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40-529: When the league was announced in 1991, league officials said there would be franchises around the world, hence the name "Global Basketball Association" (GBA). The league was owned and founded by Ted Stepien , the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1980 to 1983. Two international teams were announced: Tallinn , Soviet Union (now Estonia ) and San Marino . The team from the Soviet Union

80-468: A 30-minute infomercial on WAVE (TV) . By February 1992, team owner Jim Tilton told Business First-Louisville the Shooters were facing "a pretty heavy loss" and he was seeking a new line of credit to keep the team afloat. The team had sold 150 season tickets and were averaging 2,250 attendees per game. A deal to sell the Shooters to an ownership group led by David Gleason fell through. By mid-March 1992,

120-412: A capacity crowd on November 25, 1956. In addition, the pop sensation band Jackson 5 —known as "The Jacksons" during this era—performed on October 7, 1979, as part of the band's 4th leg from their Destiny World Tour . More recently, WWE used the 3,000-person capacity arena as a training ground for future stars in a minor-league promotion known as Ohio Valley Wrestling , until the organization moved to

160-590: A first-round selection in each of the subsequent four NBA drafts to recover the ones traded away by Stepien. The Gunds elected to keep the team in Cleveland (12 years later, Toronto would get an NBA team via expansion when the Raptors began play). During his tenure as Cavaliers owner, the Cavaliers went 66–180, had five different coaches, and had losses of $ 15 million (about $ 45 million in 2023). After selling

200-599: A loophole in that said first round pick can be any team's pick and not their team's own pick. This came to light in the now infamously lopsided Boston Celtics trade with the Brooklyn Nets that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn. The Nets traded their first round picks in the 2014, 2016, and 2018 drafts in that deal, but also included a pick swap involving the Nets pick for the 2017 draft that ended up being for

240-592: A promotional event for the league in Cleveland in which he dropped softballs from the 52nd floor of Terminal Tower to be caught by outfielders from his Cleveland Competitors team. The balls were estimated to be traveling at 144 mph by the time they reached the street, damaging cars and injuring several spectators. One was caught. In 1981, the APSPL merged with NASL to create the United Professional Softball League (UPSL), but only

280-651: A series of private dining rooms called "Competitors Clubs" in Cleveland. His professional softball teams were named Competitors to promote the restaurants. Stepien died of a heart attack in 2007. Louisville Gardens Louisville Gardens is a multi-purpose, 6,000-seat arena , in Louisville, Kentucky , that opened in 1905, as the Jefferson County Armory . It celebrated its 100th anniversary as former city mayor Jerry Abramson 's official "Family-Friendly New Years Eve" celebration location. It

320-642: A total attendance (including the players, referees and statisticians) of 136. The Louisville Shooters in October 1991 announced plans for a $ 125,000 to $ 175,000 marketing campaign to advertise the GBA's inaugural season. The firm Bridgemon, James & Shawver Advertising Inc.—who also worked on marketing for the Louisville Redbirds professional baseball team—was contracted to run the campaign which consisted of newspaper ads, television and radio ads and

360-677: A year. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, several men's professional softball leagues were formed in the United States to build on the growth and talent in the booming men's amateur game during this period. The American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL) was the first such league, launching in an era of experimentation in professional sports leagues. The APSPL was formed in 1977 by former World Football League front-office staffer Bill Byrne, with former New York Yankees star Whitey Ford as commissioner and owners such as Mike Ilitch with his Detroit Caesars club. Stepien bought

400-470: Is like running any other business and those kind of factors have to be considered." He described his Cavaliers at that time — consisting of six whites and five blacks — as "a balanced team racially, and that's a good reflection on our society because it's balanced too." He described himself as "really big on desegregation" and "for a totally integrated society." By 1981, Stepien's popularity in Cleveland

440-877: The Albany Sharp Shooters , the Louisville Shooters , the Memphis HotShots , the Fayetteville Flyers , the Mid-Michigan Great Lakers and the Wichita Outlaws . The GBA draft was held on August 3, 1991 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was broken-up into three rounds. The first round was the territorial round where teams were limited to selecting players within a 100-mile radius of their home arena. In

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480-693: The Cleveland Jaybirds franchise for the 1978 APSPL season, changing the name to the Cleveland Stepien's Competitors in 1979. In 1980, two teams, Milwaukee and Cleveland broke away to form the North American Softball League (NASL) under the leadership of Stepien, who owned six of the eight teams in the new league (only Ft. Wayne and Milwaukee had local ownership), while the APSPL continued with just six teams. The NASL lasted one season. In 1980, Stepien held

520-527: The Davis Arena . WWE also staged two pay-per-view events while the venue was known as Louisville Gardens : ( In Your House 6 and In Your House 17: Ground Zero ). TNA Wrestling held an event at the venue in 2007. Freedom Hall replaced the small, aging facility in 1956, as a more popular venue for city events. Martin Luther King Jr. (Tuesday, August 23, 1960) and Harry Truman both spoke at

