Cleveland Pipers

The Cleveland Pipers was an American basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio that played in the short-lived American Basketball League from 1961-62. General Manager, Mike Cleary hired John McLendon, the first African American head coach in professional basketball to lead the squad. Playing under coach John McLendon, the team won the league championship in its only year in the league. In a game against the Hawaii Chiefs, George Steinbrenner sold player Grady McCollum to the Chiefs at halftime.^[1]

NBA petition

After team owner George Steinbrenner unsuccessfully petitioned to get the National Basketball Association to accept his team the following year, the Pipers disbanded. After the ABL folded, Steinbrenner had $125,000 in debts and personal losses of two million dollars.^[2]

Jerry Lucas

In the spring of 1962, Cleveland Pipers owner George Steinbrenner signed Jerry Lucas to a player-management contract worth forty thousand dollars.^[3] With the Lucas signing, Steinbrenner had a secret deal with NBA commissioner Maurice Podoloff. The Pipers would merge with the Kansas City Steers and join the NBA.^{[citation needed]} A schedule was printed for the 1963-64 NBA season with the Pipers playing the New York Knicks in the first game.^[4] Steinbrenner and partner George McKean fell behind in payments to the NBA and the deal was cancelled.

Players

Apparently Lucas did not play in any ABL games. Pipers players include the following:

• Dick Barnett
• John Cox
• Larry Siegfried
• Ben Warley

Year-by-year

Year	League	Reg. Season	Playoffs
1961/62	ABL	1st, Eastern	Champion

References

1. ^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p.39, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
2. ^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p.43, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
3. ^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p.42, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
4. ^ Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, p.42, Bill Madden, Harper Collins Publishing, New York, 2010, ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0

External links

• Ohio History Central Cleveland Pipers