San Diego Conquistadors
| San Diego Conquistadors | ||
|---|---|---|
| founding | 1972 | |
| resolution | 1975 | |
| history |
San Diego Conquistadors 1972-1975 San Diego Sails 1975 |
|
| Stadion |
Peterson (San Diego State) High School 1972–1973 Golden Hall 1973–1974 San Diego Sports Arena 1974–1975 |
|
| Location | San Diego , California | |
| Club colors | yellow and red | |
| league | American Basketball Association | |
| division | Western Division | |
| Head coach |
KC Jones (1972–1973) Wilt Chamberlain (1973–1974) Alex Groza Beryl Shipley (1974–1975) |
|
| owner | Leonard Bloom | |
|
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The San Diego Conquistadors (nicknamed The Q's ) were a basketball franchise based in San Diego , California that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1972 to 1975 . The Conquistadors were the only expansion team in ABA's history. Their successors were the San Diego Sails .
history
The franchise was launched by Leonard Bloom. But a dispute between Bloom and Peter Graham, the partner in the city-owned San Diego Sports Arena , which seats 14,400, resulted in the newborn team being banned from the building for two years. The conflict was resolved in the fall of 1974, but it was too late for a weakened franchise that was forced to play in temporary quarters like the Peterson Gym (3,200 seats) and the Golden Hall, a ballroom-only.
After reaching the playoffs in their debut 1973 season, the Q's apparently landed a coup by paying Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain $ 600,000 to coach 1973/74. But the Los Angeles Lakers filed a lawsuit to prevent their former star from playing for his new team; Condemned to a supporting role, Chamberlain was a listless, six feet tall side attraction who once stopped a game to take part in an autograph session for his recently published autobiography. His replacement then and on other occasions was Stan Albeck, who later coached the Chicago Bulls , San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets in the NBA . Nevertheless, the team reached the playoffs again in 1974 and retired for the second time in a row in the first round.
Before their third and final 1974/75 season, the Chamberlain team lost and eventually got their place at the San Diego Sports Arena. But without Chamberlain as a crowd puller, the team was ignored by the residents of San Diego and ended up in last place in the Western Division, which meant missing the playoffs.
sale
Bloom sold the team to Frank Goldberg, a former co-owner of the successful Denver Nuggets, during the summer of 1975 . Goldberg started over in San Diego in 1975/76 with a team called the San Diego Sails. Goldberg hired former University of Minnesota coach Bill Musselman and tried to repeat Denver's 1974/75 change from mediocrity to a championship contender with a completely different squad, new colors, jerseys and everything else.