1996-97 Portland Pride media guide from the American Basketball League

Portland Power

American Basketball League (1996-1998)

Tombstone

Born: 1996 – ABL founding franchise
Folded: December 22, 1998

First Game: October 19, 1996 (W 82-73 vs. Atlanta Glory)
Last Game
: December 20, 1998 (W 94-85 @ San Jose Lasers)

ABL Championships: None

Arena

Memorial Coliseum (10,934)11998-99 Portland Power Media Guide
Opened: 1960

Marketing

Team Colors: Blue (PMS 287), Green (PMS 355) & Orange (PMS 159)21997-98 American Basketball League Media Guide

Ownership

Owner: American Basketball League

Attendance

Portland Power attendance ranked second in the American Basketball League in all three seasons of play, always trailing behind the New England Blizzard.

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Sources:

  • 1997-98 American Basketball League Media Guide (1996-97 Figures)
  • 1998-99 San Jose Lasers Media Guide (1997-98 Figures)
  • Fun While It Lasted box score analysis of all 63 1998-99 ABL games from NewspapersArchives.com. (1998-99 figures)

Trophy Case

ABL Most Valuable Player

  • 1997-98: Natalie Williams

 

Background

The Portland Power were an entry in the American Basketball League (1996-1998), which was an early rival to the NBA-backed Women’s National Basketball Association in the race to launch a major women’s professional league on the coattails of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The ABL got out of the box first in the winter of 1996-97 and beat out the WNBA to sign a majority of the 1996 Gold Medal winners from the United States Olympic Team.  These included Oregon native Katy Steding (pictured on the Power’s inaugural season media guide, above) who was assigned to the Power.

Natalie Williams on the cover of the 1997-98 Portland Power media guide from the American Basketball League

A Dominant Center

Portland’s best player, however, and one of the most dominant in the ABL’s brief history, was 6′ 2″ center Natalie Williams. Williams is the daughter of former NBA player Nate Williams and was a two-sport All-America at UCLA in basketball and volleyball. Williams won the ABL’s Most Valuable Player award during the 1997-98 season, when she led the league in scoring and rebounding and finished fourth in blocks.

Following her MVP campaign, Williams exercised a clause in her ABL contract to force a trade to the Long Beach Stingrays franchise for the 1998-99 season. The move put Williams closer to her Southern California home.  The ABL was a single-entity league and all players were under contract to the league rather than individual franchises. At first the move appeared to severely hobble the Power, who had improved from the worst team in the ABL in 1996-97 to conference champions in 1997-98. But the Stingrays turned out to be in brutal financial condition. The league contracted the team during the summer of the 1998. With the Southern California franchise out of the picture, Williams returned to Portland for a third season.

Demise

The ABL itself was running out of money. The summer of 1998 saw the contraction of the weak Long Beach and Atlanta Glory franchises and across the board pay cuts for league employees. But the league managed to get a third season underway in November 1998. Officials counted on the potential of an NBA player lockout that fall to bring new media and fan attention to the women’s game. It didn’t happen and by December the league was out of cash.  Portland was atop the Western Conference with a 9-4 record when the ABL suddenly went out of business three days before Christmas on December 22, 1998.  The league later declared bankruptcy, leaving the WNBA as the winner of the women’s basketball wars of the mid-1990’s.

Professional women’s basketball briefly returned to Portland in 2000 with the formation of the WNBA’s Portland Fire franchise, backed by Portland Trailblazers owner Paul Allen.  Like the Power, the Portland Fire lasted only three seasons folding after the 2002 season.

 

Portland Power Shop

 

 

Links

 

American Basketball League Media Guides

American Basketball League Programs

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