cup in the "National Cup" organized by the England Basketball Association in 1991 and the Eagles had not won anything at their new location in Newcastle since 1995. After a year, Flournoy took over the sporting responsibility in the club as player coach and subsequently benefited from the departure of the most successful franchises of the 1990s from the BBL. In addition to the Bullets and Giants, the London franchises Leopards and Towers also stopped playing in the BBL. The Eagles were initially able to successfully qualify for the play-offs of the BBL, but were mostly eliminated there early. After the arrival of the new owner Paul Blake, a title win could be celebrated for the first time in the club's recent history by winning the league cup "BBL Trophy" in the 2004/05 season. Then you won the main round runner-up in the final game of the play-offs with three points difference against the main round first Chester Jets and also secured this title for the first time. Flournoy won the BBL Coach of the Year award for the first time. This award was also awarded to him in the following season, in which the Eagles with national player Drew Sullivan as MVP of the BBL won all titles in the end. With the English national basketball team Flournoy won a bronze medal as a player at the 2006 Commonwealth Games .

After the total triumph, the Eagles suffered in the 2006/07 season from the loss of Sullivan and only qualified as third in the main round for the play-offs, in which they were victorious in the end and were the only ones able to defend this title. In the following season 2007/08 they won after only four season defeats with BBL MVP Lynard Stewart the main round of the BBL, but could not defend their play-off title after a loss to the Milton Keynes Lions in the semifinals. In the following season 2008/09 they lost in the semi-finals of the league cup "BBL Cup" against the new franchise Everton Tigers , which then won its first title in this competition, but could otherwise win all titles of the BBL. While Trey Moore was named MVP of the season as a player for the Eagles, Flournoy was initially denied another award as coach of the season. This was awarded to him again the following season, after the Eagles had won the main round of the BBL for the third time in a row in 2010 and successfully defended their title win in the BBL Trophy. In the semi-finals of the play-offs, however, they lost twice to the Everton Tigers, who then won this title. As the Mersey Tigers, this team proved to be sportingly dominant in the following season and won all titles of the BBL except for the BBL Cup. The sporting successes after breaking away from the parent club Everton FC were bought by a considerable financial deficit and in the 2011/12 season the Eagles were hardly endangered and won all titles of the BBL. Joe Chapman won the MVP of the Season award and Flournoy was named Trainer of the Year for the fourth time. Runner-up Leicester Riders with national team captain Drew Sullivan was able to wrest almost all titles from the Eagles in the following season 2012/13. Only the title win in the BBL Trophy went to the Sheffield Sharks, while the finals in the BBL Cup and in the play-offs were lost by the Eagles against the Riders.

Web links

• Fabulous Flournoy - profile on the website of the Newcastle Eagles ( English )
• Flournoy, Fabulous - Profile on the website of the British Basketball League (English)
• Player statistics for Fabulous Flournoy - Statistics at SportingPulse.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 2004–05 BBL Trophy. British Basketball League , accessed August 18, 2013 (overview of competition results). 
2. ↑ 2004–05 BBL Championship & Playoffs. British Basketball League , accessed August 18, 2013 (season summary). 
3. ↑ M2006> Athletes> Display: FLOURNOY Fab. (No longer available online.) Commonwealth Games 2006 : Melbourne2006.com, archived from the original on July 27, 2014 ; accessed on August 18, 2013 (English, participant profile). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ M2006> Schedule and Results> Basketball: Men Bronze M. Match 39. (No longer available online.) Commonwealth Games 2006 : Melbourne2006.com, archived from the original on September 5, 2013 ; accessed on August 18, 2013 (English, game statistics). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.