ANCHORAGE 1978 NORTHERN DIVISION CHAMPIONS

ANCHORAGE NORTHERN KNIGHTS 1980 CHAMPIONS

Anchorage Northern Knights
EBA 1977-1978
CBA 1978-1982

More than any other team in the league before it, the Anchorage Northern Knights changed the Eastern League forever. For over 30 years, the Eastern League operated on the East Coast, with teams based in the North Atlantic states. Games were played on weekends, and players traveled from their homes and jobs during the week to participate in an evening game on Saturday, an afternoon contest on Sunday, then back home to their families and regular employment.

But when the Anchorage Northern Knights came into existence, it meant that players had to take plane flights to a team 4,000 miles away. It also meant that the Northern Knights team made ONE road trip to play its opponents on the East Coast.

The Northern Knights franchise began in 1977, when a consortium petitioned the Eastern Basketball Association for franchise rights to Anchorage. Originally, the Eastern League Board of Directors thought that the Anchorage consortium wanted EBA teams to play exhibition games in the Last Frontier State. At the time, EBA Commissioner Steven Kauffman was scheduled to be on the West Coast for an August vacation, and an appointment was made to meet with the consortium in Seattle. "I'll never forget calling Publicity Director Howard Balzer on a Friday night," said Kauffman, "and telling him that Anchorage didn't want exhibitions - they wanted a team in the league. There was a stunned silence, but after I explained the arrangements, it was agreed that it was an idea that could be worked out."

At the league meeting, the consortium brought $40,000 of their own money to prove that their city was serious about acquiring a pro basketball team. After EBA comissioner Steven Kauffman made the consortium agree to pay the total cost for each EBA team to fly to Anchorage for a series (and in exchange, the other EBA teams would pay for food and lodging when the Northern Knights came to their cities), by the start of the 1977-78 EBA season, there were nine East Coast teams - and Anchorage.

4,000 people packed the Anchorage West High gymnasium for the Northern Knights' opening game against Wilkes-Barre, and they were in for a show. As the game began, one of the Wilkes-Barre players went up for a dunk - and broke the backboard and the basketball rim, glass falling on the players and the court. A few seconds later, Anchorage's Ron Davis decided to retaliate, leaping for the backboard and obliterating it with a two-hand jam. It took two hours for replacement backboards to be located and installed - but very few of the 4,000 attendees left that game, which Anchorage won 117-112.

Backed by the strong play of All-Stars Ron Davis and Dean Tolson, the Northern Knights finished their first season atop the Western Division, posting a 24-7 record. They also experienced their first playoff action, losing to Lancaster in a best-of-five semifinal matchup.

The successful first season of the Northern Knights caught the attention of members of the Western Basketball Association, a new league with teams geographically closer to Anchorage than were teams in the Eastern League. At first, the WBA attempted to convince the Northern Knights' ownership group to jump leagues - with no success. An attempt to merge the EBA and WBA into one league also failed - but only because all the WBA teams folded into bankruptcy before the merger could be completed.

As the EBA converted into the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the Northern Knights remained a dominant team on the court, and constant sellouts at Anchorage West High School allowed the team to move their games to the larger Anchorage Civic Auditorium. Davis and Tolson remained with the team, and scoring help came from such players as Stan Pietkiewicz and Rickey Lee. Even with a 27-22 record, the Northern Knights finished the season in second place - and went to the playoffs once again. Anchorage defeated Wilkes-Barre in the semifinals to face the Rochester Zeniths, an expansion squad that joined the CBA from the All-American Basketball Alliance. In the best-of-seven competition, Rochester won the first three games at home - then took the fourth in Anchorage, a complete sweep.

In the Knights' third league season, everything clicked. Ron Davis led the league in scoring for the second consecutive year, and was voted the CBA's Most Valuable Player; while Brad Davis (no relation) became the league's "Newcomer of the Year." Although Anchorage came up second to Rochester in the regular season, the two teams met once again in the CBA championship; this time the Alaskans won in a tightly contested seven-game battle, bringing Anchorage its first ever professional sports championship.

In the 1980-81 season, Anchorage no longer had to make the single road trip throughout the league - it had opponents in Alberta, Billings and Great Folls, Montana, who with Anchorage were now the four-team Western Division. The Knights came in second in the Western Division, and were quickly upended by the Billings Volcanos in the playoffs.

Anchorage's final campaign in the CBA, the 1981-1982 season, saw the once-dominant ballers from the Last Frontier stumble out of the gate. Anchorage's top player, Brad Branson, did receive the Most Valuable Player award at the 1982 CBA All-Star Game; but a few days later, he received a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, leaving the Northern Knights to fend for themselves. Ron Davis was once again the CBA's leading scorer, but his points couldn't translate into wins, and the Knights finished the season in last place in the four-team division - they actually had a better win-loss record than the third-place Alberta Dusters, but thanks to the new 7-point playoff scoring system, the Northern Knights landed in the cellar for the first time in their history.

Sadly, at the end of the 1981-82 season, the Northern Knights closed the franchise down; attandance had dropped considerably in the last two years since the 1980 CBA championship; and a return to Anchorage West High School was only effectuated after the team could not sell enough season tickets to remain in the Civic Auditorium.

             W   L  PCT   GB     Result
1977-1978   24   7  .774  --     lost semifinals
1978-1979   27  22  .551   9.5   lost CBA championship
1979-1980   29  16  .644   1.5   Won CBA Championship
1980-1981   25  17  .595   2     lost in semifinals

             W   L   QW     QP   Result
1981-1982   14  32  72.0  114.0  not in playoffs

1977-1978 Lost in semifinals to Lancaster, 2 games to 3
1978-1979 Won in semifinals over Wilkes-Barre, 3 games to 1
          Lost in CBA Championship to Rochester, 0 games to 4
1979-1980 Won in semifinals over Hawaii, 3 games to 2
          Won CBA Championship over Rochester, 4 games to 3
1980-1981 Lost in semifinals to Billings, 1 game to 2
1981-1982 Did not make playoffs