World Basketball League All-Star Game
StatusInactive
FrequencyAnnually
Inaugurated1988
Most recent1991
Organized byWorld Basketball League

The WBL All-Star Game was an annual basketball event in the United States, organised by the World Basketball League.[1] It was launched in 1988 and lasted until 1991. The event was held annually and consisted of an all-star game, a three-point shoot contest and slam-dunk exhibition.

Many former NBA players like Mario Elie, Vincent Askew, Fred Cofield, and Craig Neal have played in the All-Star Game. The event was televised by the SportsChannel.

History

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The first edition took place at the Olympic Saddledome of Calgary in Canada on July 7, 1990, in front of 7,000 speactators.[2][3] The second edition was held in Las Vegas in front of 10.550 fans on July 12, 1989.[4] The event returned to Canada in 1991 for its fourth and final edition.

List of games

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Bold: Team that won the game.

Year Date Location Team 1 Score Team 2 MVP Club
1988 July 7 Calgary West 131-120 East United States Jose Slaughter Canada Vancouver Nighthawks
1989 July 17 Las Vegas Las Vegas Silver Streaks 144-148 WBL All-Stars United States Darryl Kennedy [5] United States Las Vegas Silver Streaks
1990 July 1 Youngstown West 150-123 East United States Vincent Askew United States Memphis Rockers
1991 July 10 Halifax South 130-120 North United States Craig Neal United States Florida Jades

Three-Point Shoot Contest

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Year Player Team
1988 United States Chip Engelland Canada Calgary 88's
1989 United States Chip Engelland (2) Canada Calgary 88's
1990 United States Fred Cofield United States Youngstown Pride
1991 United States Fred Cofield (2) United States Youngstown Pride

Slam-Dunk champions

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Year Player Team
1988 United States Jeff Collins United States Las Vegas Silver Streaks
1989 United States Willie Bland
United States Tim Legler [a]
United States Youngstown Pride
United States Youngstown Pride
1990 [6] United States Mario Donaldson [7] Canada Saskatchewan Storm
1991 United States Milt Newton Canada Halifax Windjammers

Topscorers

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Year Player Points Team
1998 United States Kalpic 28

Notable participants

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Former NBA player Chip Engelland was the 3-point contest winner twice.

WBL All-Stars

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The league also had an team of All-Stars. At Christmas of 1989 the All-Stars represented the league in an international tournament hosted by Sunair Oostende in Belgium.[8] In July 1990 the All-Stars toured Italy and recorded 5 wins out of 6 games against professional clubs from six Italian cities.[9][10] Overall in 1990, the All-Star team won tournaments in Holland, the Soviet Union, Finland, France while they were finalists in events in Yugoslavia, Italy and in a European championship.[11] By November 1991, the WBL teams had won around 90 percent of their international matches.

In November 1991, the All-Stars participated in the sixth Merlion Cup in Singapore in a weeklong tournament (against Kiev Stroitel and BC Spartak Leningrad, the Chinese national team, a Canadian all-star team, and teams from Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore) reaching the semifinals.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "World Basketball League (1988-1992)". Fun While It Lasted. Retrieved 2025-01-11.
  2. ^ Sports Digest (1988) - upi.com
  3. ^ Semi Pro Hoops Time Tunnel - curtisjphillips.com
  4. ^ It's a Small WORLD (1989) - vault.si.com
  5. ^ Darryl Kennedy - proballers.com
  6. ^ "1990 WBL World Basketball League 3 Point and Slam Dunk contests from Youngstown Ohio - NBA". youtube.com. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  7. ^ Mario Donaldson - asia-basket.com
  8. ^ Darryl Kennedy scored 19 points to lead the WBL all-star team to a 107-102 victory over VEF Riga of the Soviet Union (1989) -latimes.com
  9. ^ World Basketball League Isn’t Coming Up Short (1990) -latimes.com
  10. ^ Peter Micelli, senior basketball center (1990) -latimes.com
  11. ^ In the WBL, There's One Language: HoopsPARA (1991) - latimes.com

Notes

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  1. ^ In the 1989 the competition were between duos.
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