Eastern Basketball Association (1976-1977)
Tombstone
Born: 1976
Folded: 1977
First Game:
Last Game:
EBA Championships: None
Arena
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owner: Joe Moniz, Larry Smith, et al.
Editor's Pick
Boxed Out
Remembering The Eastern Professional Basketball League
In Boxed out of the NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League, Syl Sobel and Jay Rosenstein tell the fascinating story of a league that was a pro basketball institution for over 30 years, showcasing top players from around the country. During the early years of professional basketball, the Eastern League was the next-best professional league in the world after the NBA. It was home to big-name players such as Sherman White, Jack Molinas, and Bill Spivey, who were implicated in college gambling scandals in the 1950s and were barred from the NBA, and top Black players such as Hal “King” Lear, Julius McCoy, and Wally Choice, who could not make the NBA into the early 1960s due to unwritten team quotas on African-American players.
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Background
All-but-forgotten minor league basketball outfit that played just a single season in the Eastern Basketball Association in the winter of 1976-77. The Hartford Downtowners were the second Hartford-based entry in the Eastern circuit, replacing the more successful Hartford Capitols (1966-1974).
The club played its home games at Bulkeley High School and finished the 1976-77 season with a 5-19 record before quietly disbanding.
Links
Eastern Basketball Association Programs
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