History
The Rochester Zeniths were organized in the fall of 1977 to play professional basketball in the newly formed All-American Basketball Alliance. They were primarily owned by Dick Hill who owned Hill TV, a Rochester electronics store that sold Zenith brand televisions, hence the nickname Zeniths. The team began play in January 1978 along with the rest of the All-American Alliance, but the league quickly disbanded within a month. The Zeniths played 11 games and finished with a 10-1 record. Attendance at home games at the War Memorial was by the far the best in the league.
For the 1978-1979 basketball season, the Zeniths joined the newly renamed Continental Basketball Association (formerly known as the "Eastern League") and started playing most of their home games at the Dome Arena at the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Henrietta, New York. The Dome Arena was built primarily as an exposition hall for the annual county fair and business shows and conventions and was not particularly well suited for basketball. It did not have a hardwood basketball floor. To solve this problem, the Dome bought a green basketball carpet from a Swedish firm that was used for basketball games. The carpets were used in Europe and while not popular with players and fans, met league approval and was used during league play. (The War Memorial had a standard hardwood basketball floor.)
The Zeniths were coached by local product Mauro Panaggio, a successful Division III basketball coach at SUNY Brockport and featured many former prominent Western New York college basketball players, most notably guard Glenn Hagan from St. Bonaventure and forward Larry Fogle from Canisius College (both had been second round NBA Draft picks). The team played a very fast, uptempo style that was the prevailing trend in the CBA at the time. They were the dominant team in the league that year, finishing 36-12 and winning the Northern Division title by 9 and a half games over the Anchorage Northern Knights. In the playoffs, they lost only once, beating the Allentown Jets three games to one and then sweeping the Knights in the finals. Star guard Andre McCarter was named both Newcomer of the Year and the overall league Most Valuable Player for the season. Panaggio was named league Coach of the Year.
Also of note during the 1978-79 season was that the Zeniths hosted CBA All-Star game at the Dome Arena on the infamous green carpet, playing as a team against a collection of star players from the rest of the league. When a blizzard knocked out electric power in the city and the arena just after the first half ended, an impromptu slam dunk competition, won by Billy Ray Bates of the Maine Lumberjacks was conducted with the emergency lighting of the building as the only light. Power was not restored and fans were sent home. But, the game resumed the next night, and rather than just play two more quarters, league commissioner Jim Drucker decided to play another four quarters - making the six quarter, 72-minute game, the longest game in pro basketball history. Zenith Andre McCarter was named the game's Most Valuable Player.
The next season the Zeniths were again the class of the league but this time they only won the division over the Knights by one and half games and they lost a hard fought finals rematch with the Knights in seven games. For this season, the Zeniths were coached by co-owner and nightclub proprietor Art Stock who bought a stake in the team after his Jersey Shore Bullets folded the previous season. Mauro Panaggio moved to the front office as General Manager, but resumed his duties as head coach for the 1980-81 season until the demise of the team in 1983.
The 1980-81 campaign was the high water mark for the Zeniths franchise as they ran away with the Eastern Division title at 34-6 and once again took the league title while only losing one game in the playoffs, sweeping the Lehigh Valley Jets in two games, beating Philadelphia two games to one and sweeping the Montana Golden Nuggets coached by George Karl in four straight games.
The team had winning seasons for each of its last two in existence but lost in the playoffs in the first round each year. By this time, all games had been moved to the War Memorial and attendance was on the decline. Faced with mounting financial losses and the competitive catchup of the rest of the league, the team disbanded following the 1982-83 season. Mauro Panaggio went on to continue his success in the CBA, and retired as the winningest coach in league history.
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