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Team and League History

January 11, 2001
It is announced that a team known as the Birmingham Power will compete in the inaugural season of the newly formed National Women's Basketball League.

Other cities in the league include Atlanta, Kansas City, Mobile, and New York.

The season will be 20 games over 12 weeks. Eight home games will be played at Hoover High School, UAB Arena, and Fair Park's Bill Harris Arena. A championship game is scheduled to be played on April 28th.

One of the principal owners of the Power is Wenonah High School girl's basketball head coach Emmanuel Bell. "We just feel we're going to be successful with it and my feelings ain't ever failed me yet. Girls basketball is up and coming and I feel Birmingham should have one because we get involved with our sports - the XFL, Steeldogs, hockey. Semi-pro girls basketball should be here. We're going to get our just due. We're looking at 500 to 700 people in the stands a night, paid people."

Gerard and Denise Johnson are the other principal owners of the Power.

Top salary for players in the league will be $4,000 a season.

Former University of Alabama assistant women's basketball coach Pat Charity was named head coach. "This is a business. That's one of the reasons we chose coach Charity. This is not just some upscale recreational program," Denise Johnson said.

Originally, a different ownership group was granted a franchise for Birmingham last June. However, they dropped out of the league in November and the Johnsons took the franchise option over in December.

xxx
	Head coach Pat Charity

The NWBL was founded by Patrick Alexander in 1997 to give women the chance to compete on a national level in semi-pro basketball. "We have well over 800 players in 25 cities that play in NWBL Division I, II, and III. It provides everyone a chance to play. In the past three years, many of our players have been drafted by the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association). It was only a matter of time to take the next step to provide a professional division for the top echelon of players, not only in our league but across the country," Alexander said.

The league requires each franchise to put up roughly $100,000 to cover player salaries and other expenses. Declining to name their investors, Denise Johnson said, "I'm about 60-70% on verbal commitments. It's just a matter that I've got to close the deals out. It's definitely going to happen. Definitely."

January 27, 2001
The NWBL completes its first player draft. The draft was later in the month than scheduled because more WNBA players had expressed a desire to play than was originally anticipated. However, there was confusion as to exactly which WNBA players wanted to play. The NWBL's goal is to now have three WNBA players on each team.

"We're still in the process of trying to put together a team. We don't have a complete team but we do have a team and we'll try to get a roster of twelve. At the moment, the Birmingham Power has one WNBA player so we're still trying to draft two more. As they come in, I guess we'll have the opportunity. The other teams have three and I guess they're all set with their twelve man roster," Charity said.

The league decides that the Houston and New York franchises are not viable to begin play and are dropped.

February 2001

		2001           National Women's Basketball League
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Atlanta Justice		Birmingham Power		Kansas City Legacy		Mobile Majesty

2001   National Women's Basketball League

Atlanta Justice

Birmingham Power

Kansas City Legacy

Mobile Majesty

April 22, 2001
The Birmingham Power advance to the NWBL's Pro Cup championship game, but lose to the Atlanta Justice 90-75.

August 2001
During the league's summer meetings, Chicago and Springfield are granted franchises. Mobile's owners plan to move their franchise to San Jose, California.

November 2001
The San Jose owners decline to start a team and the league grants Houston a franchise.

December 26, 2001
Johnson announces that Curtis Oden will be the Power's head coach for the 2002 season.

Charity left the Power to become head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Nevada - Las Vegas.

February 2002

			2002                             National Women's Basketball League
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Atlanta Justice		Birmingham Power		Chicago Blaze		Houston Stealth		Kansas City Legacy
	Springfield Spirit

2002   National Women's Basketball League

Atlanta Justice

Birmingham Power

Chicago Blaze

Kansas City Legacy

Houston Stealth

Springfield Spirit

April 2002
The league adds franchises in Tennessee and Grand Rapids while the Atlanta and Kansas City franchises fold.

February 10, 2003
Alexander announces the Power will play the 2003 season without a local owner.

The league will assume responsibility for the team as well as look for potential local investors. "We're on a franchise program. As opposed to closing or moving the team, we're looking for an owner in Birmingham for the 2004 season," Alexander said. 

		2003                          National Women's Basketball League
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Birmingham Power		Chicago Blaze		Grand Rapids Blizzard		Houston Stealth		Springfield Spirit
	Tennessee Fury

2003   National Women's Basketball League

Birmingham Power

Chicago Blaze

Grand Rapids Blizzard

Houston Stealth

Springfield Spirit

Tennessee Fury

April 2003
The league adds a franchise in Colorado.

May 2003
The Grand Rapids franchise folds.

December 2003
New owners move the Tennessee franchise to Dallas.

September 24, 2003
At a press conference at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Lucien Blankenship is announced as the new majority owner of the Power. Blankenship is a local lawyer and his ownership group, Sports Strategies LLC, will be minority owners.

