The Louisville Catbirds were a basketball team of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) who played in the mid 1980s.

History

The Catbirds played two seasons in 1983–85 in Kentucky before moving to La Crosse, Wisconsin, in which the team would reach the CBA finals three times, winning twice (1990 and 1992). Head coach

Flip Saunders Philip Daniel "Flip" Saunders (February 23, 1955 – October 25, 2015) was an American basketball player and coach. During his career, he coached the La Crosse Catbirds, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards. High schoo ...

led to the defeating Eric Musselman's Rapid City Thrillers team both times. Vincent Hamilton,

Andre Turner Andre Devalle Turner (born March 13, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the head coach for Lane College. A 5'11", point guard, he played collegi ...

, Tony White,

Dwayne McClain Dwayne Eddie McClain (born February 7, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round (27th pick overall) of the 1985 NBA draft. He played in the NBA for one season and was ...

Carlos Clark Carlos R. Clark
(born August 10, 1960) is an American retired professional

Vincent Hamilton,

David Rivers Not to be confused with David Foote Rivers David Lee Rivers (born January 20, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. A 6'2" (1.88 m ) tall point guard, he reached star status in the EuroLeague, mainly while play ...

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

Kenny Battle Kenneth R. Battle (born October 10, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. High school career In 1984, Battle led Aurora West High School to third place in the Illinois High School Association Class AA state basketball tourn ...

Derrick Gervin Derrick Gervin (born March 28, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player born in Detroit. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was the 1995 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, and a two-time top scorer in ...

, and Brian Rahilly took La Crosse to a second championship. The team defected following the 1993–94 season.

Team profile

Statistics

Notable players

One of the notable Catbird players was Tom Payne, the first African-American basketball player at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

. A New York Times article told a story of this player: "Tom Payne, a 7-foot-1-inch former professional basketball player who spent 11 years in a Kentucky prison after a rape conviction, is scheduled to make his boxing debut at Los Angeles on June 14 in a four-round bout against Nick DeLong of Long Beach, Calif. After his parole late last year, he played with the Louisville Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association. Another Louisville Catbirds player was

Wiley Brown Wiley Brown , is the current Head Coach of the Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers Men's Basketball program. He is a retired NFL player, who lettered 2 years with the Philadelphia Eagles as a defensive end, before deciding to play profession ...

, a player (and later assistant coach) at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

who played tight end for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

for two seasons. Former University of Kentucky player

Dirk Minniefield Dirk DeWayne Minniefield (born January 17, 1961) is an American retired professional basketball player. While at Lafayette High School in Lexington, he was named the 1979 Kentucky "Mr. Basketball", an honor given to the top high school player ...

played for the Louisville Catbirds after being cut by the NBA's

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

References

Sources