The Utica Olympics, known also as Mohawk Valley Thunderbirds, were an American

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

team based in

Utica, New York Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...

that were members of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA) from 1978 to 1980. The team was previously known as the

Baltimore Metros The Baltimore Metros were an American basketball team based in Baltimore, Maryland that was a member of the Continental Basketball Association. The team was previously known as the Washington Metros. During the 1978/79 season, the team moved to ...

. The team moved to Utica during the 1978–79 season and were renamed the Mohawk Valley Thunderbirds. The franchise disbanded following the season, but another Utica CBA franchise was created. They were known as the Utica Olympics and finished last place in the CBA following the 1979–1980 season, with a 15–31 record. The franchise was relocated to

Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and became the

Atlantic City Hi-Rollers The Atlantic City Hi-Rollers, also known as the Wildwood Hi-Rollers, were an American basketball team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey and later Wildwood, New Jersey. The team were members of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1980 ...

. During their two seasons, the franchise had seven coaches: Larry Cannon, Fred Keller, Freddie Lewis, Nappy Doherty, James Klein, Dick Frank and

Gary Mazza Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;Unit ...

. In 1979, the Utica Police Department declined to renew a contract with the Utica public school system to serve as hall monitors in their eight schools. Superintendent of schools Dr. Anthony Scolzo called his acquaintance James Klein, the Olympics coach, to discuss his predicament. Klein recommended the schools hire Olympics players as hall monitors. Eventually a total of eight players from Utica's roster served as hall monitors and two players, Bruce Lee and Ron McFarland, were promoted to

substitute teacher A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is absent or unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, maternal leave and so on. "Substitute teacher" (usually abbreviated as "sub") is the most co ...

Year-by-year

References

Basketball teams in New York (state) Continental Basketball Association teams Defunct basketball teams in the United States 1978 establishments in New York (state) 1980 disestablishments in New York (state) Basketball teams established in 1978 Sports clubs disestablished in 1980 Utica, New York {{NewYork-basketball-team-stub