The California Heatwave was a professional

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 in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(ABA) team based in Madera, California. The team began play in the fall of 2003 at

Selland Arena Selland Arena is a multi-purpose arena built in 1966 that makes up part of a four-venue complex of the Fresno Convention and Entertainment Center in Fresno, California. It is named after former Fresno mayor Arthur L. Selland and has had over ...

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. The founder of the Fresno Heatwave was Albert Ellis and Richard Hanna. The Fresno Heatwave was coached by Sean Higgins, and its vice president was Janine Nkosi. Originally, the team was called the Fresno Heat, but it was renamed Fresno Heatwave to avoid brand confusion with the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

's Miami Heat.

History

On December 3, 2006, the team officially moved to

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

and became the Sacramento Heatwave. They played at Natomas H.S. Event Center before settling at

Cosumnes River College Cosumnes River College is a public community college in Sacramento, California. It opened in 1970, taking its name from the Cosumnes River which flows just a few miles to the south. As of Spring 2017, enrollment was at 13,091 students at its main ...

. They team moved to play at

Folsom High School Folsom High School is a public secondary school in the western United States, located in Folsom, California, a suburb east of Sacramento. Established in 1922, it is a part of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. School history The first ...

northeast of Sacramento before settling a
West Campus High School
in Sacramento. On October 28, 2013, the Heatwave moved to Madera, California (25 miles northwest of Fresno) and changed its name to the California Heatwave. In November 2014 team owner Reggie Davis announced that the Heatwave was ceasing operations immediately.

References

External links

Official Site

ABA Site
Defunct American Basketball Association (2000–present) teams Basketball teams in Sacramento, California Basketball teams established in 2003 2003 establishments in California 2014 disestablishments in California Sports clubs disestablished in 2004 Madera, California Sports in Fresno, California {{California-basketball-team-stub