- New York Tapers
The
Philadelphia Tapers were originally the New York Tapers, anNABL club team sponsored by theTuck Tape Company . They were a top AAU club team in the 1950's featuring many former collegiate stars and pro players. In 1960, Tuck Tape ownerPaul Cohen moved the Tapers to Washington and joined the fledgling American Basketball League ofAbe Saperstein as theWashington Tapers . The team was a miserable failure in Washington and Cohen made the unprecedented move of transplanting the team in mid-season back to New York as the New York Tapers. This too failed and when the ABL began their second season in 1961, the Tapers were moved to Philadelphia, where Cohen hoped to take advantage of the fact that this basketball hotbed had just lost its beloved Warriors (andWilt Chamberlain ) to San Francisco. Again, this starcrossed team did not finish the season. This time, it was the league that folded onDecember 31 1961 and the Tapers were no more.During their time, the Tapers boasted of many outstanding players. Star of the team was
Georgia Tech guardRoger Kaiser , who later became an outstanding small college coach atWest Georgia andLife Colleges . Also starring on the team was the mysteriousSylvester Blye , a strapping 6-9 player who saw his college career atSeattle U quashed after one game when officials discovered that he had been playing professionally for the touringHarlem Clowns . Blye then went to work for Tuck Tape and became the team's signature player. He was known as a legend in the New York Rucker league and was a full fledged star in the ABL, but noNBA team ever called on him after the league's demise. Another notable Taper was point guardCleo Hill , who was a superstar atWinston-Salem State University several years prior toEarl Monroe . Hill was a Number One draft pick of the NBASt. Louis Hawks but was mysteriously cut a year later. His stay with the Tapers also did not result in a call by any NBA teams, which Hill attributed to racism. In fact, NBA teams at the time subscribed to an unwritten code that limited black players on the rosters and generally saw two black players start at home and three on the road. Reserve players at the time were almost all white.Year-by-year
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