Ez Street Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 AAPBL in jeopardyTopeka coach Jordan among employees terminatedBy Joey BerlinThe Capital-JournalThe All American Professional Basketball League may be finished before it even begins.A three-sentence e-mail attributed to league president Worth Christie was sent out Monday afternoon stating, "I have been instructed by the board of directors of the AAPBL to immediately cut all outgoing financial obligations. Therefore we have to terminate all employeees (sic) immediately. We are persuing (sic) other options."The 10-team league was to include the Topeka Tornado, led by general manager Nikki Waterbury and vice president and coach Adonis Jordan. The AAPBL's summer league concluded July 23 with a protection draft held the previous day in Billings, Mont.Waterbury and Jordan said they hadn't spoken to Christie as of early Monday night, and messages left for Christie weren't returned.Gary Widup, the league's chief financial officer, only confirmed that the e-mail was valid. He emphasized that the e-mail didn't say the league had folded.Waterbury and Jordan, both of whom had made plans to move to the Topeka area, said they were surprised by the news. Waterbury, living in Wichita, said she received "a barrage of phone calls" asking her if she had heard anything about the league, then got the news when the e-mail was forwarded to her. She said she didn't know anything more than what was contained in the e-mail."The league's not answering the phone. Worth's not answering his cell phone. They're not returning e-mail messages," Waterbury said.Jordan, who was married Saturday and is living in Las Vegas, said he was angry with Monday's developments. He said he had potential opportunities to take assistant coaching positions with "small schools on the West Coast" but that he passed them up for the top job in Topeka.He said he heard about the terminations from Cliff Levingston, the coach of the Billings Rims, who had spoken to Christie earlier in the day."He said they calculated money wrong, something with the finances, they're closing shop, they're going to pull the plug," Jordan said.Levingston, reached Monday night, said he had spoken briefly to Christie twice Monday and that he had been told the league was being shut down for financial reasons. He said he was waiting until today to get more answers."It's not registering to me," Jordan said. "How can you run out of money when we haven't had a game yet? Just to say the money's coming up short, I'm not buying that."Jordan and Waterbury said they were unaware of the existence of a league board of directors, as mentioned in the e-mail."I don't know who those people are," Waterbury said."I didn't know there was one, either," Jordan said. "Every time I spoke to Worth Christie, he made it seem like he was the man, that everything was on his name."Kris Schindler, the league's independently contracted media contact, said she heard the news "from a coach who had gotten word from another coach." She also said she was unaware the AAPBL had a board of directors."I'm completely in the dark on that one," she said.Waterbury and Jordan said they wanted the people of Topeka to know that it was the league, not them, who appears to have pulled the plug on pro basketball in Topeka. Both had expressed excitement about starting their new jobs."I would not have left a nearly 10-year career in radio to come into this situation," Waterbury said.Jordan said that if the league can work something out, he would consider rejoining it."But I would definitely cross all the T's, dot all the I's, make sure I was paid up to each day," he said.Asked if she would consider rejoining the league, Waterbury said with a laugh, "Absolutely not." @DavidStreeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gashouser27 Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Another basketball minor league bites the dust Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appleclock Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Nevermind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ez Street Posted August 2, 2005 Author Share Posted August 2, 2005 Topeka should just join the Northern League or something... Well if the Tornado played Baseball...... @DavidStreeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
appleclock Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Topeka should just join the Northern League or something... Well if the Tornado played Baseball...... My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ez Street Posted August 2, 2005 Author Share Posted August 2, 2005 it's all good. Too many ABC leagues out there.But........Northern League......could be...... @DavidStreeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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