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*** ABA MAIN PAGE ***
 | Last league news and transactions | |
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| |  | The American Basketball Association announced that it will return to San Antonio, Texas, the home of the original ABA San Antonio Spurs, which moved to the NBA along with the Indiana Pacers, New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets. The name of the new team is South Texas Showboats and the Head Coach/Owner is Benjamin Mireles. For more information, email Coach at coachb_showboats@yahoo.com or visit www.santonioproball.com. NBA veteran Jerry Reynolds (6'8''-F-62, college: LSU) will be running the upcoming Jersey Express Open Tryout on July 19th at the Morristown Neighborhood House located at 12 Flagler Street, Morristown, NJ. Chris Glisson has accepted the position as General Manager of the ABA Knoxville Storm professional team that begins play in December. The team's Head Coach will be Knoxville native Chad Smith. Smith is currently in his second year as a staff member of the Tennessee Travelers, an elite summer traveling team that is sponsored by Nike. |
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| ABA ADDS WASHINGTON RAPTORS TO 2008-2009 EXPANSION TEAMS | |
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| | | The American Basketball Association announced that the Washington Raptors have been added to the growing list of expansion teams for the upcoming season.
According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, 'We are very pleased to have the husband and wife team of Regina and Tim Joseph as part of the ABA and of course, we are very excited to be back in the Pacific-Northwest. Regina and Tim are very experienced and will lead the re-development of the area with a first class operation and team.'
Tim Joseph, President/GM and Founder, will also serve as Assistant Coach. He has over 20 years experience in professional sports having worked for the Seattle Sonics, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, NFL Celebrity Sports Challenge, Seattle Sounders FC, Tacome Sabercats and Lenny Randle's Pro Baseball Academy representing the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners and California Angels. Most recently, Tim has been involved in the spring IBL for the past four years.
Regina Joseph, Owner and CEO of the Raptors, worked for the state of Washington under Secretary of State Sam Reed for 16 years and has been in the library field for more than 25 years. Regina also has 10 years of experience working alongside her husband in the professional sports industry and was also the first female owner of an IBL team.
'We are very excited about joining the ABA. It has a great tradition and hopefully we are the start of a resurgence of interest in the Northwest. We understand that there will be several teams here and that will make travel much easier though we're looking forward to some games with teams in the West Division.'
Additional information relating to the team, Web site, tryouts, coach and personnel will be forthcoming shortly.
For more information, email Regina Jospeh at rjoseph@washingtonraptors.com, call 360 442 9838 or email Tim Joseph at tjoseph@washingtonraptors.com or call 360 237 4331 or 360 270 4586.
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| Last ABA teams and personnel news | |
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| | | The American Basketball Association will announce its newest team, the Phoenix Fury along with its owner, and organizational leadership in a press conference on July 10, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. at Greenway High School gymnasium located at 3930 W. Greenway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85053. 'There's a lot of talent and sporting enthusiasm in the Valley,' said Fury CEO Xavier Mitchell. 'We are really focused on tapping into that talent and generating community excitement around THE PHOENIX FURY.' The organizational leadership, including ABA great Joe Bryant , will be introduced during the press conference and address the team's key objectives in bringing the ABA's unique style to Phoenix. For more informations about this new team, contact Robyn Itule via email at robyn@armstrongtroyky.com or phone 602 476 2382x3. The new expansion ABA Kansas City Spartans hired Bryant Tucker as General Manager/Head Coach, went online with the new website, www.kansascityspartans.com, and scheduled the first tryout camp for July 19th from 3-7pm. For more information, email team owner Miton Thomas at milton_thomas08@yahoo.com. The Los Angeles Push annunced that Vincent Askew (6'6''-F-66, college: Memphis) has accepted an offer to be the team's General Manager of the team. 'Vincent will definitely use his NBA experience of eleven years to give the Los Angeles Push fans a highly competitive and successful team,' stated team own Donye Mitchell . 'He will also have an opportunity to implement some of his marketing plans with the Push in the front office. Mr. Dell Baxter, the team's interim GM, will serve as Assistant General Manager.' The ABA Fresno Legends are looking for a General Manager and a Head Coach to lead the expansion team that begins play in December. According to team owner, Dominick Young (5'10''-G-74, college: Fresno St.), 'John Lowe and I are assembling some top talent, but we do need a Head Coach that can make the final decisions for a very competitive team and then coach them to the top of the league. And, we need a GM who knows Community Relations, player personnel, sponsorships, ticket sales, media, press relations that can lead a strong staff off the court.' If that person is you, please call Dominick Young at 559 375 6947 or email dom@dominickunsensored.com. |
