WBL All-Star Game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| World Basketball League All-Star Game | |
|---|---|
| Status | Inactive |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Inaugurated | 1988 |
Most recent | 1991 |
| Organized by | World 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 including Mario Elie, Vincent Askew, Fred Cofield, and Craig Neal played in the All-Star Game. The event was televised by the SportsChannel.
The first edition took place at the Olympic Saddledome of Calgary in Canada on July 7, 1988, in front of 7,000 spectators.[2][3] The second edition was held in Las Vegas in front of 10.550 fans on July 12, 1989.[4] The event was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1991 for its fourth and final edition.
List of games
Bold: Team that won the game.
| Year | Date | Location | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | MVP | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | July 7 | Calgary | West | 131-120 | East |  Jose Slaughter |
 Vancouver Nighthawks |
| 1989 | July 17 | Las Vegas | Las Vegas Silver Streaks | 144-148 | WBL All-Stars | Darryl Kennedy [5] |
Las Vegas Silver Streaks |
| 1990 | July 1 | Youngstown | West | 150-123 | East | Vincent Askew |
Memphis Rockers |
| 1991 | July 10 | Halifax | South | 130-120 | North | Craig Neal |
Florida Jades |
Events
Three-Point Shoot Contest
| Year | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Chip Engelland | Calgary 88's |
| 1989 | Chip Engelland (2) | Calgary 88's |
| 1990 | Fred Cofield | Youngstown Pride |
| 1991 | Fred Cofield (2) | Youngstown Pride |
Slam-Dunk champions
| Year | Player | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Jeff Collins | Las Vegas Silver Streaks |
| 1989 | Willie Bland Tim Legler [a] | Youngstown Pride Youngstown Pride |
| 1990 [6] | Mario Donaldson [7] | Saskatchewan Storm |
| 1991 | Milt Newton | Halifax Windjammers |
Topscorers
| Year | Player | Points | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 |  Zoran Kalpic | 28 | |
Notable participants
WBL All-Stars
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.