SD Prep Sports:

Pro Basketball:
Where are they now?

SD Wildcats get ABA jump-start at Eastlake HS
Posted Jan. 18, 2007
Professional basketball returned to San Diego County after an absence of half a decade courtesy of the San Diego Wildcats, who tipped off the 2006-07 American Basketball Association season with a Nov. 10 game at Eastlake High School. The Wildcats played their five games at EHS before announcing an ownership change in late December.

Though it appears the team will retain a prime South County connection with new owner Anthony Lacey, a resident of Otay Ranch, it also appears the team will conclude its season at other venues. The Wildcats have announced their remaining home games will be played at other sites around the county, including Hoover, Cathedral Catholic and El Camino high schools, in an effort to accommodate a more central location for the team’s expanding fan base.

Since Lacey has taken control of the team, both awareness and fan support of the team has grown. Lacey recently spoke to San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders about the Wildcats utilizing Golden Hall for home games. Such a move would be a tremendous jump, team officials said, from playing in area high school gyms.

“We are a winning team and entertaining at a level in which not just basketball lovers would enjoy,” said Lacey, whose team is playing at a level at or above local colleges.

The Wildcats, who feature Eastlake graduate Wade Curry on their roster, attracted 300 fans to their inaugural home contest, a 112-110 overtime loss to the Maywood Buzz. The Wildcats recorded their first win in franchise history on Nov. 12 by defeating the visiting Las Vegas Venom, 140-112, in front of an estimated 50 fans.

It was the Venom’s one and only appearance on the San Diegans’ home court as the Las Vegas team was sold to new owners the following week and suspended operations for the remainder of the 2006-07 season after playing just seven games (2-5 record).

The Wildcats attracted an estimated 100 fans to a Dec. 5 contest against Beijing Aoshen Olympian.

General manager Bill Tosheff said the team’s fortunes should increase under new ownership. “We should be fine from now on,” Tosheff said prior to the team’s Dec. 5 game.

While fan interest was minimal during the team’s start-up phase — a large part due to a lack of awareness in the community, part of that due to the team’s lack of advertising and promotion — the Wildcats have proven winners on the court with an 11-3 record entering Sunday’s game against the Hollywood Fame (7-4) at Cathedral Catholic High School (5 p.m. tip-off).

The Wildcats were ranked ninth in the latest ABA power poll as the leaders in the Red Conference’s South Division.

Michael Hands, formerly of Scripps Ranch High School, joins Curry as another San Diego County product on the Wildcats.
The team’s notable players include Cardell “Ballaholic” Butler, Jamaal Jenkins, Phillip Givens and Greg Clark, brother of the NBA’s Tony Clark.

Butler, who owns one of the highest point-scoring averages in the league at 33 points per game, will represent the Wildcats at the 2007 ABA All-Star Game Jan. 28 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Butler was among the players who voiced their approval when Lacey took over, saying that conditions for everyone on the team had improved. He said he hoped to continue to represent the Wildcats to his best ability.

“I feel the same way as I did when the AND1 Mixtape Tour picked me up — It’s great and it shows my progress in my career,” he said. “I love San Diego and I plan to play for the Wildcats for a long time.”

Butler had 30 points in the Wildcat’s season opener.

Eastlake era
The Wildcats showcased their three-point shooting expertise in recording their first-ever franchise win as Kendrick began the string of treys in the first half and Michael McNair and Givens got into the act in the second half, while Hands and Curry ended the game with a pair of slam dunks against Las Vegas. Kendrick paced the team with 32 points, followed by Butler with 28 points and Givens with 22 points.

The Wildcats’ season-opening schedule continued with a Nov. 19 (rescheduled) game at El Camino High School — a 117-110 win against the Tijuana Dragones. Butler pumped in 41 points while teammate Jamaal Kendrick had 26 points to lead the San Diego team.

The Wildcats closed out the Eastlake era with a pair of games against Beijing Aoshen Olympian Nov. 26 and Dec. 5 and a Dec. 10 game against the Bellingham Slam.

