The Vermont Frost Heaves were a professional basketball team in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, United States, that last played in the

Premier Basketball League The Premier Basketball League, often abbreviated to the PBL, is an American professional men's basketball minor league that began play in January 2008. The league folded after the 2017 season. It was announced that the league would be revived un ...

, last coached by Joe Salerno.

History

The formation of the team was announced in December 2005 by founding owner

Alexander Wolff Alexander Wolff is a writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' and former owner of the Vermont Frost Heaves of the Premier Basketball League (PBL). He has written several books about basketball, among them ''Big Game, Small World'' (), a look at basketb ...

, a

Cornwall, Vermont Cornwall is a town in Addison County, Vermont, United States. It was founded November 3, 1761. The population was 1,207 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Geography Cornwall is located in south-central Addison County, in the Champlain ...

, resident and writer for ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''. The Heaves were originally part of 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, ...

from 2006 through 2008. They were the ABA Champions in the 2006–07 and the 2007–2008 seasons, under head coach Will Voigt. The team is named for the

frost heaving Frost heaving (or a frost heave) is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice as it grows towards the surface, upwards from the depth in the soil where freezing temperatures have penetrated in ...

soil displacement known to affect colder climates. The Heaves were formed in 2005, and started playing in the fall of 2006 at the

Auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

Barre Barre or Barré may refer to: * Barre (name) or Barré, a surname and given name Places United States * Barre, Massachusetts, a New England town ** Barre (CDP), Massachusetts, the central village in the town * Barre, New York, a town * Barre (ci ...

, Vermont, and the Memorial Auditorium in

Burlington, Vermont Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...

. The Heaves started off with a 108–100 overtime loss at Quebec City before going on a 5-game win streak with wins over Montreal, Buffalo, Quebec City, and Cape Cod(2). An overtime loss at Strong Island was followed by a seven-game win streak ended by Quebec City in Barre, the team's first-ever home loss. Attendance was between 900 and 1,650 for the games. The team ended the regular season 30–6. On March 29, 2007, the Frost Heaves won the ABA Championship, defeating the

Texas Tycoons The Texas Tycoons were a team of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the World Basketball Association (WBA) based in Dallas. The team began play in the fall of 2004 based in Fort Worth. The Texas Tycoons played their 2007–08 season i ...

143–95. In the 2010 off-season, a group of local fans bought the team, which had been on the verge of collapse, and established a non-profit fan-owned corporation named GO Heaves, Inc. to operate the team. However, on January 26, 2011 (in the midst of the season), GO Heaves announced the team was ceasing operations. Their players were subject to a

dispersal draft A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when their current team ceases to exist or is merged with another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in North America. ...

References

External links

*{{cite web, last1=Wolff, first1=Alexander, title=We Bought a Team, url=https://www.si.com/longform/2015/frost-heaves/index.html, website=Sports Illustrated, access-date=16 May 2015 Alexander Wolff writes about him running the team. Former Premier Basketball League teams Barre (city), Vermont Basketball teams in Vermont Defunct American Basketball Association (2000–present) teams Defunct sports teams in Vermont 2005 establishments in Vermont 2011 disestablishments in Vermont Basketball teams established in 2005 Basketball teams disestablished in 2011 Cornwall, Vermont Sports in Burlington, Vermont