The Buffalo Sharks were a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

based in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. The team played two seasons as the Buffalo Rapids and Buffalo Silverbacks before suspending operations. This team is not to be confused with the Buffalo Stampede of the

Premier Basketball League The Premier Basketball League, often abbreviated to the PBL, is an American professional men's basketball minor league that began play in January 2008. The league folded after the 2017 season. It was announced that the league would be revived u ...

History

Buffalo Rapids (2005–06)

The Buffalo Rapids were founded by Gary Nice and began play in the fall of 2005 as part of the ABA's

Connie Hawkins Division Connie is a given name. It is often a pet form (hypocorism) of Concetta, Constance, Cornelia, or Cornelius. Given name or nickname Women * Connie Achurra, Chilean chef * Connie Binsfeld (1924–2014), American politician * Connie Booth (b ...

. It was the first professional basketball team to play in

since the

Buffalo Braves The Buffalo Braves were an American professional basketball franchise based in Buffalo, New York. The Braves competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division from 1970 ...

. The team's name was chosen by a fan voting, with "Rapids" finishing second to "Braves". Trademark restrictions prevented the franchise from adopting the Braves name, but the Rapids team colors were identical to those of the Buffalo Braves. Dan Robbie and Todd Wier became co-owners of the franchise in December 2005 following the league's removal of Gary Nice. Initial games were played at Burt Flickinger Center, but a financial dispute left the team searching for a new permanent home. They played most home games at Park School of Buffalo until February 2006. The final home game of the 2005–2006 season was played at Buffalo State Sports Arena, with the team later utilizing the venue for most 2006–2007 home games.

Buffalo Silverbacks (2006–07)

It was announced in May 2006 that the franchise had changed its name to the Buffalo Silverbacks. Controversy arose in August 2006 when the ''

Buffalo News ''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York. It recently sold its headquarters to Uniland Development Corp. It was for decades the only paper fully owned by W ...

'' ran an article condemning the team's logo, which featured a silverback

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four ...

, as racist. The team responded by adopting a new team logo featuring a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

in October 2006. Another bit of controversy involved the Silverbacks announcing that DayShawn Wright had been signed to the team in September 2006. Soon after this announcement, Wright signed with the Minot SkyRockets of the CBA. Head coach

Richard Jacob Richard L. Jacob Ph.D. (born September 24, 1958, in Niagara Falls, New York), is a sports coach and professor. He graduated from Niagara Catholic High School and Eisenhower College and obtained master's degrees in physical education and educ ...

resigned from the team in November 2006 to focus on his job at

Medaille College Medaille University is a private university in Buffalo, New York. The Sisters of St. Joseph founded Medaille in 1937. Medaille serves roughly 1,600 students from Western New York and Southern Ontario. Campuses Medaille's main campus is in Buff ...

Trevor Ruffin Trevor Ruffin (born September 26, 1970) is an American former professional basketball player who played briefly in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The 6'1" point guard played at the University of Hawaii from 1992 to 1994. While leading ...

, a player from the team's inaugural season and an assistant coach during their 2006–07 training camp, replaced him as head coach. In 2007, Weir sold the team to Vincent Lesh. Lesh has been an entertainment promoter in Western New York for 25 years and is the owner of Concerts Plus. On November 11, 2007, the Silverbacks announced that they were suspending operations. On their official MySpace page, the team stated "If you did not already know, the Silverbacks are not playing this fall in the ABA. New ownership has decided to take this season off after taking over the team with 5 weeks before tip off."

Buffalo Sharks (2008)

Lesh re-branded the team as the Buffalo Sharks and reactivated them to begin play in November 2008.

was named the Head Coach and General Manager as he was for both the Rapids and Silverbacks. The Sharks were to play at Koessler Athletic Center on the campus of

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master' ...

. However, on 2008-09-18, Lesh announced his folding of the Sharks, his leaving of the ABA, and his purchase of the former

Buffalo Dragons The Buffalo Stampede was a basketball team in the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League (ACPBL) that started as a franchise in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) in the 2009 season. The team was originally the NexxNow Buffalo Dragons (c ...

. The ABA would later return to Buffalo with the Buffalo 716ers, set to begin play in 2013; that team has since moved to the

. The ABA would again return to Buffalo with the Buffalo Blue Hawks, who began play in 2016.

Standings

Game results

2005–2006

2006–2007

Roster and staff

2005–2006

*Team Captain –

Tim Winn Tim Winn (born June 27, 1977) is an American former basketball player. He played for the St. Bonaventure Bonnies from 1996 to 2000 and was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference first team in his senior year. High school career Winn played for ...

*All-Star Selection –

*All-ABA Selection –

Released Staff *Owners –

Gary Nice The Buffalo Sharks were a professional basketball team in the American Basketball Association based in Buffalo, New York. The team played two seasons as the Buffalo Rapids and Buffalo Silverbacks before suspending operations. This team is not to b ...

(11/05 – 12/05),

Dan Robbie Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoi ...

and

Todd Wier Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

(12/05 – 11/07) *General Manager –

*Head Coach –

*Assistant Coach –

Tyrone Thomas Tyrone may refer to: * Kingdom of Tyrone or Tír Eoghain, a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland * County Tyrone, a county in Northern Ireland * Earl of Tyrone, a title in the Peerage of Ireland * Tyrone (name), a male given name Places Canada * Tyrone, ...

*Player Assistant Coaches –

Modie Cox Modie Cox (born December 29, 1972) is an American former basketball player. He played collegiately for the Buffalo Bulls, and professionally for the Pietermaritzburg Tuskers, Milton Keynes Lions, Buffalo Rapids and Buffalo Silverbacks. As a p ...

and

*Strength and Conditioning Coach –

Bob Bateson Robert S. Bateson Jr. (born 1961) is a former American football linebacker who played for Cortland Red Dragons football, SUNY Cortland, and later professionally for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and :it:Blackhawks Cernusco, Seahawks Bellusco. He beca ...

*Account Executive –

Bryan Perry Bryan may refer to: Places United States * Bryan, Arkansas * Bryan, Kentucky * Bryan, Ohio * Bryan, Texas * Bryan, Wyoming, a ghost town in Sweetwater County in the U.S. state of Wyoming * Bryan Township (disambiguation) Facilities and struct ...

*Game Day Operation Manager –

Timothy M. Simko Timothy is a masculine name. It comes from the Greek name ( Timόtheos) meaning "honouring God", "in God's honour", or "honoured by God". Timothy (and its variations) is a common name in several countries. People Given name * Timothy (given nam ...

*Media Relations – Nadia Fezzani

2006–2007

*All-Star Selection –

Antoine Sims Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin '' Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is used in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, French Gui ...

*ABA Community Service Award –

Released Staff *Owners –

and

*Head Coach –

*Player Assistant Coach –

*Strength and Conditioning Coach –

References

{{Upstate New York Sports Defunct American Basketball Association (2000–present) teams Sports in Buffalo, New York 2005 establishments in New York (state) 2008 disestablishments in New York (state)