560-551: The 1991–92 season, GBA commissioner Mike Storen announced he was stepping away from the league to focus on his sports marketing business. David Gleason, who attempted to purchase the Louisville Shooters in February 1992, eventually purchased the franchise from Jim Tilton. Gleason said the purchase did not include the legal obligation for $ 300,000 in outstanding debts owed by Tilton, however, Gleason still had to pay

600-611: The 1992–93 season. The league itself disbanded in December 1992. Ted Stepien Theodore John Stepien (June 9, 1925 – September 10, 2007) was an American businessman who owned the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1980 to 1983. Born in Pittsburgh in 1925, he became wealthy as the founder of Nationwide Advertising Service and purchased an interest in

640-681: The Cavaliers in 1983, he continued to be involved in professional basketball, owning teams in the Continental Basketball Association and the Global Basketball Association . Later in life he founded the United Pro Basketball League, along other business ventures in the Cleveland area. He died in 2007. Stepien began Nationwide Advertising Service in 1947 with just $ 500. By 1980, it was generating over $ 80 million

680-695: The Cavaliers on April 12, 1980. His tenure as owner of the Cavs was highly controversial, resulting in multiple coaching changes and poor performances by the team, and his management decisions ultimately led the NBA to create what is known as the "Ted Stepien rule" to restrict how teams can trade draft picks . A December 6, 1982 article in The New York Times described the Cavaliers during Stepien's ownership as "the worst club and most poorly run franchise in professional basketball." After selling his interest in

720-810: The Cavs, Stepien became founding owner of the Toronto Tornados in the Continental Basketball Association . He also owned a team in the Global Basketball Association , which operated during the early 1990s. In 1987, he was fined $ 50,000 by the CBA after allegedly failing to cooperate with the league office's investigation of salary cap violations. Early in 2003, Stepien founded the United Pro Basketball League (UPBL), which featured just four teams, including three in Kentucky ( Lexington , Louisville , and Frankfort ) and one in Mansfield, Ohio . Stepien also opened

760-451: The Cavs, who went 9–32 with him at the helm; and Musselman, who returned to the bench after serving as the team's director of player personnel since being fired the previous season. At one point, the Cavs had traded away five consecutive first-round picks, covering 1982 until 1985. The NBA thereafter instituted the "Stepien Rule", which states that a team (usually) cannot trade its first-round pick in consecutive years. However, that rule has

800-641: The Commonwealth Convention Center (now called Kentucky International Convention Center ) was being built. In 2007, the Cordish Company , manager of the nearby Fourth Street Live! entertainment complex, agreed to take over operation of "The Gardens" from the Metro Louisville Government as part of a $ 250 million development in downtown Louisville . In 2012, Cordish was released from its obligations to

840-760: The Louisville Gardens. The University of Louisville women's basketball team used the Gardens for six home games in the 1997–98 season. Ice hockey teams to use the Gardens as home ice include the Louisville Blades and the Louisville Shooting Stars . The building was also known as the Convention Center or Louisville Convention Center, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. It was renamed Louisville Gardens in 1975 when

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880-598: The Milwaukee franchise came from the NASL to the new league as the other NASL teams folded. The merged league competed for two years and Stepien fielded the Cleveland Competitors again in the 1982 UPSL season. The UPSL disbanded after the 1982 season, ending the pro era of men's softball. Stepien initially bought 200,000 shares for $ 2 million to give him a 38% interest in the Cavaliers in mid-1980. Over

920-476: The NBA froze Cleveland's trading rights to prevent him from giving up the team's picks for the rest of the 1980s and 1990s. The freeze was only in place for one season, being officially ended after the 1981–82 season, but all trades required the approval of the league's director of operations, Joe Axelson . Musselman explained that Stepien "wanted a playoff team right away, and that's what he kept talking about." Stepien admitted that "We made mistakes, and I take

960-550: The NBA: You've got a situation here where blacks represent little more than 5 percent of the market, yet most teams are at least 75 percent black and the New York Knicks are 100 percent black. Teams with that kind of makeup can't possibly draw from a suitable cross section of fans." He also said that "blacks don't buy many tickets and they don't buy many of the products advertised on TV. Let's face it, running an NBA team

1000-503: The Shooters had their telephone service shut off for failed payment. On March 31, 1992, the office furniture at the team's headquarters was repossessed . The team also had to forfeit their first round playoff series against the Mid-Michigan Great Lakers due to failure to pay rent on their home venue, Louisville Gardens . As of April 1992, the Shooters owed $ 23,000 in back rent to the Louisville Gardens owners. After

1040-585: The Toronto Towers. He signed a deal to sell his majority interest in the Cavaliers to George and Gordon Gund for $ 20 million on April 7, 1983. His Nationwide Advertising Service Inc. and new cable television station Sports Exchange were also part of the sale. The transaction was approved by the NBA Board of Governors one month later on May 9. The league also arranged for the Gunds to pay a cash sum for

1080-457: The arena. Primary home of Louisville Cardinals men's basketball starting in 1945 when Bernard "Peck" Hickman was head coach until 1956 when they moved to Freedom Hall. They played occasional games there each season until their last on November 30, 1972. The Louisville Cardinals were 153-23 all time at the armory. The Kentucky Wildcats when led by Adolph Rupp played 72 games at the armory going 61-11 there from 1937 to 1956. Included in that

