San Diego Sails
Encyclopedia
The San Diego Sails were an American Basketball Association
team based in San Diego, California
; the team played an incomplete season only, beginning the 1975-1976 ABA season but folding before its completion.
, a team owned by Leonard Bloom
. But a feud between Bloom and Peter Graham, proprietor of the city-owned, the 14,400 seat San Diego Sports Arena, led Graham to lock the newborn team out of the facility for two years. By the time the conflict was resolved in the fall of 1974, it was too late for a weakened franchise that had been forced to play, in the interim, at such bandboxes as Peterson Gym
(3,200 seats) and Golden Hall, a mere ballroom
.
After reaching the 1973 ABA Playoffs
in their inaugural season, the Q's seemingly pulled off a coup by paying the Hall of Fame
center Wilt Chamberlain
$600,000 to play and coach in 1973-74. But the Los Angeles Lakers
sued to block their former star from playing for his new team; relegated to a sideline role, Chamberlain was reduced to an indifferent, 7-foot-1-inch sideshow who once skipped a game in favor of an autograph
session for his recently published autobiography
. (His fill-in, on that and other occasions, was Stan Albeck
, who later skippered the Chicago Bulls
, San Antonio Spurs
and New Jersey Nets
of the NBA.) Nonetheless, the team again reached the postseason, bowing out in the first round, for the second year in a row, in the 1974 ABA Playoffs
.
For their third and final season in 1974-75 the Conquistadors lost Chamberlain and finally gained their place in the San Diego Sports Arena. But without Chamberlain as a gate attraction, the team was roundly ignored by San Diegans, and placed last in the Western Division, missing the 1975 ABA Playoffs
.
franchise, began a new ABA team in San Diego, the Sails. Goldberg started anew, breaking any seeming ties with the old Conquisators team. Goldberg chose a completely different team name, a completely different staff (hiring former University of Minnesota
coach Bill Musselman
as head coach) and signed a completely different roster for the new club. The Sails also adopted completely different color scheme, a completely different set of uniforms and did just about everything else that could differentiate the new team from the folded Conquistadors franchise. Goldberg, with the Sails, sought to repeat the success he had with Denver's turnaround, in 1974-75, from mediocrity to championship contender.
But the Sails attracted only 3,060 fans to their home opener on October 24, 1975 - a loss to the Nuggets - and fan attendance rapidly dwindled further as the team limped to a 3-8 start. (A "crowd" of 1,670 showed up for San Diego's third and last home game, against the San Antonio Spurs
.) Goldberg soon learned San Diego was to be shut out of the pending ABA-NBA merger
that would bring the ABA into the National Basketball Association
; the Sails were to be left out reportedly at the insistence of Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke
, who refused to share his Southern California
fan base with a team to the south.
With the team lacking fan support or a long-term future, Goldberg euthanized the franchise on November 12, ending the 1975–76 San Diego Sails season prematurely.
and Utah
franchises, reduced the ABA to seven franchises, and effectively signed the league's death warrant. Despite this, the NBA absorbed four of the surviving teams in the summer of 1976.
From 1967-1971, San Diego was the home of the NBA's expansion San Diego Rockets
, who also played at the then-new Sports Arena. Although they were to draft University of Houston
prodigy Elvin Hayes
, who would later become a star for the Washington Bullets
, the Rockets failed to garner wins or significant support in San Diego. Real estate broker
Wayne Duddleston and banker Billy Goldberg bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and brought the team to Houston, bringing Hayes home to his adoring UH fans. In 1978, the NBA's Buffalo Braves arrived in San Diego and became the San Diego Clippers
; in 1984, they moved to Los Angeles to attempt to compete with the already-established Lakers
, something which the Clippers were actually already doing (many in San Diego still held loyalties to the Lakers, as was the case when San Diego hosted the Rockets). San Diego has not had another professional basketball team since.
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
team based in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
; the team played an incomplete season only, beginning the 1975-1976 ABA season but folding before its completion.
San Diego Conquistadors
The Sails were preceded in San Diego by the ABA's San Diego ConquistadorsSan Diego Conquistadors
The San Diego Conquistadors, nicknamed the "Q's", were an American Basketball Association team based in San Diego, California. They were the only expansion team in the history of the ABA. The team played from 1972 to 1975. They were replaced in the ABA by the San Diego Sails.-San Diego...
, a team owned by Leonard Bloom
Leonard Bloom
Leonard Bloom was a dentist and sports executive in San Diego, California.On June 28, 1972 the American Basketball Association awarded its only expansion franchise to San Diego for an entry fee of $1 million. Leonard Bloom, a dentist and president of the United States Capital Corporation, was the...
. But a feud between Bloom and Peter Graham, proprietor of the city-owned, the 14,400 seat San Diego Sports Arena, led Graham to lock the newborn team out of the facility for two years. By the time the conflict was resolved in the fall of 1974, it was too late for a weakened franchise that had been forced to play, in the interim, at such bandboxes as Peterson Gym
Peterson Gym
Peterson Gym is a 3,668 seat multi-purpose arena in San Diego, California. It opened in 1961. It was home to the San Diego State University Aztecs basketball teams until Cox Arena opened in 1997. Peterson Gym is currently the home of SDSU's varsity women's volleyball team.-References:*...
(3,200 seats) and Golden Hall, a mere ballroom
Ballroom
A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
.