The Wildcats won two of the three contests to sport an early 5-2 record heading into their first road trip — Dec. 14 in Tijuana (a 124-118 win) and Dec. 16 against the Fame at Santa Monica College (a 96-94 loss). Butler had 39 points in the win against Tijuana and racked up 45 points in the loss to Hollywood.

The Wildcats traded wins against Beijing Aoshen Olympian, winning 98-85 in the teams’ initial meeting and dropping a 118-116 contest (a game in which the hosts led by a point at halftime).

In the team’s last home game at Eastlake, Butler jump-started an amazing performance with 18 points in the first quarter and finished the Dec. 10 contest with 39 points as the Wildcats stole a 113-105 victory from the Slam.

It was during this time that Lacey, after watching his son perform during one of the Wildcats’ halftime shows, approached the team’s original owners about becoming a minority owner. To his surprise, negotiations continued to the point that he was asked whether he wanted to take over a majority stake in the fledgling club, then controlled by the husband-wife team of Tim Ovies and Adrianna Ramirez.

At the onset of the season, the ABA had announced that Ramirez was the first Hispanic female to own a majority interest in a professional sports franchise in the USA.

Fearing the team could fold without his help, Lacey accepted the challenge as majority owner, stating a desire to keep the team afloat.

“Our goal is to bring professional basketball back to San Diego County,” said Lacey, who works as a retail sales executive and operates a real estate investment company with his wife.

Vying for attention against high school and college basketball teams — the SDSU men’s and women’s teams have enjoyed a meteoric rise in media coverage, not to mention USD basketball and community college teams — the Wildcats certainly have their work cut out for them in attracting fan interest throughout the region.

The product is as good as community college basketball and approaches the NCAA Division I level on a good night. A sizable part of the team’s roster is comprised of former NCAA Division I players.

The Wildcats also debuted their dance team at EHS: the Wildcats Dolls. Two members hailed from Chula Vista High School: Angela and Alexis Rodriguez.

The ABA team is coached by Ray Johnson, who also serves as the head coach of the El Camino High School boys basketball team. Clark, who serves as a player-assistant coach, runs the ABA squad when Johnson is unavailable because of prep commitments.

It may not be an ideal way to start their history but the Wildcats are determined to survive. Among the options that Lacey is exploring is returning the team to its original ABA roots when the San Diego Conquistadors played their home games at Golden Hall in downtown San Diego.

The Wildcats are attempting to succeed in a market that really has not supported pro hoops. The NBA Rockets were born in San Diego in 1967 and departed for Houston after the 1971 season. The original ABA filled the niche for three-plus seasons (playing each season at a different venue). Wilt Chamberlain coached the Conquistadors their second season (at Golden Hall) after the team had tipped off play in its inaugural campaign at SDSU’s Petersen Gym. The Q’s as the team was affectionately known, moved into new digs at the Sports Arena for their third season but underwent an ownership change after finishing in last place in the West Division. Reincarnated as the San Diego Sails, the club lasted 11 games, folding after playing just three home games.

The Conquistadors/Sails routinely played to much smaller audiences than the minor league ice hockey San Diego Gulls and World Hockey Association San Diego Mariners.

The NBA returned to San Diego in the guise of the Clippers from 1978-84 but increasingly took a back seat in the attendance department to the growing popularity of the indoor soccer San Diego Sockers.

Since the Clippers’ departure to Los Angeles, three minor league basketball leagues, including a revival of the ABA, have attempted to breathe new life into the sport in the region. All have failed. The San Diego Wildcards, featuring former Southwestern College standout Marc Carter, folded a month into their inaugural Continental Basketball Association season in 1995. Pro hoops returned in 1999 with the San Diego Stingrays in the International Basketball League and then with the San Diego Wildfire in the revived ABA in 2000-01. All three clubs played their home games at the Sports Arena, lasting at most one season in each case.

Somehow the pro version of the sport hangs on in some form and refuses to die — thanks to the efforts of community-minded individuals such as Lacey.

Good luck or good riddance? The Wildcats will write the next chapter in their embryonic ABA existence under Lacey’s ownership.

For current information on the San Diego Wildcats, visit the team’s official Web site at www.sandiegowildcats.com.