Portsmouth event to pay tribute to Virginia Squires
ABA franchise was Hampton Roads’ only major pro sports team
PORTSMOUTH — In 2016, I interviewed Earl Foreman, the man who brought the Virginia Squires’ professional basketball team to Hampton Roads.
Foreman gave Hampton Roads its only taste of a major professional sports team in the early 1970s. The Squires were part of the American Basketball Association, which later merged with the National Basketball Association.
One of the things I remember from that interview was Foreman’s love for Hampton Roads. Even though he had ownership stakes in other professional sports teams, including the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, he had a special love for Hampton Roads.
“All of those teams I have had wonderful relationships with, but I’ve never had the feeling — and neither has my wife, Phyllis — that I had and continue to have with the players that we worked with on the Virginia Squires,” he told me during that interview. “We never felt more at home in any city than we ever did in Norfolk.”
Foreman died the following year.
But the memories that he left fans in Hampton Roads have never gone away.
And on April 11-12, the City of Portsmouth and Sports Inside and Out will host the Virginia Squires Legends farewell event entitled “Thanks for the Memories.” The event will be held at the Rivers Casino in Portsmouth. More information about the event will be announced later.
When asked to be a partner of the event, Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover jumped at the chance. He thought about the impact that the Squires made in the area and how future hall of fame players Julius Erving, George Gervin and Charlie Scott got their starts in Hampton Roads.
“We’re a part of that history,” Glover said. “So when we were brought the idea of bringing awareness to the legacy, to us it was really an opportunity we believed that we should participate in. It was a no-brainer. I mean, these are historic and legacy figures that some of our citizens may not remember. But what they did shaped the world of sports forever.”
Chuck Hatcher, the president of Sports Inside and Out, said he’s glad the City of Portsmouth agreed to be a partner. He’s also glad to have actor/filmmaker Tim Reid working along with Sports Inside and Out.
“When you hear the stories of these young men and you follow their careers and the things that they went through and the revolutionary spirit that they have shown in their lives, that is
the inspiration that more young people need to know about,” Reid said.
Hatcher, who grew up in Norfolk and was a basketball star for Norview High, was instrumental, along with Wali Jones, with bringing the Squires together for a reunion in Hampton Roads in 2014.
He knows many of the players are getting older, as are the fans, and he felt this farewell was something that had to be done to pay tribute and respect to those Squires teams.
“It’s great for a city to give the respect and gratitude to one of the greatest teams assembled in basketball history. I mean, three of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game came from the Virginia Squires,” Hatcher said about Erving, Gervin and Scott. “We want to thank Mayor Shannon Glover for taking the initiative.”
Hatcher is hoping many of those great players will be able to
attend, including Erving, Gervin, Scott, Jim Eakins, Ray Scott and David Twardzik, who was a two-time All-American for Old Dominion.
So does Jack Ankerson.
Many people know him as the public-address announcer for Old Dominion football and men’s and women’s basketball games and the Norfolk Tides.
But he also was the general manager for the Squires. He even served as the team’s head coach for two games, going 1-1 after taking over for Bill Musselman.
“The idea that we’re kind of bringing back the history and the story of the Squires that started here in Hampton Roads in 1970 is fantastic,” Ankerson said. “To renew the relationships with people and to bring them back and keep alive this history of the Squires is really great.”