After reaching the 1973 ABA Playoffs
1973 ABA Playoffs
The 1973 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1972-1973 season. The tournament concluded with the Western Division champion Indiana Pacers defeating the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels, four games to three in the ABA Finals.-Notable...
in their inaugural season, the Q's seemingly pulled off a coup by paying the Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...
center Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...
$600,000 to play and coach in 1973-74. But the Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
sued to block their former star from playing for his new team; relegated to a sideline role, Chamberlain was reduced to an indifferent, 7-foot-1-inch sideshow who once skipped a game in favor of an autograph
Autograph
An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...
session for his recently published autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
. (His fill-in, on that and other occasions, was Stan Albeck
Stan Albeck
Stan Albeck is a former professional basketball coach. Albeck has coached for several teams in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association , including the Denver Rockets, the San Diego Conquistadors, , the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Jersey...
, who later skippered the Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
, San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
and New Jersey Nets
New Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
of the NBA.) Nonetheless, the team again reached the postseason, bowing out in the first round, for the second year in a row, in the 1974 ABA Playoffs
1974 ABA Playoffs
The 1974 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1973-1974 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion New York Nets defeating the Western Division champion Utah Stars, four games to one in the ABA Finals.-Notable events:A one game...
.
For their third and final season in 1974-75 the Conquistadors lost Chamberlain and finally gained their place in the San Diego Sports Arena. But without Chamberlain as a gate attraction, the team was roundly ignored by San Diegans, and placed last in the Western Division, missing the 1975 ABA Playoffs
1975 ABA Playoffs
The 1975 ABA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the American Basketball Association's 1974-1975 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Division champion Kentucky Colonels defeating the Western Division champion Indiana Pacers, four games to one in the ABA Finals.The Kentucky...
.
San Diego Sails
In 1975 Frank Goldberg, a former co-owner of the successful Denver NuggetsDenver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the National Basketball Association . They were founded as the Denver Rockets in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association, and became one of that league's more successful teams...
franchise, began a new ABA team in San Diego, the Sails. Goldberg started anew, breaking any seeming ties with the old Conquisators team. Goldberg chose a completely different team name, a completely different staff (hiring former University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
coach Bill Musselman
Bill Musselman
William Clifford Musselman was an American basketball coach in the NCAA, the ABA, the WBA, the CBA, and the NBA. He was a fiercely intense coach who once was quoted as saying "defeat is worse than death, because you have to live with defeat."-Early life:Musselman was the second of five children....
as head coach) and signed a completely different roster for the new club. The Sails also adopted completely different color scheme, a completely different set of uniforms and did just about everything else that could differentiate the new team from the folded Conquistadors franchise. Goldberg, with the Sails, sought to repeat the success he had with Denver's turnaround, in 1974-75, from mediocrity to championship contender.
But the Sails attracted only 3,060 fans to their home opener on October 24, 1975 - a loss to the Nuggets - and fan attendance rapidly dwindled further as the team limped to a 3-8 start. (A "crowd" of 1,670 showed up for San Diego's third and last home game, against the San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They are part of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association ....
.) Goldberg soon learned San Diego was to be shut out of the pending ABA-NBA merger
ABA-NBA merger
The ABA–NBA merger was the merger of the American Basketball Association with the National Basketball Association, which after multiple attempts over several years finally occurred in 1976.- Origins of ABA-NBA competition :...
that would bring the ABA into the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
; the Sails were to be left out reportedly at the insistence of Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
, who refused to share his Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
fan base with a team to the south.
With the team lacking fan support or a long-term future, Goldberg euthanized the franchise on November 12, ending the 1975–76 San Diego Sails season prematurely.
ABA's demise
The collapse of the San Diego team, combined with the failures of the BaltimoreBaltimore Claws
The Baltimore Claws was an American basketball team which was supposed to appear in the 1975-76 season in the American Basketball Association. The team collapsed before the season started, playing only three exhibition games in its brief history.-Background:...
and Utah
Utah Stars
The Utah Stars was an American Basketball Association team based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround.-History:...
franchises, reduced the ABA to seven franchises, and effectively signed the league's death warrant. Despite this, the NBA absorbed four of the surviving teams in the summer of 1976.
From 1967-1971, San Diego was the home of the NBA's expansion San Diego Rockets
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being...
, who also played at the then-new Sports Arena. Although they were to draft University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
prodigy Elvin Hayes
Elvin Hayes
Elvin Ernest Hayes is a retired American basketball player and radio analyst for Houston Cougars men's basketball, where he played college basketball...
, who would later become a star for the Washington Bullets
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association .-Early years:...
, the Rockets failed to garner wins or significant support in San Diego. Real estate broker
Real estate broker
A real estate broker, real estate agent or realtor is a party who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate/real property and attempts to find sellers who wish to sell and buyers who wish to buy...
Wayne Duddleston and banker Billy Goldberg bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and brought the team to Houston, bringing Hayes home to his adoring UH fans. In 1978, the NBA's Buffalo Braves arrived in San Diego and became the San Diego Clippers
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, United States. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association...
; in 1984, they moved to Los Angeles to attempt to compete with the already-established Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
, something which the Clippers were actually already doing (many in San Diego still held loyalties to the Lakers, as was the case when San Diego hosted the Rockets). San Diego has not had another professional basketball team since.