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| New team and new interesting tournment for the ABA | |
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| | | The American Basketball Association announced that an expansion team will begin play in December in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The majority team owner is 24 years old Jason Smith, who is the former CEO of the Memphis Thunder Semi-Pro Football Team (NAFL), former VP of R.B.G. Corporation (his family business), former Youth Pastor of Solid Rock Pentecostal Holiness Church in Memphis, TN where he was born, and currently President of S & A Corporation, and is the youngest ABA team owner. For more information, call Jason at 901 603 7292 or email smithjason@bellsouth.net. The league also announced plans to host a world professional basketball tournament in late June, 2010. According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, 'The tournament will be modeled after soccer's very successful World Cup with professional basketball teams from around the world qualifying for the final tournament to be held in Atlanta, Georgia. The tournament is being organized by the ABA and representatives from several international organizations that have expressed interest in producing qualifying tournaments around the world with the top 16-32 teams (to be determined) meeting in Atlanta to compete in the finals.' 'There are so many great professional basketball teams around the world,' added Quentin Townsend , ABA President, and owner of the ABA Atlanta Vision. 'This is an opportunity for the best of them to compete in a PRIZE MONEY tournament on a world stage. We've named the tournament the World Basketball Cup. We are now reaching out to teams, leagues and businesspeople from throughout the world to participate. And we would like to see the best teams in Asia, Europe, Africa, South and Central America, Australia and other areas to compete in this prestigious tournament. The website, www.worldbasketballcup.com is now under construction.' For more information, email Joe Newman at conniejoenewman@aol.com or Quentin Townsend at qtownsend@abaisback.com or call 317 844 7502. |
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| Winston-Salem joins the ABA | |
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| | | The American Basketball Association announced the addition of a new team based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the 2008-09 season. Wesley E. Mason III will serve as co-owner of the team. He is currently Chief Executive Officer at Old Vineyard Behavioral Health Services in Winston-Salem. LaToya Camille Shine Mason is the other co-owner. Bryan Short has been appointed team General Manager. He is currently Director of Player Personnel at Alliance Sports Management. The team will be named Winston-Salem Storm, after the 'Name Your Team' contest that began last fall and concluded in January 2008. Community members voted online and at 12 local businesses. 'This is the community's team,' stated Mason. 'It was important to have the community involved from the beginning.' Currently there are negotiations with the Joel Coliseum to play at the Annex. The Storm is already in the running for the 2009 ABA All-Star Game,' stated Wesley Mason. 'I have discussed this with the ABA CEO. This is basketball country and there isn't a better choice than Winston-Salem to hold such an event.' For more information, email or call Wes Mason at 336 409 1936 or visit www.winstonsalemstorm.com or email Bryan Short at bryan@winstonsalemstorm.com |
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| Last teams and tryout news | |
