The WWashington Capitals ashingWashingWashington Capitals ton Capitals ton Caps had been an American Basketball Association crew from 1969 through 1970. The franchise had formerly been Washington Capitals the Oakland Oaks. From 1970 thru 1976 the group played as the Virginia Squires.Origins[edit]
With the formation of the ABA in February 1967 a team was Washington Capitals awarded to Oakland, California for $30,000 with singer Pat Boone as primary owner. The group turned into in the beginning the Oakland Americans but the call became ultimately changed to the Oakland Oaks. NBA celeb Rick Barry signed with the Oaks, as did Steve Jones and Levern Tart. Barry, but, become avoided from playing within the ABA because of a lawsuit delivered through his former NBA crew (regarding enforcement of the reserve clause in his settlement), so he spent the season as an Oaks radio announcer in preference to as a player. The Oaks received the very first ABA game in 1967 (a 132–129 victory towards the Anaheim Amigos on October three, 1967. After Barry lower back in the 1967–sixty eight season, they breezed thru the everyday season then gained the 1969 ABA Championship over the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs. However, the Bank of America changed into threatening to foreclose on a $1.2 million mortgage to the crew and in August, 1969, a set of investors led with the aid of real Washington Capitals property legal professional Earl Foreman sold the crew and Washington Capitals moved it to Washington, D.C., for the approaching season.The one season (1969–70)[edit]
With the move came a brand Washington Capitals new identification for the team because the green and gold clad Washington Caps. Al Bianchi changed the greater validated Alex Hannum as head train. A federal appeals courtroom ruled in choose of the Caps concerning Barry, their pinnacle gate attraction, Washington Capitals however he brazenly objected to gambling in Washington, D.C., wherein the team butted heads with the NBA Baltimore Bullets and did not have a suitable arena to play domestic video games. He sat out the first 32 video games of the season, however the courts left him without a desire besides to file to the group or sit down out the season. Barry and Washington Capitals Warren Armstrong participated inside the ABA All Star recreation, however injuries constrained their gambling time for the season.
In March 1970 the ABA-NBA merger seemed close to hand under situations that could have required the Washington Caps to relocate, however a subsequent lawsuit derailed the merger until June 1976.
In defiance of all geographic truth, the Caps assumed the Oaks’ region in the Western Division despite their circulate to the Eastern Seaboard. This saved them continuously on the Washington Capitals road at remote Washington Capitals venues (their nearest divisional opponents, the New Orleans Washington Capitals Buccaneers, had been over 1,000 miles away) and the tour and time differential took its toll on their play. Playing at Washington Coliseum their common attendance was 2,992 enthusiasts in line with game. In a case of Washington Capitals noticeably bad timing, the Caps arrived at a time whilst the surrounding Near Northeast community become still recuperating from the 1968 race riots. Fears that the neighborhood wasn’t secure dragged down attendance. Due to the lengthy tour distances worried in divisional play, the Caps performed some home video games in places like Wichita, Kansas or even Mexico City, Mexico however did now not fare nicely in those meant home video games.
However, due to a solid file in their actual domestic video games, the Caps completed the season with 44 wins and forty losses. The Caps’ document put them in 0.33 location within the Western Division, 7 games in the back of the Denver Rockets and one game at the back of the Dallas Chaparrals. In the 1970 ABA Playoffs the Caps faced the Denver Rockets inside the Western Division semifinals and took the collection to seven video games earlier than dropping 143–119 in the finale in Denver.Basketball Hall of Famers[edit]Washington Caps Hall of FamersPlayersNo.NamePositionTenureInducted24Rick BarryF1969–19701987Season-with the aid of-season[edit]
Note: W = wins, L = losses, % = win–loss %SeasonWL%PlayoffsResultsWashington Caps1969–704440.524Lost Division SemifinalsDenver 4, Washington 3Virginia Squires[edit]
After the realization of the 1969–1970 season the Caps were pressured to move all over again. At the time, merger talks with the NBA had been underway, and the owner of the NBA’s Baltimore Bullets, Abe Pollin, wanted to move his team to Washington, and did not want the Caps there. The different ABA owners persuaded Foreman to transport the Caps for the second one time in as many seasons. (However, the Caps call would be quite revived, this time for a National Hockey League growth team referred to as the Washington Capitals – also owned by Pollin – in 1974. Since then, the Capitals had been co-tenants with the Bullets/Wizards franchise at the Capital Centre and Capital One Arena.)
Foreman determined to make the Caps a local franchise, the Virginia Squires. While the team could be based totally in Norfolk and play maximum of their games on the Norfolk Scope and the Old Dominion University Fieldhouse, they also performed home games in Hampton at the Hampton Roads Coliseum, in Richmond on the Richmond Coliseum and in Roanoke on the Roanoke Civic Center. However, Roanoke changed into dropped from the list of “home” cities Washington Capitals after only one season. The Squires’ hues were crimson, white, and blue.
The Squires could keep to play in each ABA season thru 1976. At the realization of the 1975–1976 season the Squires, having fallen on tough times, were not able to make a league-mandated economic assessment. The Squires have been disbanded after the season but just previous to the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976.External links[edit]
- Remember the ABA Washington Caps web page