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ABA to play in Minneapolis/St. Paul this season

September 28, 2006 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release


Indianapolis, IN. The American Basketball Association (ABA) today announced that it has added Minneapolis/St. Paul to the league that begins play in November. According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, "The father and son team of John J. (Jack) Jurewicz and William (Billy) Jurewicz is a rare combination. A tremendous background in sports, business, promotion and community involvement makes them well qualified to own and operate an ABA team. In a very short time, they have put together an extraordinary organization and have made remarkable progress. They will be 100% ready to jump ball this fall. And we are extremely pleased to have them as part of the ABA."

Jack is President of JJJ Group Inc., a business consulting and advisory firm focusing on sales and marketing services for medium sized companies as well as President and CEO of Senior Care Advisors LLC which manages more than 50 independent contractors. A sales and marketing specialist who has operated a sales and marketing division of a Fortune 500 company, Jack understands the business of basketball as a former Marquette University player. "I can't tell you how excited we are. This will be fun and challenging and we will turn some heads. We are moving quickly," said Jurewicz.

Billy is the founder, CEO and Creative Director of space150, a full service interactive agency that generates digital income for its clients. After graduating from Marquette University, he entered the ad agency business and returned to Minneapolis in 1998 where he worked at Fallon Worldwide and created advertising campaigns for accounts like Starbucks, Miller Lite, EDS and Lee Jeans. He has also worked on McDonalds, Sheraton Hotels and Aloha Airlines. Today space150's clients include the Discover Channel, Best Buy, the NBA, Target Corp and American Express. "Working with my Dad on this project is a dream come true. Together we hope to create something totally unique in professional sports - starting with our name - THE MINNESOTA RIPKNEES."

When asked about the name, Billy answered, "When I was a kid, My Dad used to kill time on road trips by telling us "ripknee" stories. Ripknee was an imaginary hero, like Underdog, who wore ripped jeans and would use his "golden knee" to save the world. We all ran around with rips in our jeans as kids, esp. the knee, hence the name.

Ripknee would use his knee to weld the hole in the Titanic, or melt the snow from a blizzard so a town was saved (maybe he could even fix a Frost Heave Alex). When we would go see Mt. Rushmore, my Dad said the faces were Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington and Ripknee. It was awesome. So in that spirit, we're calling the team the Minnesota Ripknees. The mascot will have ripped jeans, good as can be. Kids can wear ripped kneepads..the team will bust through a ripped canvas before each gamne...You can imagine how hot the dance team will be with the ripped knee theme! If the Tarheels can gain a following, so can the Ripknees who will be "ripping it up" this fall. It will be good family fun entertainment for little $$."

For more informaton, email jjjgroup@comcast.net, call 651 291 9112 or 651 307 6262 or email lindsay.wenner@space150.com or call 612 460 2803 or visit www.abalive.com.

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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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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