> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Gonna live forever? BY MELODY HANATANI - URL: https://www.smdp.com/gonna-live-forever-by-melody-hanatani/ - Published: 2006-12-15T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T23:22:37.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Sports, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Owners feel certain the Fame will succeed* *By Daily Press Staff Writer* SMC — The stars are coming to town. The new kid on the American Basketball Association block, the Hollywood Fame, will finally host the Big Valley Shockwave tonight in its home opener at Santa Monica College’s Pavilion, where the team will play each of its home games this year. The Hollywood Fame is an appropriate name for a 5-2 team that is owned by a star-studded list of celebrities, including main stakeholder A.J. DiScala, former husband of “Sopranos” star Jamie Lynn Sigler; Geoff Stults from “7th Heaven” and “The Break-Up”; Stacy Kiebler of “Dancing with the Stars”; and singer, former Mr. Jessica Simpson and “Newlyweds” star Nick Lachey. The list also includes current and former professional athletes like former NBA star John Salley, former MLB All-Star Brady Anderson and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Kyle Boller. In an industry where team turnover rate is high — with many ABA teams coming and going as compared to their NBA counterparts — the owners are certain that this Hollywood story will not end in a sad breakup. Part of the reason is the roster, rich with former NBA players, Division 1 NCAA standouts, and athletes who have played professionally overseas in Europe. The team also has an experienced leader in Don Casey, the former Temple University head coach who spent 18 years in the NBA, serving as both assistant and head coach for the likes of the LA Clippers, New Jersey Nets and the Boston Celtics. Mainly, the team will survive heartbreak because of good management and effective marketing, DiScala said. “Minor league baseball has done phenomenally well because it’s family fun entertainment and affordable,” DiScala said on Thursday. “\[The ABA\] needs management and some marketing and some dollars, and that’s what we’re doing on the league level. I thought it would be fun to own and show how to run a real team.” The partnership with Santa Monica College is expected to bring in quite a sum of cash for the community college. The Pavilion, which can hold about 800 people, usually draws between 100 and 200 fans during an average college basketball game. The Hollywood Fame owners hope to attract closer to 500 or 600 per game. Tickets, ranging from $10 to $25, are relatively inexpensive compared to NBA games. SMC students are awarded a discount price of only $5. “Anytime we’re exposing people to our college campus, it’s great for us,” said Rhonda Hyatt, athletic director at SMC.“We have a great little campus and a great academic program.” The team was originally going to play its home games at the LA Sports Arena and then the Santa Monica Civic Center, but financing would not allow such a thing to happen. “Everyone said California is the land of community colleges,” said Mike Casey, vice president of operations at Hollywood Fame and son of Coach Casey. “There are not that many usable junior colleges.” Casey is sure the venue will attract a good crowd of basketball fans from West LA. “LA is a huge market,” he said. It took a little over five months to produce an ABA team for DiScala. With Casey and better management coming on board in the ABA, DiScala believes the league will have the personnel needed to survive. One of the new faces expected to change the image of the league, to make it more attractive to NBA and European scouts, is Tom Doyle, the new president of the ABA. Anderson spent 15 years in Major League Baseball, playing the majority of his career for the Baltimore Orioles, and retired in 2002, ending his career at a Triple A team in Portland. He was brought out of retirement when he got a call from his friend DiScala, who informed him about a new venture into a minor league basketball team. “I love the idea of giving certain athletes \[the opportunity\] to fulfill their dreams,” Anderson said on Thursday. “Some slip through the cracks and don’t get a chance to be seen. This league and team especially provide the opportunity.” Anderson should know, he’s a prime example of the value of a farm system. He spent two and a half years in the minor league system, working on his craft, before making his way into the majors. “I needed the minor leagues to fulfill my talent as a player,” he said. “People develop at different paces,” Anderson said.“You look at our team and we have some really talented athletes.” Anderson doesn’t have any concerns about whether or not this team has what it takes to last because his expectations are realistic. There is a place for the ABA with the NBA D-League, he said. The former centerfielder has been approached several times about investing in minor league teams. What is different about co-owning an ABA team is the greater amount of influence Anderson has on the team. During practice, Anderson helps train the players and provides consultation on what it takes to be a professional athlete.The main difference separating a minor league athlete from “The difference between mediocrity and greatness is small,” he said.“It has to do with the mental approach to the game.” Unlike the NBA where players sport expensive flashy deals, one of the highest paid players in the ABA league makes a little over $1,000 a week. THE COACH After retiring from coaching five years ago, Casey continued his relationship with the NBA by becoming the executive vice president of the Coach’s Association. It wasn’t easy to get back into the swing of things, but Casey finally adjusted to the ABA scene. The corporate NBA jets and private drivers were replaced with a bus and a bus driver. “I was concerned about going into the gym, about getting back into the rhythm,” he said. Coaching in the ABA and college is a whole different ball game from the NBA, where his influence on the team was dictated by the owners. In college, Casey was the “control factor,” as he calls himself. He awarded the scholarships and had his pick of players and assistant coaches. Some of the Hollywood Fame players have a shot at the NBA, and Casey sees part of his job as getting the NBA and European scouts to notice his guys, to open their eyes and convince them that the ABA is a gold mine for fine athletes. He is also trying to convince some of his former colleagues in the NBA to take head coaching jobs in the ABA. “Players like to play for NBA coaches,” he said. THE PLAYERS The team includes former New York Knicks guard Jamison Brewer, who played at Auburn University, and former UCLA standout Billy Knight, who has played in the European league teams since graduating from college in 2002\. Knight decided to move back home this year to stay close to his family after his father passed away recently. The Hollywood Fame knocked on the door and presented an opportunity to play close to home for the Westchester native. Playing for an ABA team has been a completely different experience than Knight’s days at UCLA when thousands of fans would cram into Pauley Pavilion to watch the Bruins play. The big venues in college have turned into high school gymnasiums and junior colleges. “The energy level is a whole lot different,” Knight said on Wednesday. “You have to get the energy from yourself instead of from the crowd.” Though Knight would eventually like to play on an NBA team, his immediate goal is get as much exposure as possible and eventually play on an NBA summer league team. “I might not get on the NBA, but I want to get on the NBA summer league team and try to go as far as I can.” Tip-off for tonight’s Hollywood Fame game is set for 7:05 p.m. at Santa Monica College. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 15, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)