The Billings Volcanos were an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team based in

Billings, Montana Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Metrop ...

that was a member of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

. From 1979-80, they were called the Hawaii Volcanos. The team name is spelled "Volcanos," even though the proper plural spelling for volcano would be "volcano''e''s."

Hawaii Volcanos

The franchise began as the Hawaii Volcanos ''(sic)'' in 1979, and placed (rather improbably) in the CBA's North Division with the Anchorage Northern Knights, Rochester Zeniths and Maine Lumberjacks. They played the 1979-80 season at several venues, including the

Neal Blaisdell Center The Neal S. Blaisdell Center is a community center near downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The complex has a multi-purpose arena, concert hall, exhibition hall, galleria, meeting rooms, Waikiki Shell and others. Constructed in 1964 on the historic Wa ...

in Honolulu, the Conroy Bowl at Schofield Barracks, the gymnasium at

Kaimuki High School Kaimuki High School is a WASC-accredited four-year public high school located in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. Kaimuki High School falls under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Department of Education. It is bordered by the Manoa-Palolo Drainag ...

, and two games at the Hilo Civic Auditorium. Led by former

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

star Bobby Wilson with 28.3 points per game, the Volcanos managed a 20-25 record: a fourth-place finish, but good enough to qualify for the conference finals against Anchorage. Due to the tremendous travel costs between the nation's 49th and 50th states, however, the Volcanos agreed to play the entire series in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

(which, ironically, was actually the ''closest'' CBA city to Hawaii, at about 2,700 miles away). After Hawaii won two of the first three games, the Knights stormed back to take the next two and the best-of-five series (Anchorage would go on to win an epic seven-game final against Rochester to take the CBA crown). With attendance disappointing and travel costs very high (most of their opponents were over 5,000 miles from Hawaii), the Volcanos shifted to

for the 1980-81 campaign.

On to Montana

Shifting their home games to the Yellowstone MetraPark in Billings, the Volcanos finished third in the Western Division with a 23-19 mark, then got revenge on Anchorage by knocking them off, two games to one, in the first round of the playoffs; they then succumbed to their in-state rival, the

Montana Golden Nuggets {{Infobox basketball club , name = Montana Golden Nuggets , color1 = #ffffff , color2 = #b79b0e , color3 = #000000 , logo = MontanaGoldenNuggets.png , nickname = , leagues = C ...

, three games to one. Wilson again led the Volcanos in scoring with 28.8 points per game. In 1981-82, Billings won the West with a 32-14 record, topped Montana in the Western finals, three games to one, before losing to the

Lancaster Lightning The Rockford Lightning was a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association. They were based in Rockford, Illinois. History The Lightning were the oldest team in the CBA, originally existing as the Lancaster Red Roses fro ...

, four games to one, in the CBA finals; Marlon Redmond was Billings' top scorer with 25.5 points per game. In 1982-83, Carl Nicks (who had played with

Larry Bird Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend", Bird is widely regarded a ...

on the

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

team that went all the way to the 1979 NCAA championship game) signed with the Volcanos after being released by the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

. Despite Nicks' 26.2 points per game, Billings slipped to 20-24, third in the West, and missed the playoffs. The franchise disbanded over the summer.

Year-by-year

Basketball teams in Montana Continental Basketball Association teams Defunct basketball teams in the United States Sports in Billings, Montana 1980 establishments in Montana 1983 disestablishments in Montana Basketball teams established in 1980 Basketball teams disestablished in 1983 {{Montana-basketball-team-stub