Bakken Bears

History

Bakken Bears was formed in 1953 under the name of Aarhus Basketball Forening, or simply ABF. From 1962, the club was known as Skovbakken Basketball. Bears has been in the top Danish league almost every year since then and won its first title in 1958. Since then, the club has won a number of domestic titles and is now the most winning sports team in the history of the city of Aarhus.

In the years 2005 to 2009, Bakken Bears was a part of Aarhus Elite A/S, an elite sports organization in Aarhus that includes ia. AGF Football (soccer). In the last months of 2009 a group of local businessmen, sponsors and fans bought the team.

When Bakken Bears hosted Team FOG Næstved in Game 1 of the league semifinals in March 2009, 4,816 spectators watched the game in Aarhus Arena, which set an all-time attendance record for basketball in Denmark.

In the summer of 2018, the Bears' development team EBAA entered the Basketligaen as well.

On 27 March 2018, Bakken Bears qualified for the first time ever for a semifinal of a European competition, by eliminating ESSM Le Portel in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Europe Cup.

Players

Current roster

• DEN Thomas Hemmingsen
• USA Will Sheehey

Notable players

• DEN Chris Christoffersen
• DEN Tobias Jensen
• DEN Darko Jukic
• DEN Daniel Mortensen
• EST Kaido Saks
• GUM Jonathan Galloway
• PAN Tony Bishop
• USA Maurice Acker
• USA DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell
• USA Jeffrey Crockett
• USA Ryan Evans
• USA Shawn Glover

Individual awards

;Basketligaen MVP

• Eric Bell – 2003
• DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell – 2017
• Ryan Evans – 2019 ;Basketligaen Finals MVP
• Chris Christoffersen – 2013
• Kenny Barker – 2014
• DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell – 2017
• Jeffrey Crockett – 2018
• Tobin Carberry – 2019
• Michel Diouf – 2021
• Marvelle Harris – 2022

Honours

Domestic competitions

• Basketligaen
  • Winners (21) : 1957–58, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23
    • Runners-up (8) : 1962–63, 1964–65, 1989–90, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2005–2006, 2009–10, 2014–15
• Danish Cup
  • Winners (13): 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023
    • Runners-up (7) : 1980, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2022

European competitions

• FIBA Europe Cup

  • Semi-finalist (3): 2017–18, 2019–20, 2021–22

• European North Basketball League

  • Champions (1): 2024

Season by season

Head coaches

• DEN Steffen Wich

References

References

1. (27 March 2018). "Bakken Bears survive overtime drama in Le Portel, book ticket to Semis". FIBA Europe Cup.