Category: American Basketball League 1961

Long Beach Chiefs

The Long Beach Chiefs were a professional basketball team that played at Long Beach Arena during November & December of 1962. The Chiefs were members of the American Basketball League (ABL), a wanna-be rival to the NBA formed by Harlem Globetrotters promoter Abe Saperstein the previous year. The team started out as the Hawaii Chiefs during the ABL’s debut season of 1961-62. Owner Art Kim moved the franchise to Long Beach for the league’s second season. But the league folded on New Year’s Eve 1962 without completing its schedule, taking the Chiefs down with it.

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Pittsburgh Rens American Basketball League

Pittsburgh Rens

The Pittsburgh Rens – short for Renaissance – were one of eight franchises in Abe Saperstein’s American Basketball League that debuted in the autumn of 1961. The team was notable for signing teenage center Connie Hawkins to his first pro contract after the future Hall of Famer was expelled from college and blackballed by the NBA over dubious insinuations of point-shaving. Hawkins dominated the ABL and won the league’s MVP award as a rookie in 1962. The Rens and the rest of the ABL folded midway through the league’s second season in January 1962.

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1961-62 Kansas City Steers Media Guide

Kansas City Steers

American Basketball League (1961-1962) Born: April 21, 1960 – ABL founding franchise Folded: December 31, 1962 First Game: Last Game: ABL Championships: 1963* (*Sort of…) Municipal Auditorium Memorial

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Washington Tapers American Basketball League

Washington Tapers

Doomed entry in Abe Saperstein’s short-lived American Basketball League of the early 1960’s. The team took its odd name from owner Paul Cohen’s Technical Tape Company. Gene Conley, a two-sport star who previously played Major League Baseball for the Milwaukee Braves and pro basketball for the Boston Celtics, was the Tapers’ big name player. The club lasted just two months in the nation’s capital before bolting town for Long Island midway through the 1961-62 ABL season.

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San Francisco Saints Basketball

San Francisco Saints

The San Francisco Saints were a One-Year Wonder in the upstart American Basketball League that briefly attempted to challenge the NBA during the early 60’s. The Saints finished 38-38 in their only season of play. The franchise relocated across the Bay to Oakland as the Oakland Oaks for the 1962-63 season.

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