AAPBL Might not be done - you got to be kidding me!

[Tha Man*]

Who would want to go back and work for the AAPBL?

"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 employees immediately," Christie wrote.

But Christie said that stopping expenses and firing the league's 17 or 18 employees, including coaches, did not mean that it had folded.

"The best thing we could do was to cut off spending," he said. "We don't know if we're out of business."

Seriously how can you not know?

[minorleagueball]

They're done.

[B@LL3R]

This is unconfirmed but I heard Worthless Christie has suckered some poor guy into investing in AAPBL. He is going to keep a few of his staff and is asking coaches to come back and work for him. Some of the coaches are actually weak enough to say yes. I guess they think that is the only way to get their money from him. The plan is to play enough games to be able to pay back the debts. If this happens I suggest we start an AAPBL boycott.

[minorleagueball]

The guy just won't roll over and go away.

[B@LL3R]

I can understand he feels like he needs to save face but this is ridiculous. Would the arenas even take a chance on this guy? Seems like he can't even balance his checkbook and has no control over his business. I can't believe any of the employees would go back to work for him but I guess some of them are. And what about the point of view of a player? Are there any players out there that would give this a shot? I'd be afraid I'd be 1000 miles from home when Worthless pulls the plug again and would be stuck with a hotel bill and not enough money to take the bus home. Seriously, someone is going to invest time and money into a Worthless venture?

[B@LL3R]

Ron Powell: UNK coach not shocked by Generals' demise

When Tom Kropp read the obituary for the All-American Professional Basketball League in last Tuesday's newspaper, all the Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball coach could do was shake his head in wonderment and chuckle.

"I could certainly relate to what that poor coach was going through," Kropp said, referring to Lincoln Generals coach Mark Berokoff, a California native who had gotten as close as North Platte with his family in the car when he got word on Aug. 1 that league president and Wyoming businessman Worth Christie had pulled the plug.

In 1979, Kropp signed a contract to be the head coach of the Nebraska Stars, a franchise in the new Midwest Basketball Association (MBA). The team was slated to play half of its games in Lincoln and the other half in Omaha. The former NBA player and Kearney State all-American attended press conferences in both cities in mid-May to announce the team.

Kropp's contract called for a yearly coaching salary of $27,000, plus $100 per game for every game he was on the active roster as a player. The entire $27,000 was to be forwarded by the league into an escrow account at an Omaha bank on Aug. 1.

He never saw the money. The MBA folded two or three days before Aug. 1.

"I never got a phone call or anything. I think I read about it (the league folding) in the paper,'' Kropp recalled.

The founder and president of that league — none other than Worth Christie, who was then a Texas oilman.

"I had some doubts about him,'' Kropp said of Christie. "He kept telling me ‘This is going to be just like the NBA.' But I'd been in the NBA, and I knew better.''

Kropp got a red flag about Christie's financial condition when he had to pay for Christie's hotel room in Omaha prior to the press conference there. Christie never repaid him.

"I wasn't confident I would have that $27,000 in the account, and sure enough, I was right," Kropp said.

Kropp was 27 at the time. He had finished his master's degree at Kearney State in the spring of 1979 and was looking for coaching positions when the MBA came calling. A week after the MBA was dead and buried, Kropp resurrected his playing career in Belgium, where he spent the next four years.

"I wasn't out anything because I didn't have anything going at the time," Kropp said. "I felt sorry for the people who had given up a lot to be part of that league. He (Christie) had hired a successful coach at Drury University who gave it credibility, and all of a sudden, he's out of a job."

For all of Christie's financial shortcomings, he does have a knack of recognizing talented people to run his operations. Like Kropp 26 years ago, Christie made two high-quality hires in Berokoff and Matt Starr, the Generals' general manager.

After the AAPBL collapse, Starr has been instrumental in building a bridge between the Generals and Omaha owner Michael Jefferson, who's on the verge of taking over the team and bringing it into the American Basketball Association. He's also working tirelessly to make things right for folks who already have season tickets.

Before that, Starr mounted an all-out public relations campaign to integrate the Generals into the Lincoln sports community and build interest in professional basketball. Until last week, those efforts were bearing fruit.

Unfortunately, Berokoff won't be part of the team if it makes the transition into the ABA for the 2005-06 season, deciding instead to go back to southern California. The former California high school coach of the year guided teams to the state finals and won 200 games in just eight seasons. He was involved in one of the nation's top AAU programs (the Los Angeles Rock Fish) for more than a decade and personally worked with more than 250 kids who went on to play NCAA Division I college basketball.

The 31-year-old's outgoing personality would've been a big plus in getting the community excited about the team. No one locally has the college and NBA contacts Berokoff possesses. Berokoff's connections probably would've insured Lincoln having four or five NBA-level players on the roster, signed just as the final NBA cuts are made.

It's no wonder an owner of an International Basketball League team called me Wednesday, asking for Berokoff's phone number. He was ready to offer Berokoff a head coaching job.

For the Generals to draw fans and be financially viable in a major college town, the team needs two things — recognizable names and superior talent to what the Huskers and the rest of the Big 12 have. Berokoff could've delivered on both counts.

Reach Ron Powell at 473-7437 or rpowell@journalstar.com.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Wow! Worth runs this scam on every new unsuspecting generation.

The arena managers, coaches, and players that were taken for a ride could have been a lot more responsible IMO. At some point, these people should have asked themselves does this all make any sense?

[B@LL3R]

You have to remember most of his employees were pretty recent hires. This other scam was back in the 70's so there's nothing on the Internet about it so it's not like they could find out any more about him than when he went bancrupt. I think the employees were beginning to figure out what was up. All this seemed to fall apart like at only their first or second or third paycheck.

I hope no one does business with this man ever again and that when he reads this (you know he reads these boards) that he realizes his number is up for once and for all. He needs to pay his debts and lay low for the rest of his life (if his ego can handle that).

[nksports]

It sounds like he needs to go to jail for fraud.

[B@LL3R]

I agree but I don't think anyone is doing anything about it. Maybe the employees were in on the deal from the beginning. Seems like the whole issue has died.

[Buscemi]

Are you serious baller?

They all got fired.... for all you know they are getting stuff to file something... that was a absurd comment!

Think before you make comments like that

[minorleagueball]

How 'bout we let the AAPBL die and talk about the other leagues that are out there. Tons of threads on here with no replies but all of the AAPBL have multiple pages :?: :?: :?:

[nksports]

I don't know, the AAPBL has been great drama. It would have been funny if so many lives weren't involved. And it's not too far off a lot of other minor leagues these days.

[B@LL3R]

I don't think we should let it die until Worthless has paid his debts. He's still living in a fantasy world by telling people it's not over yet adn that he's going to breathe new life into the whole deal with the help of a group that owns some arenas. Plus, if we let it die, he's going to do it again at least once more before he dies.

[B@LL3R]

I don't think we should let it die until Worthless has paid his debts. He's still living in a fantasy world by telling people it's not over yet and that he's going to breathe new life into the whole deal with the help of a group that owns some arenas. Plus if we let it die he's going to do it again at least once more before he dies.

[barkley34]

I haven't got much of a life to be here on a Sat., but I have been knee deep in research on Worthless, the league, talking to a LOT of people (IM) as I am doing a book on tjhe minor league hoops and heard some disturbing information from a guy and 4 fellow ballers who are going to dso more then just "get their money" back from this ;piece of S**T. My advice to worthless...............hide. I disagree with these guys that want to literally kill him, but he brought it on himself. These guys want him dead. They need to chill and he needs to find another country. They have tracked him for the past 4 weeks, I hope they are just talking smack,,,we'll see.