American Basketball Association (1968-1969)
Tombstone
Born: June 28, 1968 – The Pittsburgh Pipers relocate to Minneapolis, MN
Moved: 1969 (Pittsburgh Condors)
First Game: October 27, 1968 (W 126-94 vs. Miami Floridians)
Last Game: April 19, 1969 (L 137-128 @ Miami Floridians)
ABA Championships: None
Arenas
1968-69: The Met Center
1968-69: Duluth Arena
Branding
Team Colors:
Ownership
Owners: William Erickson & Gabe Rubin
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Background
The American Basketball Association began play in 1967 and established its league officers in Minneapolis. Former Minneapolis Lakers superstar George Mikan served as the ABA’s first commissioner. And the Twin Cities received one of the ABA’s eleven original franchises – the Minnesota Muskies. The Muskies, led by rookie center Mel Daniels, were outstanding and posted the second-best record in the league at 50-28. But Minnesotans ignored the team at the box office. The Muskies moved to Miami after the ABA’s inaugural season ended in May 1968.
Reigning Champions
Minnesota got another shot at the ABA just month later. Gabe Rubin, owner of the 1968 league champion Pittsburgh Pipers, sold a majority interest in his club to Minnesota attorney William Erickson. The Pipers had a superb roster of players, including the league’s reigning MVP Connie Hawkins, All-Star guard Charlie Williams, former Duke star Art Heyman and power forward Trooper Washington, who led the ABA in field goal percentage in 1967-68. Hawkins and Williams were both blacklisted from the NBA at the time due to dubious collegiate point shaving allegations.
Crucially, Pittsburgh Pipers head coach Vince Cazzetta did not move west with the team. Pipers’ ownership reportedly declined to pay his relocation expenses. Minnesota replaced Cazzetta with a man named Jim Harding. Harding was a collegiate coach, known for winning records and short tenures at a string of small schools. Harding was a drillmaster and self-described perfectionist, putting the Pipers through exhausting practices, banning soul music in the locker room and raging on the sidelines.
The defending champs raced off to an 18-8 start in the fall of 1968. Connie Hawkins averaged nearly 35 points per game through the first month, including an ABA record 57 against the New York Nets on November 27, 1968. Jim Harding earned a spot coaching the Eastern Conference squad at the January 1968 ABA All-Star Game by virtue of the Pipers’ hot start. But Harding was beginning to unravel. Feuds with his players and Pipers management went public. In late December, Harding experienced chest pains and doctors diagnosed with him high blood pressure. He was ordered to take a six-week break from coaching the Pipers, but returned after three.
1969 All-Star Game Fracas
Meanwhile, injuries started to take a toll on the Pipers. Connie Hawkins missed 25 games after mid-season knee surgery. Minnesota’s record stood at 24-14 when Harding returned from his medical leave in mid-January 1969. The Pipers stumbled into the All-Star Break with a 2-5 record after Harding resumed his coaching duties.
Simmering tensions with the coach finally boiled over at the 1969 ABA All-Star Game in Louisville, Kentucky. Hawkins missed the game due to his knee problems. Trooper Washington and Charlie Williams represented the Pipers on the Eastern Conference team, along with Harding. Harding got into a late night physical altercation with Pipers founder and co-owner Gabe Rubin at the host hotel on the night before the game. The fracas left both men visibly bruised and scratched. Commissioner George Mikan removed Harding as coach of the Eastern All-Stars. The Pipers fired Harding shortly thereafter. He never coached professional basketball again.
Return To Pittsburgh
The Pipers faded in the second half and finished 4th in the East with a 36-42 record. They lost in the first round of the 1969 ABA playoffs to the Miami Floridians – the franchise that had been the Minnesota Muskies the year before.
Connie Hawkins averaged 30.4 points and 11.4 boards for the season. The Hawk earned First Team ABA All-Star honors for 1969 despite missing a third of the season. After the season, he settled his lawsuit with the National Basketball Association. The NBA ended his ban and paid him a $1.3 million settlement. He left the ABA and made his long-delayed NBA debut with the Phoenix Suns in the fall of 1969 . He was 27 years old. The Basketball Hall-of-Fame inducted Connie Hawkins in its Class of 2012.
The Pipers proved no more viable in the Twin Cities than the Muskies were the year before. At first the Pipers tried to cultivate a regional appeal by splitting games between the Met Center and the Duluth Arena. But the Duluth games were a box office flop and the experiment was abandoned by January 1969. After the 1968-69 season concluded in April 1969, co-owner William Erickson gave up on the Pipers and relinquished the club to founder Gabe Rubin. In the absence of any other options, Rubin moved the team back to Pittsburgh for the 1969-70 season.
The franchise eventually went out of business in 1972.
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Editor's Pick
Loose Balls
The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association
By Terry Pluto
What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.
The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today’s NBA is still—decades later —just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.
Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It’s a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports—told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league’s nine seasons..
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In Memoriam
Power forward Tom “Trooper” Washington suffered a fatal heart attack on the sideline while coaching the minor league Pittsburgh Pit Bulls on November 20, 2004. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obituary.
Guard/forward Art Heyman passed away on August 27, 2012 at age 71. New York Times obituary.
Pipers Hall-of-Fame forward/center Connie Hawkins died on October 6, 2017 at the age of 75. New York Times obituary.
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