Friday Flashback: Anchorage Northern Knights


Team:  Anchorage Northern Knights
Home:  Anchorage, Alaska
Sport:  Basketball
Leagues:  Eastern Basketball Association, Continental Basketball Association
Years Active:  1977-1982
Home Arena:  West Anchorage High School Gymnasium
Head Coaches: Bill Klucas (1977-1981), Freeman Blade/Clair Markey (1981-1982)
Best Players:  Brad Davis, Ron Davis, Steve Hawes and Tico Brown

The Anchorage Northern Knights were the first professional sports team to play in Alaska.  Oddly enough, they joined the Eastern Basketball Association (EBA) in a bizarre situation as they were 5,000 miles away from the closest EBA team.  This created some unique logistics with scheduling.  In the first two seasons, the Knights began their regular season with a long homestand and then a grueling mid-season bus ride to every other team in the league and then finished the season with another long homestand.  In fact, they had the longest recorded road trip in professional sports history during the 1979-1980 season when they traveled by bus around the United States playing 16 games in 31 days.

The Northern Knights played their first game on November 19, 1977, with a 117-112 win over the Wilkes-Barre Barons.

They won Alaska's first professional sports championship in their third season defeating Rochester in seven games.

The most notable player was Brad Davis who played for the Northern Knights the first two season and later played 12 seasons for the Dallas Mavericks.

Financial issues plagued the team.  In the first two seasons, the Northern Knights had to pay for other teams to fly to Anchorage and foot the bill for the other teams' expenses.  Over the next three seasons, the league and other teams subsidized the Anchorage franchise but, in the summer of 1982, the owners decided that the team should pay for travel to/from Seattle.   In addition to the travel expenses, the team owner was arrested in a pyramid scheme.  The franchise was sold back to the CBA for $100,000 and was disbanded.

The Northern Knights' last game was played on March 14, 1982, losing to the Montana Golden Nuggets 130-119.

Season: 1977-1978
League:  Eastern Basketball Association
Record:  24-7
Finish: 1st
Playoffs:
Semifinals - Lost to Lancaster Red Roses, 3 games to 2

Season:  1978-1979
League:  Eastern Basketball Association
Record:  27-22
Finish:  2nd
Playoffs:
Semifinals - Defeated Wilkes-Barre Barons, 3 games to 1
Final - Lost to Rochester Zeniths, 4 games to 0

Season:  1979-1980
League:  Continental Basketball Association
Record:  29-16
Finish:  2nd
Playoffs:
Semifinals - Defeated Hawaii Volcanos, 3 games to 1
Final - Defeated Rochester Zeniths, 4 games to 3

Season:  1980-1981
League:  Continental Basketball Association
Record:  25-17
Finish:  2nd
Playoffs:
Semifinals - Lost to Billings Volcanos, 2 games to 1

Season:  1981-1982
League:  Continental Basketball Association
Record:  14-32
Finish:  4th
Playoffs:  None

For more details about the Anchorage Northern Knights, please visit Anchorage Northern Knights • Fun While It Lasted





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