Blankenship and his group paid the league $600,000 to own the Power. Under the four year deal, the league will receive $150,000 each year. Blankenship says they have already spent more than that establishing a front office.

"I just happened to go out to a game one time and saw Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson, Michelle Snow, all the top WNBA players right here in Birmingham and nobody knew about it. We thought that something that exciting in Birmingham and nobody knew about it was a travesty," Blankenship said.

Blankenship intends to make the Power a more visible part of the city with players, cheerleaders, and a dance squad that makes frequent public appearances. "You don't wait on people to buy tickets. You create relationships and opportunities to make them want to be a part of what you're doing, and they'll buy tickets."

Sports Strategies is negotiating with the city to possibly play home games at Boutwell Municipal Auditorium.

xxx
	Head coach Dee Stokes

"We're going to make this team extremely fan friendly and recognizable to the community. We're going to make the team a resource to the city. We want Birmingham to feel the Power," Blankenship said.

December 2, 2003
At a weekly Jefferson County Commission meeting, Dee Stokes is introduced as the Power's new head coach.

Stokes played at Wake Forest and North Carolina-Charlotte before becoming an assistant coach at UAB, Murray State, Texas A&M, and Nebraska. She was also the head coach at East Carolina for three and a half seasons. While at ECU, Stokes' record was 50-52 before she left the school. "We weren't doing well. We weren't having a good year and I wasn't used to that."

However, reports at the time indicated that Stokes was removed for "personal matters". During the 2001-02 season, Stokes locked the players out of the team's locker room. Stokes disputes the reports, saying, "At one point we weren't playing well and we did stop them from using their locker room. But we didn't lock them out. We dressed in another room, initially another locker room, and then another room."

Stokes said the Power players shouldn't worry about her using that kind of tactic on them. "I think you motivate at the professional level a bit differently than you motivate at the collegiate level."

January 2004

		2004                          National Women's Basketball League
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Birmingham Power		Chicago Blaze		Colorado Chill		Dallas Fury		Houston Stealth
	Springfield Spirit

2004   National Women's Basketball League

Birmingham Power

Chicago Blaze

Colorado Chill

Dallas Fury

Houston Stealth

Springfield Spirit

March 21, 2004

xxx
	Head coach Martin Clapp

A third of the way through the season, Power assistant coach Martin Clapp is elevated to head coach after Dee Stokes steps down for health reasons.

"Dee took a leave of absence because of ulcers and things. It's important for her to stay healthy and get healthy. We sat down and talked, and it just wasn't worth it for her to come back for three or four games," Clapp said.

Clapp was women's basketball head coach at the University of Louisville from 1989 to 1991. The three years before that, he was co-head coach at Louisville with his wife. Clapp resigned from Louisville for 'personal reasons'. During his time with the Cardinals, he won two Conference USA titles and advanced to post-season play four times.

Stokes will continue the help the Power stage clinics and work in other areas but won't return to the bench.

June 2004
An expansion franchise is granted to Lubbock, Texas.

August 2004
The Springfield franchise folds.

October 2004
An expansion franchise is granted to San Jose, California.

December 2004
After three years and two NWBL Championships, the Houston Stealth fold.

January 2005

			2005                          National Women's Basketball League
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Birmingham Power		Chicago Blaze		Colorado Chill		Dallas Fury		Lubbock Hawks
	San Jose Spiders

2005   National Women's Basketball League

Birmingham Power

Chicago Blaze

Colorado Chill

Dallas Fury

Lubbock Hawks

San Jose Spiders

August 2005
San Diego joins the league as an expansion franchise.

September 2005
The Dallas and Lubbock franchises fold.

October 2005
The Chicago franchise announces it won't field a team in 2006.

December 2005
After five years the Birmingham Power fold. While no official announcement was made by team officials or the National Women's Basketball League, the lack of local fan interest appeared to be the major cause.

Epilogue
The National Women's Basketball League went on to play another season but ceased operations in June 2006. The lack of proper financing by each team was cited as the main reason.

Champions of the   National Women's Basketball League
Year	Team
2001	Atlanta Justice
2002	Houston Stealth
2003	Houston Stealth (2nd)
2004	Dallas Fury
2005	Colorado Chill
2006	Colorado Chill (2nd)

	Years local team participated

			Teams of the                          National Women's Basketball League
xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx		xxx
	Atlanta Justice 2000 to 2002		Birmingham Power 2001 to 2005		Chicago Blaze 2002 to 2005		Colorado Chill 2004 to 2006		Dallas Fury 2004 to 2005
	Grand Rapids Blizzard 2003		Houston Stealth 2002 to 2004		Kansas City Legacy 2001 to 2002		Lubbock Hawks 2005		Mobile Majesty 2001
	San Diego Siege 2006		San Francisco Legacy 2006		San Jose Spiders 2005 to 2006		Springfield Spirit 2002 to 2004		Tennessee Fury 2003

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Last update: November 20, 2023