By JACK MURRAY Cincinnati Enquirer Sports Reporter
Cincinnati figures to have a franchise in the National Lacrosse League for the 1976 season, according to a league source.
Already scheduled to field a World Hockey Association team and an American Basketball Association team – to be announced shortly – next season in the new Riverfront Coliseum for the winter months, can the combination hockey-basketball game for the summer months be far behind in Cincinnati?
Ed Tepper, president of the Philadelphia Wings of the NLL, told The Enquirer Tuesday that Cincinnati will join the league in 1976 and would have this year if the new coliseum were finished.
He said a “major group in Cincinnati” is seeking the franchise in the indoor sport, otherwise known as box lacrosse. The group interested is believed to be Cincinnati Sports Inc., which will operate the new Riverfront Coliseum and which owns the WHA Stingers. CSI officers Brian Heekin and Bill DeWitt Jr. were vacationing with their families in Aspen, Colo., and were unavailable for comment.
The Cincinnati group withdrew its bid for this season because the coliseum was unfinished, said Tepper. “But as far as I’m concerned, Cincinnati will have a team in 1976; our league is very interested in expanding to Cincinnati,” added Tepper.
Rick Dudley, former Cincinnati ice hockey star and veteran lacrosse player, is being sought for the role of player-coach of a Cincinnati lacrosse team. Dudley was a former Swords standout on ice and is currently with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.
Last season, the NLL’s first, Dudley was a leading scorer on the championship Rochester team, which has been transferred to Long Island. “Rick has been a superstar in our league,” said Tepper. “I know he likes Cincinnati. He’d be a logical choice.”
Several weeks ago, The Enquirer reported that Dudley had signed a lucrative, long-term contract with the hockey Stingers, beginning next season. Dudley maintains he has not signed a hockey contract and says he will not until after this season in order to weigh offers from both Buffalo and Cincinnati. The Sabres recently tried, unsuccessfully, to renegotiate Dudley’s contract, it was learned.
Besides Long Island and Philadelphia, other cities in the six-team league include Quebec City, Montreal, Boston and Baltimore. Tepper said the league plans expansion into the midwest in 1976 to include, not only Cincinnati but, Kansas City, Indianapolis and Cleveland.
