Near the end of 1998, just a few weeks into its inaugural season, the Nashville Noise was in trouble. The city’s brand-new women’s professional basketball franchise had stumbled to a lowly 0-7 record. Head coach Candi Harvey knew her team was talented and capable, but they needed something. This being Nashville, that something proved to be a karaoke night.
Founded in 1996, the American Basketball League was a brief but formidable competitor to the early WNBA. As a means of differentiation, the ABL played during the traditional winter basketball season, paid competitive wages and aimed to place teams in markets with a demonstrated interest in the women’s college game. In Tennessee, Pat Summit’s Lady Vols and Jim Foster’s Lady Commodores were rolling. The state was a hotbed for women’s hoops, and ahead of its third season in the winter of 1998-99, the ABL took notice and awarded a franchise to the capital city.
Assembling an expansion team can feel like a rummage sale, but the Noise brass put together a solid roster pillared by a pair of recognizable names. Chattanooga native Venus Lacy was a serious post presence. Former Lady Vols standout Michelle Marciniak was a great shooter. Versatile veterans Vicki Hall and Saudia Roundtree brought experience and leadership. The pieces were there, but the cohesion took time.
The Noise lost its season opener on Nov. 6 in Chicago. With the Noise back in Nashville the following night, more than 5,000 fans filed into Municipal Auditorium for the team’s home opener. There was buildup. There was anticipation. But the Noise stumbled again — 84-76 to defending champions the Columbus Quest. A few nights later, a third try, a third loss. Within two weeks the team was 0-7, and Coach Harvey decided to try something new. It wasn’t a defensive formation, inbounds play or rah-rah speech. She threw out the traditional coaching playbook altogether. She went off script.
“I brought everybody over, fed ’em, and we had a big ol’ time,” remembers Harvey. “We did karaoke, and they kind of saw me as a human and not just as a coach, and vice versa. We had a blast, and after that, things just kind of started to fall in place.”
Whether the singing actually had a cathartic effect or was merely symptomatic of a greater shift, the Noise began to turn it around. Following the winless start, the team went 3-4 over the next seven games, including several close losses, to push the record to 3-11 for the season. One game remained before an abbreviated Christmas break — a Dec. 20 home date with the Seattle Reign. The night would be a culmination, in more than one way. The Noise scratched out a 80-73 home victory over the Reign to move to 4-11 overall and 4-4 over their past eight.
“At that time, they were starting to get it together,” remembers Chip Ramsey, the Noise’s play-by-play commentator for WNSR-AM.
After the victory, the team was set to have the next few days off to travel home for the holidays. Spirits were high. In the post-win glow of the locker room, Coach Harvey exalted her group’s persistence.
“Ladies, we are about to turn the corner,” Harvey told them. “This is about to happen, this is about to blow up.”
They brought it in for one more huddle, then parted ways. None of them knew it would be their last time together as a team.
Two days later, back home in Fairhope, Ala., Harvey got the phone call. The ABL was folding, effective immediately. No more money, no more basketball, no more Noise.
“I went home for Christmas, and all of a sudden, I am learning for the first time how to fill out an unemployment form and go through the realities of not having insurance,” Harvey remembers.
Unable to secure the sort of television broadcast partnership that bolstered the WNBA, the ABL had run out of funds. In hindsight, the late checks and downgraded travel accommodations were harbingers, but on Dec. 22, 1998, the news was shocking. Phone calls went out across the country, and an entire league of talented women was suddenly out of work.
“It broke a lot of our hearts,” says Venus Lacy. “There were outstanding players in the ABL.”
Some athletes — including Lacy, Marciniak and Hall — found work in the WNBA. Others used the ABL folding as an opportunity to retire and try something new. For Harvey, a former high school and college coach, the Noise was an entry into the world of professional basketball. Leading adult women required a different skill set, and her experience with the Noise proved valuable. She too was able to transition into the WNBA with the Utah Starzz, first as an assistant, then as head coach.
“On paper, it was an absolute collage of talent,” Harvey says of the Noise. “It just needed time to gel, and it just needed time for those big personalities to mesh and, quite honestly, for me to give them a foundation and then get out of the way and let them play. I think that would have happened if we would have been able to continue to grow.”
Lacy agrees — Nashville’s foray into women’s professional basketball was a success waiting to happen. With a little more time, more than 15 games, the ambient Noise would have become a sweet melody.
“I think if they would have kept it alive for a little longer, we would have won one,” Lacy says. “Honestly, I think we would have won it because Coach Harvey got us together. We had passion. She had players with passion. I think if we would have played that last year, we would have had a championship.”
