Earl Foreman

Who is Earl Foreman?

Earl Foreman was an American lawyer and sports executive.

Foreman practiced law in the District of Columbia. He was the owner of the short-lived Washington Whips professional soccer club of the NASL and a minority owner of the Baltimore Bullets franchise in the National Basketball Association. At one time he also owned an interest in the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League.

On August 29, 1969 Foreman, with Thomas Shaheen and Louis Diamond, purchased the Oakland Oaks professional basketball team in the American Basketball Association. The team was heavily indebted, a situation that would haunt the team until its demise in 1976 just prior to the ABA-NBA merger. Foreman and his two co-owners paid $2.6 million for the team and moved it to Washington, DC where it became the Washington Caps for the 1969-1970 ABA season. The Caps brought on Al Bianchi as head coach and finished that season with a record of 44-40, good for third place in the Western Division. The Caps lost in the first round of the 1970 ABA Playoffs to the Denver Rockets, 4 games to 3.

For the 1970-71 season Foreman moved the Caps to Virginia and the team became the Virginia Squires. Strapped for cash due to debts, the Squires traded Warren Armstrong to the Kentucky Colonels for a draft pick and cash, and sold Rick Barry to the New York Nets for $250,000. The Squires finished in first place in the Eastern Division with a 55-29 record. In the 1971 ABA Playoffs the Squires defeated the New York Nets 4 games to 2 in the first round, but lost the Eastern Division Finals to the Kentucky Colonels 4 games to 2. With the conclusion of the season, on April 6, 1971, the Squires signed future star Julius Erving to a 4 year, $500,000 contract.