BASKETBALL

hoopSalute

How fans organized an All-Star game with players from a defunct league.

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by Naomi Graychase

What now?

On December 22, the American Basketball League announced its intention to file for bankruptcy and abruptly ceased operations one-third of the way through its third season. The nine-team league, founded in 1996, saw attendance increase each season and boasted rosters which featured Olympians, World and National Champions, and Naismith Players of the Year, but the league was unable to buy enough television time to secure desperately needed national sponsors.

The death of the league left nearly 100 of the world’s best basketball players unemployed, and thousands of fans asking, "What now?" Disappointed fans sought information and solace on the Internet, and soon they began to congregate on the San Jose Lasers fan email list.

When it became clear that neither the ABL nor the San Jose Sports Authority would go ahead with the ABL All-Star Game as scheduled on January 24, one 46-year-old season ticket holder, Gay Katilius, announced to the list: "I’m taking over!"

Using the email list, Katilius organized a core group of volunteers, and word quickly spread across the Internet. Fan response was immediate. The pricey tickets, ranging from $50 to $1,500, were snatched up so quickly at the web site Inspired By that a credit card company became suspicious and put a hold on the receipts.

When asked about the daunting task of organizing such an event in just 17 days, Katilius said, "Failure is just not an option. Women have played the role of victim for too long. If this league has to end, it’s going to end on our terms."

hoopSalute

With the help of Olympian and Lasers star Jennifer Azzi, Katilius and her volunteers recruited 15 former ABL players for one last game, dubbed "hoopSalute," to take place on the day the all-star game was to have been played. Just one month after the league declared bankruptcy, nearly 2,000 fans packed into the sold-out gymnasium at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California, to pay homage to the ABL’s players, coaches, and founders.

The players, who each received a $5,000 appearance fee, included Olympians Jennifer Azzi, Teresa Edwards, and Katy Steding; 1997 Naismith Player of the Year Kate Starbird; NCAA National Champions Sonja Henning, Kate Paye, and Anita Kaplan; 1998 ABL MVP Natalie Williams; 1998 World Championship team member Edna Campbell; Stanford alumna Naomi Mulitauaopele; and former San Jose Lasers Clarisse Machanguana, Sheri Sam (who flew in from Italy), Anna DeForge, Kedra Holland-Corn, and Laurie Byrd.

Beck's Bombers and Dunn's Dunkers were coached by Angela Beck and Lin Dunn, former head coaches of the Lasers and the Portland Power, respectively.

Among those in attendance were Tara VanDerveer, who coached three of the hoopSalute players to Olympic gold in 1996 as well as several others to NCAA national championships; WNBA Los Angeles Sparks point guard Jamila Wideman; and Milena Flores, the current point guard for Stanford.

The event drew fans from across the country, many of whom had already purchased airline tickets and made hotel reservations for the weekend in anticipation of the All-Star game, though hoopSalute organizers could not honor their tickets. When asked about the event, Teresa Edwards, an ABL co-founder and the only American basketball player to have competed in four Olympics, said that she had never seen such a fan response in all her years as an athlete.

Azzi told the press she was struck by the barrage of media coverage of the league’s folding and the hoopSalute event. "I’ve received more phone calls and requests for interviews since the league folded than I ever did when it was beginning," she said.

Next page: The game, and what's next for the players

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