DENVER — While the Denver Summit FC is the first professional women’s soccer team in Denver, it’s important to look back 30 years at the Colorado Xplosion, the first professional women’s sports team in the Mile High City.
A viewer named Maggie emailed Dever7 to remind us all of the history of the Colorado Xplosion, a professional basketball team based in Denver from 1996 to 1998.
The Colorado Xplosion competed in the American Basketball League, ABL. The team split their time playing at the Denver Coliseum and the McNichols Sports Arena, which closed when the Nuggets and Avalanche moved to Ball Arena. It was demolished in 2000.
Former Player Shelley Sheetz is now the assistant coach of the CU Women’s Basketball Team. She has held on to her old jerseys, a signed ball from the team, and other memorabilia that remind her of her time playing for the Xplosion.
“It was a really great time for women's basketball, and the fans were thirsting for a Women's League,” Sheetz said. “We had some players in our league, they were so good.”
The Xplosion won the Western Conference title in 1997.
While the ABL got off the ground before the WNBA they couldn’t compete with the WBNA’s financial resources and abruptly filed bankruptcy.
“We played during the NBA basketball season. We played during the NFL season. So getting TV time was a huge challenge for our market, not just here in Colorado, but all the markets for the teams in the ABL,” Sheetz said.
Many of the players, like Sheetz, went on to play for the WNBA. Sheetz was drafted to the Seattle Storm and then played for the LA Sparks before retiring and becoming a coach.
“I've seen it all, and it's been exceptional to see the growth of women's basketball itself, not only from the collegiate level, but with the WNBA,” Sheetz said. “Just to see these young women grow and have the trials and tribulations, but also see their successes.”
It was a short run for the ABL, but fans haven’t forgotten the impact teams like Colorado Xplosion had on women’s sports.
