World Basketball League

From Hoopedia

World Basketball League or WBL was a minor professional basketball league in the United States and Canada. It was founded as the International Basketball Association in November 1987; the name was changed before the 1988 season.

The distinguishing characteristic of the WBL was its height restriction. Players over 6-foot-5 were not allowed to play; this restriction was raised to 6-foot-7 in 1992. The league folded in 1992.

Hall-of-Famer and Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy was one of the founders. Norm Drucker, a 25-year veteran referee with the National Basketball Association and American Basketball Association, and a former supervisor of officials for the NBA, served as the WBL's supervisor of officiating.

One of the league's founders, Michael Monus, was eventually convicted of embezzling $10 million to finance the league from a publicly-owned company he had founded, Phar-Mor. He was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison.

In addition to games against other teams in the league, games were also played against international teams.

The league had several of its games broadcast on television. In Canada, the games were broadcast on the CanWest Global System. In the United States, the games were broadcast on SportsChannel America.