June 2011

Steele was a standout student athlete at John Carroll and was a two-time Mr. Basketball before becoming a college All American at the University of Alabama. He holds the record for the most assists in a game with 17 and graduated in 3 years with a degree in financial planning. He currently plays basketball professionally in Israel and owns his own player development business.

Walker was part of two state basketball championships during his time at John Carroll. He played basketball at Grambling State before transferring to Birmingham-Southern to play basketball and football. He graduated with a BS in Accounting and Business Administration before going into management in the food service industry. He also owns his own cleaning business.

"We know basketball and know that we can have a competitive team. But we also know the business of basketball and want to make our organization one of the best in the ABA off the court. It will be a fun venture," said Walker.

"Birmingham is one of the great cities in America that doesn't have a professional basketball team of our size," said Newman.

No other details were made known in the announcement from the ABA.

But not everyone in Birmingham is happy about the announcement, however. Former ABA franchise owner Reginald McDaniel, who owned the Birmingham Magicians, believes he still owns the market reservation for Birmingham, not Steele and Walker. McDaniel said he was surprised at the announcement and was not contacted by the league beforehand.

"I have a right to this market. Once you purchase the market, you own the market. We were considering bringing back professional basketball, but probably not in the ABA," McDaniel said.

Newman obviously disagrees with that view and said McDaniel received a one-year grace period to resume playing. When the Birmingham Magicians did not return for the 2006 season, McDaniel automatically forfeited the market. Newman said McDaniel would be readmitted into another market, if that is his desire.

While he believes McDaniel is a good man, Newman thinks McDaniel's legal practice and new marriage prevented him from returning.

McDaniel said the ABA became too unstable by the end of the 2005 season. The Birmingham Magicians made the playoffs their only year, despite having a 5-14 record. McDaniel noted that they played in a ten team division that fell apart as the year progressed, finally ending up with only three of the teams remaining.

"I never had a problem with Joe personally, unlike others, probably because I was a stable organization who he could expect would show up. The biggest problem the ABA had was a lot of people getting a team who can't afford to run them," McDaniel said.

McDaniel, a local attorney, claims he lost more than $100,000 on the Magicians. McDaniel said he knew playing in the ABA would be a risk. "We thought we'd get more support from the city and county. We figured we could make enough money on the gate to manage operations," McDaniel said.

Newman said there are currently around 90 ABA franchises and new teams entering the league must pony up $10,000 to reserve their respective market. "I want them to work hard and if they do that, they'll generate revenue needed to pay for their teams. If for any reason it doesn't work out, it can't be my fault. But I do everything I can to help them because I provide the best, biggest, boldest business plan -- better than the next 30 leagues combined," said Newman.

.Newman claims that 75 percent of the team owners are black or Hispanic. "For 50 years, blacks and Hispanics have been denied an opportunity to own a professional team. I opt on the side of inclusion. If they have the right character, they can produce the revenues and expenses. It's all in how they execute it," Newman said.

The ABA has known many issues since the league resumed play in 2000. One estimate reported over 50 franchises had folded since 2000.

Even so, Newman thinks the talent in the ABA is on par with many of the National Basketball Association's bench players. "We don't have anybody who can match Kobe Bryant or LeBron James or Dwyane Wade. But to even think their players 5 through 12 are better than the ABA players, that's another thing coming. Trust me. It will blow your mind how good the ABA is," Newman said.

McDaniel says he has no regrets, however. "Even though I lost money, it was an experience that was very gratifying to actually run a team. I was living my dream," McDaniel said.

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