The team was originally founded as EPAB Sunderland, based at the Northumbria Centre in Washington, and began competing in the Second Division of the English National Basketball League in 1976.

In 1987, Sunderland became a founding member of the breakaway British Basketball League with other top-flight English and Scottish clubs.

[1] Their traditional arch rivals are the Caledonia Gladiators, however in recent years a fierce rivalry with the Leicester Riders has also developed.

The club played in Washington at the Northumbria Centre under various monikers throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, managing a second place league finish in 1983, as well as two play-off victories at Wembley in 1981 & '83.

Hall's Sporting Club group was considered by most observers to be a relative failure and upon its dissolution, Ken Nottage and Paul Blake became the Eagles' new owners.

Flournoy, Sullivan and Andrew Bridge were also members of the bronze medal winning England team in the 2006 Commonwealth Games during March 2006.

Also, the signing of Richard Midgley gave great hope that the eagles could challenge Guildford Heat to regain the BBL League title.

After an indifferent start, they embarked on a 17 match winning run to become the first team for nearly two decades to retain the BBL title, finishing 8 points ahead of Everton Tigers.

In the play-offs they narrowly avoided an upset after seeing off Cheshire Jets 88–83 before beating Plymouth Raiders to form a match against Everton Tigers once again.

At the start of the 2010–2011 season it was announced that the Esh Group, along with partners Northumbria University and Northumbrian Water would be the new main sponsors of the Eagles.

[4] Success did not follow them there at first, as they crashed out of the BBL Trophy, Cup and Playoffs without reaching any finals, and finished 3rd in the BBL for the second consecutive season.. On the night of their first preseason game ahead of the 2019-20 British Basketball League season, the club was rocked by the announcement that head coach Fabulous Flournoy would leave the club after 17 years.

Flournoy joined the Toronto Raptors, the then-defending NBA champions, as an assistant coach, reuniting with his friend and mentor Nick Nurse, who gave him his first professional contract with the Birmingham Bullets in 1996.

Results improved in the following 2023-24 season, as the team avoided a third straight losing season, recorded a 6th place finish in the league, and advanced to the semi-finals in the Playoffs, where they lost to a dominant London Lions side which included former NBA players Sam Dekker[9] and David Nwaba.

[11] A strong debut campaign followed, as the Eagles finished 3rd in their group and advanced to the playoffs, where they narrowly lost in a two-legged tie to eventual champions Bakken Bears of Denmark.

The 2019-20 season, which was cut short due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, saw some improvement, as the Eagles reached the semi-final of the WBBL Cup.