City sports checkered pro basketball history
Feb. 6, 1990: World Basketball League announces Saskatoon’s entry into the world of professional hoops.
May 11, 1990: A WBL-record crowd of 8,276 watches the host Saskatchewan Storm lose 117-115 to the Las Vegas Silver Streaks in their opener.
Aug. 1, 1992: The StarPhoenix reports the WBL has folded in midseason with Dayton Wings owner Milt Kantor making a public announcement during halftime of his team’s home game against the Storm.
Jan. 29, 1993: The National Basketball League forms and brings Saskatoon into the fold.
Sept. 8, 1993: The Saskatoon Slam win Saskatchewan’s first and only professional hoops championship with a 109-107 victory over Cape Breton in the NBL final.
July 11, 1994: The NBL folds in midseason.
Jan. 9, 2000: Ted Stepien announces he’s moving his International Basketball Association franchise from Youngstown, Ohio, to Saskatoon in mid-season. He sells 70 per cent of the team to Tom Tao and later drops out of the ownership picture.
Sept. 28, 2001: A few weeks after bailing out of the defunct IBA and joining the Continental Basketball Association, Tao vows the team is “definitely here to stay.”
Dec. 5, 2001: The Hawks draw 6,733 onlookers — all there with free tickets — for their season opener. Tao, meanwhile, has disappeared and nobody knows where he is. The league and a First Nations investment group eventually take control of the squad.
May 1, 2002: The Hawks fold after ownership talks between the CBA and the investment group collapse.
April 5, 2007: Troy Burns announces plans to put a Saskatoon franchise in the International Basketball League.
May 1, 2007: Burns pulls out after a StarPhoenix investigation reveals his tangled web of financial improprieties. He lands in Edmonton, changes his name to Troy Barns, gets an IBL franchise there and disappears during the team’s season, leaving numerous jilted creditors in his wake.
June 14, 2013: The proposed Canadian Basketball League announces that it’s looking for investors willing to buy into a Saskatoon franchise. The league never gets off the ground.
May 2, 2018: The Canadian Elite Basketball League announces plans to play in 2019 with six teams, including a franchise in Saskatoon. Key league management figures include Lee Genier, who was instrumental in the offfield success of the National Lacrosse League’s Saskatchewan Rush.