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Topeka Sizzlers to play Saturday at McLouth

By Shawn Linenberger - | Feb 1, 2019

The Topeka Sizzlers are back. The Sizzlers first were a franchise in the 1980s in the Continental Basketball Association. The namesake is back, now as a semi-pro team in the American Basketball Association.

A blast from the past is back in new form and will be playing a basketball game at McLouth High School.

The Topeka Sizzlers, a semi-pro basketball team from the Capital City, will play the Kansas City Grillers at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Tickets will be sold at the door. Cost is $10 for adults and $5 for students.

Former Kansas basketball player Calvin Thompson, who helped lead KU to the 1986 Final Four, is the team’s coach. He played for the original Topeka Sizzlers in the late 1980s, as did KU teammates Ron Kellogg and Cedric Hunter. Even KU standout Jo Jo White came out of retirement and played for the Topeka team.

That franchise started as the Kansas City Sizzlers with the 1985-86 season in the Continental Basketball Association. The franchise moved to Topeka for the next season and played there until 1990, when the team moved to Yakima, Wash., and became the Yakima Sun Kings.

The new Sizzlers, who play in the updated American Basketball Association. Thompson is part of a group of Kansans who own the team.

Topeka played home games at Lee Arena on the Washburn University campus and then Landon Arena at the Kansas Expocentre when the Sizzlers were in the CBA. Now in the ABA, the team plays at various gymnasiusms, including the game at McLouth’s Gold Gymnasium.

The Sizzlers are 7-0 on the season and are averaging about 156 points per game.

In a previous game against Kansas City, Topeka won, 192-87.

For more information about the team, visit topekasizzlers.org.