ABA adds third team to Lone Star State
March 14, 2006 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release
Indianapolis, IN. The American Basketball Association (ABA) today announced the third expansion team in Texas for next season - the Waco Wranglers - under the co-ownership of Coach Ozzie V. Denson and Coach Toni Rae Oppliger. Joe Newman, ABA CEO stated, "We are extremely pleased and excited to have Ozzie and Toni as part of the ABA; they both have tremendous experience in business and basketball and we know that they will make Waco an outstanding organization. And with the Texas Tycoons and Houston Havoc, we have the nucleus of a great Texas rivalry in the making."
Coach Denson added, "We have been looking at the ABA for a couple of years and were disappointed when the Tycoons didn't play this season. But with them back in the league and from what we understand, a couple of others in the works, this is what Toni and I want to do - and Waco is the perfect city for it. I have no doubt that this will be one of the best cities in the ABA."
Denson, a native of Terrell, Texas and a graduate of Texas A&M, has plenty of coaching experience having coached professionally as well as at Mountain View College in Dallas, Akiba Academy of Dallas, Yavnch Academy of Dallas, and Texas Torah Institute of Dallas. He has won two State Championships and 6 I.A.A. Championships. "Team tryouts will start April 1st at 9am to 1pm at the Mountain View College in Dallas, TX. For details, call Coach Denson at 214 727 2903 or eamil coachdenson@yahoo.com. Registration is $100; $125 at the door.
Toni Rae Oppliger (Coach Toni) is a 1985 graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a degree in Physical Education and a coaching emphasis. She played varsity basketball and was selected as the MVP of the NCAA Regional Tournament in 1985. After graduation, Toni went on to play with the Milwaukee Snitz AAU team and played also in Washington DC for the Elites AAU team and was voted All American at the national tournament three time. She has coached boys' basketball at HRCCD in Washington DC as well as at St. Charles HS in Milwaukee. Currently, she is the Athletic Director at Levin Academy in Dallas, where she is also head basketball and volleyball coach. She teams and coaches at Yavneh Academy in Dallas, has been a competitor on American Gladiators and a top contender in ESPN's National Fitness Challenge. And, she is the proud parent of two daughters, Taelor and Tannah Oppliger. "Ozzie and I are extremely pleased to have been given this opportunity. We are going to work very hard to make Texas and Waco very proud of its team," stated Ms. Oppliger. "And we're ready to begin. We'll build the team, the sponsors, the ticket sales, the community relations - we're raring to go."
Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.
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