1120-458: The debts as he wanted his debtors services. He had to settle his account with Bridgemon, James & Shawver Advertising Inc. before they would agree to continue working for the team. When they did settle the debt, the advertising firm only agreed to work on an hourly rate and would no longer let debts accrue. Gleason came to an agreement that let him continue to use Louisville Gardens as the team's home venue. The Shooters folded after three games into

1160-531: The fact that Stepien was staying behind to run the team. Over the course of the 1981–82 season alone, Stepien fired three head coaches and hired four: Don Delaney , who had taken over for Musselman with 11 games remaining in the 1980–81 season; assistant coach Bob Kloppenburg , who filled in for a game after Stepien relieved Delaney of his duties; Chuck Daly , who left the Philadelphia 76ers where he had been an assistant to take over as head coach of

1200-612: The first overall pick of the draft (which was later traded down by the Celtics to the third overall pick and was used to select Jayson Tatum ) with the Nets picking 27th instead, eventually leading to the Celtics winning the 2024 NBA Finals in large parts due to some of those selections. After Stepien dealt away several 1st round draft picks to the Dallas Mavericks , who were a newly formed expansion team, in November 1980,

1240-519: The international teams would begin play in the 1992–93 season. The Mid-Michigan Great Lakers let people attend the first few games for free, which attracted around 3,000 attendees per game. When the Great Lakers started charging for tickets, the team averaged 200 attendees. The Music City Jammers were last in attendance, averaging 300 people per game. They played a game on February 2, 1992 at the 11,000 seat Nashville Municipal Auditorium , which had

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1280-562: The next few months, Stepien continued until he eventually acquired 82% control of the team. On the court, Stepien installed Bill Musselman as the team's head coach. Musselman, who coached the University of Minnesota to the 1972 Big Ten championship, the school's first in 53 years, compiled a 25–46 record with the Cavs before Stepien fired him. In an interview in December 1980, Stepien said, "No team should be all white and no team should be all black, either. That's what bothers me about

1320-432: The responsibility." During his ownership, attendance at Cavaliers games began to sharply fall due to the team's poor play and Stepien's questionable moves. Stepien thought about renaming the team the "Ohio Cavaliers" and playing portions of its home schedule in nearby non-NBA cities such as Pittsburgh , Cincinnati , and Toronto to increase the fan base. He had also threatened to move the team to Toronto and rename them

1360-404: The second round, teams could only draft free agents. The third and final round was the collegiate draft, where teams could pick players from colleges across the United States. The Greensboro City Gaters selected Keith Gatlin with the first overall pick in the draft. By the start of the 1991–92 season in November 1991, the GBA only had franchises based in the United States. League officials said

1400-497: Was KK Kalev , which was a professional basketball team founded in 1920. The four American teams announced were Greensboro, North Carolina ; Raleigh, North Carolina ; Nashville, Tennessee and Greenville, South Carolina . Vilvoorde , Belgium and Évry , France were later awarded GBA franchises. Mike Storen , who served as commissioner of the American Basketball Association from 1973 to 1975,

1440-505: Was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The facility has served the city of Louisville and Jefferson County in a variety of ways during the past century, from utilization as an actual armory to American Basketball Association 's Kentucky Colonels basketball games, to various wrestling events, concerts, political rallies, and the staging of Hurricane Katrina flood relief. Elvis Presley performed before

1480-417: Was at an all-time low. The team was referred to locally and derisively at this time as the "Cleveland Cadavers". For the final home game of the 1981 season, the largest Cavaliers crowd in two years showed up to honor fired play by play announcer Joe Tait and heap abuse on the Cavs' now-despised owner. The angry crowd used the occasion to not only show support for Tait, but also to voice their discontent over

1520-641: Was games played in the SEC men's basketball tournament which was held at the armory from 1941 to 1952. Additionally, the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament was held there from 1949 to 1955 and again from 1964 to 1967. The Kentucky Colonels , of the American Basketball Association , played their home games at the facility, then known as the Louisville Convention Center , from 1967 through 1970. Louie Dampier

1560-567: Was named commissioner of the GBA. The league announced a 64-game schedule in from November 1991 to March 1992, followed by a playoff for the league championship. To distinguish itself from other basketball leagues, the GBA used a white basketball, which was manufactured by MacGregor . In May 1991, the GBA awarded a charter franchise to Huntsville, Alabama . The GBA merged Pro Basketball USA, another fledgling basketball minor league, in August 1991. The GBA adopted six of Pro Basketball USA's franchises:

1600-632: Was the team's best player in the era. On November 24, 1968, Penny Ann Early became the first female to appear in a men's professional league, playing briefly in a home game for the Colonels. The Louisville Catbirds , of the Continental Basketball Association (1983–1985), the Louisville Shooters , of the Global Basketball Association (1991–1992) and the Kentucky Colonels , of the ABA 2000 (2004–2006), all played their home basketball games at

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