188:, a power forward, averaged 23.3 points per game. Despite all this, the Tornados suffered through a 15–33 season. During the off-season, Stepien moved the team to Jacksonville, Florida and renamed them the Jets. It was a turbulent off-season in general in 1986, as the CBA shrunk to twelve teams. This franchise would move three more times before folding in 1996.
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Pensacola businessman Roger MacDonald and trial attorney Bob
Crongeyer as well as Eli Jacobsen of Columbus, Ohio. Other investors included Pensacolians Joe Mooney, Frank Adams, Vince Whibbs and McGuire Martin. With new Director of Basketball Operations Tim Sise and new head coach Gary Youmans, the Tornados showed signs of life led by Tommy Davis and former
249:, forward Bill Nelson and Jerome Henderson. By the end of the season, the Tornados were tearing up their opponents and would return the team to the playoffs with a 28–26 record. In the playoffs, Pensacola crushed the original Tornados franchise, the Mississippi Jets, now located in Biloxi, Mississippi, in a 4–1 run, but were swept by the
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played in the 1983–84 and 1984–85 seasons and started off the 1985–86 season in
Toronto before declining attendance prompted Stepien to move the team to Pensacola mid-season. At the time, the CBA comprised fourteen teams. The newly relocated Tornados' first home game, on January 3, 1986, against the
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The franchise played one more year in
Pensacola, garnered a 27–29 record and barely missed the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. Still, the Tornados led all CBA franchises in NBA call-ups that season, as Tony Dawson, Jim Farmer and Clifford Lett spent time in both the NBA and CBA.
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The Bay State
Bombardiers moved to Pensacola to become the second version of the Tornados. This version began in 1978 as the Harrisburg Hammerheads, then the Maine Lumberjacks, on to Bay State before arriving in Pensacola. The team was purchased and moved to Pensacola by the major investors,
285:. Point guard Mark Wade, who helped pace the Tornados in the 1987–88 season, broke the CBA record for most assists in a season (626). Even though the Tornados earned another playoff berth after finishing 30–24, they were knocked out of the playoffs by the
289:– but not before giving Tulsa at least one loss in the Breakers' eventual playoff championship run. Pensacola trial lawyer Bob Crongeyer and Eli Jacobson remained as the Tornados sole owners and Crongeyer was President of the team.
257:, in four straight semifinal games. After the 1987–1988 season General Manager Tim Sise and head coach Gary Youmans left the Tornados to work with a new expansion team in Columbus, Ohio, that would become the
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In the 1989–1990 season, the
Tornados enjoyed what was to become a team-record 32 games against 24 losses under head coach Joe Mullaney. Four players would receive NBA promotions: small forward
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before the season ended when he was replaced by Center Jerome
Henderson who led the Tornados in rebounding for the rest of the season. Henderson would later receive a 10-day call-up to the
184:, at that time the second-largest crowd to ever attend a CBA contest. Guard Billy Goodwin was the only CBA player to finish in the Top-10 in both scoring and assists that season.
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two games to one, the
Tornados lost another playoff run to the Albany Patroons three games to two in the best-of-five series. Tom and Jane McMillan of
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Missouri guard Adam Dawe joined team. Mark Wade led the CBA in assists (10.8 per game) once again. In March, 1991, team officials were looking at
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who led the team in rebounds. The team finished with a 20–28 record and made the playoffs for the first time. Webster was signed by the NBA
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to a 10-day contract, and then to a second in April. Wade was a first-team CNA All-League selection.
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A slow start hurt the
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bought a CBA franchise for
Toronto in 1983 after threatening to move the
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averaged 25.7 points per game and earned a 10-day call-up to the
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176:Florida Suncoast Stingers, drew 3,611 to the
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93:Harrisburg Hammerheads
201:7'-1" veteran center
71:Bay State Bombardiers
379:"History of the CBA"
356:Rochester, Minnesota
344:Knoxville, Tennessee
231:Los Angeles Clippers
215:Rapid City Thrillers
348:Birmingham, Alabama
317:, older brother of
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169:Cleveland Cavaliers
360:Rochester Renegade
352:Birmingham Bandits
327:Grand Rapids Hoops
275:Providence College
171:to that city. The
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146:Pensacola Tornados
87:Rochester Renegade
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221:1987–1988 season
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125:Team colors
96:(1994–1995)
90:(1992–1994)
84:(1991–1992)
79:(1986–1991)
74:(1983–1986)
68:(1978–1983)
46:Established
392:Categories
366:References
307:Bob McCann
305:, forward
299:Jim Farmer
243:Mark Wade
115:Pensacola
321:forward
111:Location
152:in the
119:Florida
62:History
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54:Folded
36:League
101:Arena
144:The
57:1991
49:1985
40:CBA
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