Story by Mike Shaft
LONDON HERE HE COMES
After Manchester, the next stop for Kevin Cadle was Kingston. Here he managed to retain and recruit one of the most awesome teams ever to have played in the British game.
Over the next few years, names like Bontrager, Davis, Clarke, Byrd and Cunningham would ensure that the Cadle dynasty would take a foothold.
The first triumph came in the National Cup in 1986/87. The runners-up spot in the League and Championship would see him voted Coach of the Year. From there it would be success all the way, culminating in the unbelievable 1991/92 achievement of winning all the domestic trophies and performing the first ever ‘clean sweep’ in the British game.
Kevin Cadle’s record at Kingston was incredible. How could one team be so dominant? Yes they had the money to recruit the best talent, but there must be more.
The more was Kevin Cadle. His ability to win games when all seemed lost is quite unbelievable.
In the end, it has to be said, teams were beaten by Kingston before they even started the game. Their reputation was even bigger than the real thing and when they arrived at your venue, even your fans would sit in awe of the biggest names on the basketball scene.
In the end the bubble would burst as the big-spending Kingston Kings would go out of business.
GOODBYE KINGSTON – HELLO GLASGOW
The team was sold To Glasgow Rangers Football Club and although some of his big name players took the decision not to make the trip North Of The Border, Kevin again managed to put together another awesome squad, and not one team in England relished the trip to Scotland.
The arrival of Kingston/Glasgow meant that at that time there were two teams in Scotland, the other being the awesome, Livingston and, to be honest, Scotland was where the real talent was as they would dominate the British Basketball scene.
At the end of that first season, Glasgow Football Club was taken over by David Murray, owner of the Livingston Basketball team. It meant that David Murray had two basketball clubs This was one too many and Kevin Cadle was on his way back to London.
Read Part 1 of the Kevin Cadle tribute
HERE
In the next and final part of this tribute, I will tell you about his arrival at Guildford and then about his time at the helm of The London Towers.
Steve Bontrager
12 November 2017 at 21:09
Man Mike shaft u are still awesome at what u do brother. I’m not very computer savvy but somehow happened on these tremendous tributes of Kevin and saw pic of my man Big Danny Davis without doubt bar none the greatest player to step foot in England and knew I needed to comment.
Kev, Danny and Cat Johnson came to Tulsa to visit me last summer as I was going through some cancer issues and he was the same magical lovable person as always. Just a damn shame. Renaldo very nice as well. Hope all is well in England and would love to hear from all. Kev job well done my man.
Rest In Peace Big Fella.
Steve Bontrager.
Kingston Strong.