The franchise began as the Hawaii Volcanos (sic) in 1979, and placed in the CBA's North Division with the Anchorage Northern Knights, Rochester Zeniths and Maine Lumberjacks.

They played the 1979–80 season at several venues, including the Neal Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, the Conroy Bowl at Schofield Barracks, the gymnasium at Kaimuki High School, and two games at the Hilo Civic Auditorium.

Led by former Wichita State star Bobby Wilson with 28.3 points per game, the Volcanos managed a 20–25 record: a fourth-place finish, but good enough to qualify for the conference finals against Anchorage.

Due to the tremendous travel costs between the nation's 49th and 50th states, however, the Volcanos agreed to play the entire series in Anchorage (which, ironically, was actually the closest CBA city to Hawaii, at about 2,700 miles away).

In 1982–83, Carl Nicks (who had played with Larry Bird on the Indiana State team that went all the way to the 1979 NCAA championship game) signed with the Volcanos after being released by the Utah Jazz.