American Basketball League

The American Basketball League, often abbreviated to the ABL of 1996 was an independent professional basketball league for women in the United States. At the same time the ABL was being formed, the National Basketball Association (NBA) was creating the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Both organizations came into existence during a surge in popularity for women's basketball in the United States that followed the undefeated, gold medal-winning performance of the United States Women's basketball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

The ABL lasted two full seasons: 1996–97 and 1997–98. The Atlanta Glory and Long Beach Stingrays folded prior to the start of the 1998–99 season, and were replaced by two expansion teams, the Chicago Condors and Nashville Noise. On December 22, 1998; with almost no advance warning, the ABL declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and suspended operations. The teams had played between 12 to 15 games of the 1998–99 season.

The ABL got off the ground first, and early on was generally considered to feature a higher quality of play than the rival WNBA. This was partly due to the league's signing of a majority of players from the 1996 USA women's team. Although the WNBA was bankrolled by the NBA, the ABL offered higher salaries, which was also a factor in attracting quality players. The two leagues didn't compete directly with each other; the WNBA played during the winter (at the same time as the NBA) while the WNBA played during the summer. Despite this, the ABL ultimately found the WNBA's stronger financial and marketing resources to be too much to overcome.

However, at least some of the ABL's problems were of its own making. The league operated as a single-entity structure, with practically all operations handled out of headquarters in Palo Alto, California. This severely hamstrung the team's efforts to market themselves locally. The ABL was also severely underfinanced from the start. According to Condors general manager Allison Hodges, she was on her way to a press conference announcing her team's name when the league office called to say the season was canceled. Just minutes later, the office called back to say the season was on again. Hodges and the other general managers only found out about the league's shutdown when they were in the middle of their weekly conference call.^[1]

Of the locations of the ABL's teams, only Chicago, Portland, Seattle, and Atlanta have been given WNBA teams.

1996–98 clubs

• Atlanta Glory (1996–97 and 1997–98)
• Chicago Condors (1998)
• Colorado Xplosion
• Columbus Quest
• Long Beach Stingrays (expansion team in 1997–98)
• Nashville Noise 1998
• New England Blizzard
• Portland Power
• Richmond Rage 1996–97/Philadelphia Rage 1997–98
• San Jose Lasers
• Seattle Reign

Seasons

1996–97

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

• Semifinals
  • Richmond 2–0 Colorado
  • Columbus 2–0 San Jose

• Finals
  • Columbus 3–2 Richmond

1997–98

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

• First Round
  • San Jose 2–0 New England
  • Long Beach 2–1 Colorado

• Semifinals
  • Columbus 2–0 San Jose
  • Long Beach 2–0 Portland

• Finals
  • Columbus 3–2 Long Beach

1998–99

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

All-Star Games

The 1996–97 ABL All-Star Game was played on December 15, 1996 at the Hartford Civic Center. Eastern Conference 81-65 Western Conference. The game's MVP was Tari Phillips.

The 1997–98 ABL All-Star Game was played on January 18, 1998 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Eastern Conference 102-73 Western Conference.

The 1998–99 ABL All-Star Game was scheduled to be played on January 24, 1999 in San Jose, California, but was canceled when the league ceased operations in December 1998.^[2]

ABL Championship Series

Notable players

• Jennifer Azzi
• Cass Bauer-Bilodeau
• Debbie Black
• Cindy Brown
• Edna Campbell
• Sylvia Crawley, now the head coach at Boston College
• Anna DeForge
• Teresa Edwards
• Tonya Edwards, now Head Coach at Alcorn State University
• Shalonda Enis
• Barbara Farris
• Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the Olympic-champion long jumper and heptathlete
• Molly Goodenbour
• Yolanda Griffith
• Sonja Henning
• Kedra Holland-Corn
• Shannon Johnson
• Carolyn Jones-Young
• Venus Lacy
• Andrea Lloyd-Curry
• Michelle Marciniak
• Nikki McCray
• Delisha Milton
• Taj McWilliams-Franklin
• Kate Paye, now an assistant coach at Stanford University
• Tari Phillips
• Angie Potthoff, now an assistant coach at University of Notre Dame
• Elaine Powell
• Katrina Price
• Jennifer Rizzotti, now the head coach at the University of Hartford
• Saudia Roundtree
• Sheri Sam
• Katie Smith
• Charlotte Smith, now an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina
• Dawn Staley, now the head coach at the University of South Carolina
• Katy Steding
• Kate Starbird
• Shanele Stires
• Sonja Tate
• Vonda Ward, now a professional boxer
• Natalie Williams

See also

• National Women's Basketball League
• Women's American Basketball Association
• Women's Basketball Association
• Women's National Basketball Association
• Women's Professional Basketball League

References

External links

• John Sage's ABL webpage capture, containing old interviews, articles, and final statistics
• ABL on APBR.org website
• All-Star cards
• Professional basketball research