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| | | The American Basketball Association (ABA) announced that it will return to Kansas City, Missouri this season under new ownership. According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, 'We have been waiting for the right ownership to return to KC. And we've found him in Kansas City native Milton Thomas. Kansas City has a great ABA heritage and we believe that Milton can bring it back with gusto.' Milton Thomas, 29, was a high school athlete playing with AAU teams traveling through the US and is associated with many well-known D-1 players and professional players from the Kansas City area. He played basketball for a Missouri college before becoming ill and suffering from two strokes at the young age of 19. Since his recovery, he has shown his unrelenting determination and potential for change and success. Currently, he resides in Kansas City where he continues to uphold his standards of diligence, success and leadership. The name of the team is yet TBA, for more information, email milton_thomas08@yahoo.com or call 816 665 0328. Two ABA team, based in California are announcing open tryouts: the Los Angeles Push will have open tryouts and will be interviewing for key positions on Sunday, July 13th at Venice Beach. For more information, call 831 776 3797 or email mdonye@hotmail.com. The Maywood Buzz will conduct open player tryouts in its search for basketball talent. The camp will be held on Saturday and Sunday, July 12th and 13th, 2008 and then all players will be assigned teams and play in the 3rd Annual Maywood Buzz ABA Summer Pro League, July 14th-20th, 2008, both at the Home of the Buzz, The Maywood Activity Center, located at 4801 East 58th Street, Maywood, CA 90270. Coach Lee and his staff will be in charge of conducting the camp and can be reached at 323 562 5570 or via email at buzzbasketball@gmail.com. Even the Aurora Force will hold its second tryout camp on Saturday June 21st from 9am-12noon at the Marmion Academy, 1000 Butterfield Road, Aurora, Illinois. According to Kenny Battle, team owner and coach, 'The first tryout camp was excellent and we identified some outstanding talent. But we know that there are some other players out there who can fit in. If you think you can play pro ball at the ABA level, please email me.' For more information, email krbattle33@yahoo.com |
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| Van Breda Kolff hired as Nashville Broncs Head Coach | |
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| | | The ABA Nashville Broncs are proud to announce the hiring of their new head basketball coach. Jan Van Breda Kolff is a well-known name to basketball fans and Nashvillians having spent almost 15 years as a resident of Nashville. Broncs owner, Scott Lumley, believes that 'van Breda Kokff is not only a perfect fit for the Broncs organization but his hiring is definite proof of our commitment to bring a quality, professional team to the Nashville community.' Jan Van Breda Kolff first arrived in Nashville in 1970 as a 6'8' point guard out of California. He went on to star at Vanderbilt and culminated his career by leading the Commodores to a Sweet 16 appearance in 1974 and being named SEC Player of the Year. Upon graduation, van Breda Kolff went on to play nine years in the NBA, seven of those years with New Jersey Nets. During that time he was exposed to some of the best teachers in the game such as Larry Brown, Hubie Brown and Phil Jackson. In 1983, VBK continued his basketball career overseas in Bologna, Italy while leading his team to the Italian Championship in his first season against perennial power Milan led by present New York Knick coach Mike D'Antoni, who was a star point guard for Italy for over a decade. After playing for two seasons in Italy, VBK returned to the States to begin his coaching career in 1985. He had the good fortune to work for legendary Hall of Fame Coach, Pete Carril for five seasons ending with three straight NCAA appearances highlighted by a one point loss in the NCAA to then No. 1 Georgetown. 1991 was the start of VBK's head coaching career at Cornell University of the Ivy League. After two years at Cornell, van Breda Kolff returned home to Nashville to become Head Coach at his alma mater, Vanderbilt. VBK coached the Commodores from 1993-99 and helped the team advance to post season in four of those campaigns and won 104 games. In 1999, VBK went to Pepperdine and had his best two back-to-back seasons of his coaching career. He led the Waves to an NCAA appearance in his first season and a 20-point victory over a Bob Knight led Indiana squad in the first round of the tournament. The next season Pepperdine advanced to the second round of the NIT. The two years in Malibu, CA VBK was able to record a 47-18 record. In March of 2001, VBK's father-in-law passed away and he decided to move back East so his wife could be near her mother and accepted the head basketball position at St. Bonaventure University. VBK spent two years at St. Bonaventure before moving back to the NBA. Tim Floyd hired Jan to help run the Princeton offense for the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets lost in seven games to the Dwayne Wade-led Miami Heat and following the season VBK moved back to Nashville once again. Over the past three years, van Breda Kolff has been running camps and clinics for the youth of Nashville and has had over 4,000 participants. Additionally, he did color commentating this past season doing games in the Conferences USA, ACC and SEC. For more information, please contact Jeremy Cooke at 615 823 1086 or via email at jcooke@nashvillebroncs.com or visit www.nashvillebroncs.com or www.abalive.com
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