San Diego Wildcards

The San Diego Wildcards were a men's professional basketball team based in San Diego, California, that competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) during the 1995–96 season. The team played its home games at the San Diego Sports Arena. The team was owned by sports executive Doug Logan and coached by Mauro Panaggio, who has the most wins as a coach in CBA history. The team folded on January 5, 1996 after placing a 4–17 record.

History

The team was brought to San Diego in 1995 after their predecessor, the Mexico Aztecas, folded. Southern California would prove to be the last stop for the franchise, which went through various incarnations in different cities since 1982: Detroit; Savannah, Georgia; Tulsa; Fargo, North Dakota and Mexico City.

In September 1995 it was announced that the team's nickname would be the "Wildcards". The name came from the franchise's principal sponsor Viejas Casino. who had their name on the team's jersey. At a press conference announcing the sponsorship, team owner Doug Logan wore multi-colored glasses with bells attached, resembling a Joker, the team's mascot.

In an effort to boost ticket sales, a Wildcards radio advertisement claimed CBA games would be more entertaining than college basketball or Los Angeles Clippers games. During broadcasts of the Los Angeles Lakers games on KSWB-TV the Wildcards hosted "one-minute ticket telethons" hosted by broadcaster Chris Ello.

Mauro Panaggio was hired as the team's head coach. Panaggio, who had coached in the CBA for 14 seasons and had more wins than any coach in league history, warned the media that the team may have trouble catching on, stating, "No one should get too comfortable here. If they aren't producing, they will have a short stay in San Diego." Panaggio was originally hired for a front office position, but he stepped into the head coaching role after being told by Logan that he could not find anyone to fill the vacancy.

Jarvis Basnigh was selected by San Diego during the 1995 CBA dispersal draft. The Wildcards chose three players during the 1995 CBA draft: Dwight Stewart out of Arkansas, Mike Williams from UMass, and Brian Fair from UConn.

1995-96 season

The Wildcards first game was at the San Diego Sports Arena on November 17, 1995 against the Chicago Rockers; the Wildcards won, 108-106, on guard Kareem Townes' game-winning bucket with six seconds left. Mark Zeigler of ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' wrote, "They had a professional basketball game last night at the Sports Arena and — here's the weird part — people were actually standing and cheering. For the home team." But attendance that first night was only 3,310, in the 14,800-seat San Diego Sports Arena.

Veteran NBA and CBA guard Greg Grant, who had been with the franchise in Mexico, played only one game with the Wildcards (with three points and nine assists) before being signed by the Philadelphia 76ers on November 21, 1995.

After the opening night win, though, the 'Cards were decked on a regular basis, losing ten of their next eleven games. Attendance remained low, causing concern that the team would have to move (again) or fold outright. San Diego's general manager Jeff Quinn told ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'', "We're substantially less n attendancethan I would have thought we would be right now. I would have thought we'd have been drawing somewhere around 3,000. I'm a little mystified. I don't know the answer right now."

Panaggio's "short stay in San Diego" comment proved to be prophetic: on January 5, 1996, the Wildcards officially ceased operations. Team owner Doug Logan claimed the team lost $35,000 per week. The team's final record was 4–17.

Roster

References

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Basketball teams in San Diego
Basketball teams in California
Continental Basketball Association teams