The Anchorage Northern Knights were a professional basketball team based in Anchorage, Alaska, from 1977 to 1982. The team played in the Eastern Basketball Association (EBA) during the 1977–78 season, winning the Western Division in its first year. The next season, the league changed its name to the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). The Northern Knights reached the CBA Finals in 1979 and won the 1980 CBA championship, the first professional sports title won by a team from Alaska. The club played its home games at West Anchorage High School Gymnasium and at the Anchorage Civic Arena.
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History
The franchise originated with Rick Smith and Mike Shupe, who discussed bringing professional basketball to Anchorage and sought advice from Anchorage Glacier Pilots general manager Jack Brushert. Smith subsequently assembled a group of 75 investors. At an Eastern Basketball Association (EBA) meeting in Philadelphia in September 1977, the Northern Knights were admitted to the league despite the unusual distance between Anchorage and its eastern United States opponents. The team was roughly 5,000 miles from its nearest competitor, as the league's other clubs were all based in the Pennsylvania–New York–New Jersey area, and Sports Illustrated reported that league officials saw publicity value in an Alaskan franchise as they sought to upgrade the EBA's image.
The club's geography required an unusual scheduling and financial arrangement. During its inaugural season, Anchorage was scheduled to play 21 of its 31 games at home, including its first 16, and agreed to pay the travel expenses for visiting teams and two referees to make one trip to Alaska. Sports Illustrated estimated the team's first-season budget at approximately $300,000, including a $60,000 player payroll, then the highest in the EBA.
On the Knights' opening night in November 1977, both glass backboards shattered during pregame warmups, delaying the game for more than two hours. Most of the crowd of 4,021 remained, and Anchorage eventually defeated the Wilkes-Barre Barons 117–112.
During the team's first two seasons, the Knights began their regular schedule with an extended homestand, then made an extended midseason road trip through the league before finishing the season with another homestand. The Northern Knights had what was later described as the longest recorded road trip in professional sports history during the 1979–80 season, traveling by bus around the contiguous United States and playing 16 games in 31 days.
The Knights experienced immediate success, winning the EBA's Western Division with a 24–7 record in 1977–78 before losing an EBA semifinal series to the Lancaster Red Roses, three games to two. By February 1978, the team was averaging approximately 2,400 spectators per game, and it went on to lead the league in attendance, averaging about 2,500 per game without ever selling out the roughly 4,000-seat West High gymnasium.
The team advanced to the CBA Finals in 1979, where it was swept in four games by the Rochester Zeniths, with whom the Knights developed a rivalry. In 1979–80, the Northern Knights captured the CBA championship by defeating Rochester in seven games. It was the first professional sports championship won by an Alaskan team.
Brad Davis played for the Northern Knights during the 1979–80 season and appeared in five games for Anchorage in 1980–81. He was named CBA Newcomer of the Year for the 1979–80 season. Davis then embarked on a long NBA career, highlighted by twelve seasons with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, where he became the first player to have his jersey number retired by the franchise.
Several other Knights won league honors. Ron Davis was named EBA Newcomer of the Year in 1977–78 and CBA Most Valuable Player for the championship season of 1979–80; he was also a two-time CBA scoring leader. Steve Hayes was named CBA Playoff/Finals Most Valuable Player during Anchorage's championship run, and head coach Bill Klucas was CBA Coach of the Year for 1979–80. Brad Branson was named CBA Newcomer of the Year and CBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 1981–82. During the inaugural season, Al Fleming, then one of Anchorage's leading scorers and rebounders, was signed by the Seattle SuperSonics.
Other notable Northern Knights players included Freeman Blade, Tico Brown, Arvid Kramer, and Slick Watts. Dick Lobdell served as a play-by-play announcer for the Northern Knights.
The team's financial difficulties were tied in large part to the extraordinary travel costs created by its geographic isolation. The club never turned a profit, and attendance and local interest declined as the novelty of the franchise diminished and the CBA expanded farther west. During the first two seasons, Anchorage paid the airfare, hotel and per diem costs for visiting teams to travel to Alaska. Travel costs were shared during the next three seasons, but in the summer of 1982 league owners, tired of subsidizing the franchise, voted to require the Knights to pay the cost of all travel from Seattle to Anchorage. The vote, combined with the arrest of one of the team's owners for his role in a pyramid scheme, led to the franchise's disbandment after the 1981–82 season.
Identity and local reception
The Northern Knights' team colors were purple, gold and white.
During the team's inaugural season, Sports Illustrated reported brisk sales of Northern Knights stocking caps, T-shirts, buttons and pennants at West High. The team's four cheerleaders were known as the Northern Foxes.
Season-by-season standings
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All-time roster
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