The San Diego Stingrays were a basketball team based in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, that competed as a charter member of

International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The ...

(IBL). The team played its home games at the

San Diego Sports Arena Pechanga Arena is an indoor arena in San Diego, California. Opened in 1966, it is an example of New Formalism architecture and has been designated by the City of San Diego as a historic resource. The arena has been home to numerous athletic team ...

. It was owned by online sports gaming entrepreneur Scott Atkins.

History

In June 1999, the Stingrays hired former

San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball : ''For information on all San Diego State University sports, see San Diego State Aztecs'' The San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program that represents San Diego State University (SDSU). The Aztecs com ...

head coach

Smokey Gaines David "Smokey" Gaines (February 27, 1940 – September 5, 2020) was an American basketball player and coach. Playing career He played professionally for three games for the Kentucky Colonels during the 1967–68 American Basketball Association s ...

as their head coach. Former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) player

Jeff Malone Jeffrey Nigel Malone (born June 28, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and is mostly known for his time with the Washington Bullets (1983–1990) of the N ...

was hired as Gaines' assistant coach in July 1999. Bill Tosheff was the director of basketball operations. Rapper

Master P Percy Robert Miller (born April 29, 1967), better known by his stage name Master P, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, dancer, actor and entrepreneur. He founded the record label No Limit Records in 1991, which was relau ...

, who had previously played in the NBA pre-season, signed with the Stingrays in November 1999. The Stingrays' first home game in 1999 was attended by 9,786 people—an IBL record. The Stingrays had a dance team that participated in several community events. They were led by director Demilo Young and Sheila Christensen.

References

External links

1999-2000 San Diego Stingrays
via funwhileitlasted.net Basketball teams in San Diego Basketball teams in California International Basketball League (1999–2001) teams {{California-basketball-team-stub

History

See also

References

External links