Virginia Squires
1975/76 Al Bianchi, Bill Musselman, Mack Calvin, Willie Wise, Jack Ankerson, and Zelmo Beaty
The Virginia Squires were a basketball franchise from Norfolk, Virginia, which played from 1970 to 1976 in the American Basketball Association.
In Oakland
The Squires were one of the founding members of the ABA under the name Oakland Americans ( later Oakland Oaks ) launched in 1967. The team's colors were green and gold. A former team of the same name played in 1962 in the American Basketball League.
The Oaks belonged in part to the pop singer Pat Boone. They were well-known because of a major contract dispute with the San Francisco Warriors of the NBA over the rights to Rick Barry as for the achievements in the field. Barry, a former Rookie of the Year, the Warriors 1966/67, led to the NBA Finals, was so angry that you're not the bonuses for the awards paid him that he exposed the 1967/68 season. He joined the following year, the Oaks and led the team to their only championship in 1968/69.
Nevertheless, the team proved to be a bad investment for Boone and his co-owner. Though they won the championship, the Oaks were a financial disappointment, due to the proximity to the Warriors. There were only 2500 fans on average to the games.
In Washington
Since the Bank of America wanted to terminate a loan, Boone sold the team to the lawyer Earl Foreman from Washington, DC, where she played 1969/70 as Washington Caps. The team colors were retained, but the logo contained the town red, white and blue. They played at the Washington Coliseum. For unknown reasons, they remained in the Western Division, which forced the longest away trips in the league. The number of spectators was no better than in Oakland, because the hall was in a run down area. Amazingly, they finished the season with more victories than defeats, but lost in the first round against the Denver Rockets.
In Virginia
The unification talks with the NBA were already under way, but a moot point was the existence of the Caps in Washington. The owner of the Baltimore Bullets, Abe Pollin wanted to leave his team to move to Washington, but then not have the Caps as a second team in the same city. The other ABA owners persuaded Foreman to relocate the Caps for the second time. Foreman decided to make the Caps into a regional franchise, the Virginia Squires. The team had Norfolk, Virginia as hometown and also played home games in Hampton, Richmond and Roanoke ( Virginia). Roanoke was after a season of the list of " hometowns " are deleted. The colors of the Squires were red, white and blue.
Rick Barry, who originally played at the Oaks, was released on August 24, 1970 on the front page of Sports Illustrated in a jersey of the Squires; in the accompanying article he made some negative remarks about the state of Virginia. ( He insulted southerners, by remarking that he would not see his children grow up and "Hi, y'all, Dad," say. ) On September 1, 1970 sold the Squires Barry to the New York Nets for a draft pick and $ 200,000. The negative comments were not the main reason; Rather, Foreman was in financial difficulties and sold Barry to cover its expenses incurred.
The Squires played most of their home games at the Old Dominion University Fieldhouse in their first season, with other games in the Richmond Arena, the Hampton Coliseum and the Roanoke Civic Center. Despite the initial controversy surrounding former player Barry Squires finished their first season in Virginia with the victory in the Eastern Division. They defeated the New York Nets in the first round of the playoffs, but were then thrown out of the Kentucky Colonels. In 1971, the Squires had their best draft pick ever with Julius Erving from the University of Massachusetts. During the 1971/72 season proved to be Erving sensation with his performance points and his acrobatic actions on the court; Squires defeated The Floridians in the first round of the playoffs, but lost in the second round against the New York Nets.
The 1972/73 season marked the beginning of the decline of the Virginia Squires. Although it was blessed with the combination of " Dr. J" Julius Erving and a young George Gervin, the duo played together until late in the season. The Squires lost in the first round of the playoffs against the Nets. In the summer of 1973, Dr. J was sold for money to the New York Nets.
During the ABA All-Star weekend in 1974 there were rumors that Gervin was to be sold to the San Antonio Spurs. On January 30, they were then to a fact. The Commissioner Mike Storen tried to stop the sale on the grounds that the sale of the last true stars of the team would not be in the interest of the league. Yet, the sale took place.
This angered many fans and the audience numbers declined. The last two seasons of the Squires in the ABA were unsuccessful. The defeats were more and the popular coach Al Bianchi was fired. The regular season ended with a score of 15:69 and 15:68, the worst in the history of the ABA. The team broke up and off the pitch more and more on. 1974 sued Barry Parkhill the team after his paycheck burst. The Squires dissolved in February 1976, almost, but were able to prevent the sale of banner ads and a loan of $ 250,000 from a local bank. At the end of this prolonged the life of the team just four months. Once you could not afford a payment of $ 75,000 to the League, the Squires were released on 10 May 1976. The last legacy of the team was an early success, potential and financial mismanagement, a kind of microcosm of the ABA itself