Utah Prospectors

The Utah Prospectors, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, played one season in the Western Basketball Association, a seven-team minor league that lasted a single year. The 1978-79 club played its home games at the Salt Palace and opened on November 13, 1978, with a 121-108 loss to the Washington Lumberjacks in front of an announced crowd of 4,122.

Dick Nemelka, a former BYU guard, coached the team. The Prospectors finished 19-29, sixth in the league, and still reached the playoffs. Reno beat them in a best-of-three first-round series, and the final game was a 117-98 loss on March 13, 1979. Buster Matheney, a former University of Utah big man, played for the team.

The end came from outside the league. The top pro circuit announced that its New Orleans franchise would move to Salt Lake City for 1979-80, which took the Salt Palace and most of the local interest. The Prospectors folded in April 1979, and the Western Basketball Association followed that summer.