San Diego Conquistadors
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| San Diego Conquistadors | |
 |
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| Conference | none |
| Division | Western Division |
| Founded | 1972 |
| History | San Diego Conquistadors 1972-1975 |
| Arena | Peterson (San Diego State) Gymnasium 1972-1973 Golden Hall 1973-1974 San Diego Sports Arena 1974-1975 San Diego Sports Arena |
| City | San Diego, California |
| Team Colors | Yellow & Red (The Q's) |
| Owner | Leonard Bloom (The Q's) (1972-1975) Frank Goldberg |
| Head Coach | K.C. Jones (1972-1973) Wilt Chamberlain (1973-1974) Alex Groza Beryl Shipley (1974-1975) Bill Musselman |
| Championships | None |
| Conference Titles | None |
| Division Titles | None |
The San Diego Conquistadors, nicknamed the "Q's", were an American Basketball Association team based in San Diego, California. They were the only expansion team in the history of the ABA. The team played from 1972 to 1975. They were replaced in the ABA by the San Diego Sails.
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[edit] History
[edit] San Diego Conquistadors The Q's
The franchise was founded by Leonard Bloom. But a feud between Bloom and Peter Graham, proprietor of the city-owned, the 14,400 seat San Diego Sports Arena, led Graham to lock the newborn team out of the facility for two years. By the time the conflict was resolved in the fall of 1974, it was too late for a weakened franchise that had been forced to play, in the interim, at such bandboxes as Peterson Gym (3,200 seats) and Golden Hall, a mere ballroom.
After reaching the playoffs in their inaugural season, the Q's seemingly pulled off a coup by paying the Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain $600,000 to play and coach in 1973-74. But the Los Angeles Lakers sued to block their former star from playing for his new team; relegated to a sideline role, Chamberlain was reduced to an indifferent, 7-foot-1-inch sideshow who once skipped a game in favor of an autograph session for his recently published autobiography. (His fill-in, on that and other occasions, was Stan Albeck, who later skippered the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets of the NBA.) Nonetheless, the team again reached the postseason, bowing out in the first round for the second year in a row.
For their third and final season in 1974-75 the Conquistadors lost Chamberlain and finally gained their place in the San Diego Sports Arena. But without Chamberlain as a gate attraction, the team was roundly ignored by San Diegans, and placed last in the Western Division.
[edit] Replacement
Bloom sold the franchise during the summer of 1975 to Frank Goldberg, a former co-owner of the successful Denver Nuggets franchise. He renamed the team the San Diego Sails for 1975-1976, hired the former University of Minnesota coach Bill Musselman and overhauled the roster, hoping to repeat Denver's turnaround, in 1974-75, from mediocrity to championship contender.
