From Feds to Storm: Good, bad and ugly
IT seems an age since Derby was one of the centres of top-class basketball in Britain.
Though the Trailblazers club has since done an outstanding job of keeping the sport alive in the city, it is almost two decades since Derby competed at the highest level of the professional game but, for the fans, players – and journalists – who shared those times, the memories are as fresh as ever.
For 16 years, Derby Basketball Club – through its many name changes – clung improbably to life in the top division of the British league, usually lurching hand to mouth from one financial crisis to another.
The constant uncertainty of its continued existence resulted from and, no doubt, contributed to its failure to ever really become established as one of the true trophy contenders but that also created an underdog club whose loyal core of supporters relished every small triumph and, in turn, nurtured the electric atmosphere that made Moorways nights so special.
Mickleover journalist Steve Orme recalls the good, the bad and the ugly from those times in his book Chasing a Dream, an expanded update of the history he published in 1998 which, this time, traces the evolution of the club from the birth of Derby Feds in 1976 to the demise of Derby Storm in 2002.
It includes an exclusive interview with Nick Nurse, who began his coaching career with Derby Rams as a 23-year-old in 1990 and went on to coach the NBA champion Toronto Raptors to glory in 2019.
One of his predecessors in Derby reveals Nurse was not first choice for the job.
Orme discovers what happened to some of the coaches and players who played for Derby, such as the American who is serving a life sentence in prison for murdering his exgirlfriend.
Mike Horton, owner of the Storm in its later years, tells the untold story of his seven years in charge, revealing some of the tactics he employed to ensure the team could compete with their richer opponents.
“This story needs to be told now because so much of it is disappearing,” said Orme.
“Moorways, where the club played for 15 years, has been knocked down. So too has the Thunderdome, where the Storm played in their last few seasons when Derby were the only club to have their own, purpose-built arena.
“It’s a fascinating story, from the excitement of beating the league champions Thames Valley to qualify for the play-off championships at Wembley and reaching the uniball trophy final to the ugly scenes of a huge fight in a game against Leopards and a fixture at Chester being abandoned after only 28 seconds because of a mass brawl. “Some of the people involved with basketball in Derby went to extraordinary lengths to keep their dream alive.” Chasing a Dream will be released on November 28, priced £18.99. Anyone who reserves a copy by November 11 will get it at the special discount price of £15.99. The book is available at www.steveorme.co.uk.