Good morning, Uni Watchers! And a Happy Tuesday to one and all.
UW pal/contributor/author Leo Strawn, Jr. joins us again today, this time with a look at some early basketball looks. And he looks at a chapter in basketball history that was popular at the beginning of professional play, and later revived (and reviled by many), when the jerseys had a bit more material on them. I think you’ll like this one.
Enjoy!
And now, here’s Leo with…
Hoops, Volume 1
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
We’re in the midst of basketball season and, after cleaning up my hoops folder, I thought I’d share some pics that might be of interest. This first volume will include photos of sleeved jerseys and some ABL items.
But first, I don’t think I’ve seen any mention of the new Clippers logo on UW. (If I missed it, my apologies.) In my opinion, it’s the most creative and best looking logo that franchise has had since its days in Buffalo. [Ed. Note: Paul did cover this, but back in February, a very odd time to unveil new unis/logos for the next season, since the current one still had months to play. — PH]
The 1946-47 Boston Celtics also sported sleeves. Nice socks and shorts on those unis, too. In the third photo is Chuck Connors, who was one of only 13 people to have played in both MLB and the NBA (known as the Basketball Association of America when he played for Boston). He then went on to have a successful acting career. (Odd note: His name is misspelled on the back of his chair on the set of The Rifleman in that linked photo.)
The St. Louis Bombers of the NBA had sleeved jerseys in 1949.
Even the NCAA was on board. This LSU jersey NBA legend Bob Pettit is wearing is from 1951.
In 1954, the Baltimore Bullets sported sleeves.
Recent years saw a (minor) resurgence in sleeved jerseys. I liked both of these uniforms but not because of the sleeves. I think both would have looked better sleeveless as long as they weren’t the old-school spaghetti strap style.
I have a few American Basketball League items to wrap up this edition. The ABL only lasted one full season and part of another. It was created by Abe Saperstein, who also named, managed and promoted the Harlem Globetrotters. The league had a franchise located in Hawai’i during its inaugural season. This is a program cover for the Chiefs before they moved to Long Beach for the second season.
Here is a program cover for the most successful on-court ABL franchise, the Kansas City Steers. They won the West Division in the first season of the 8-team league but lost the championship to the Cleveland Pipers. The ABL contracted to six teams in one division for the 1962-63 season. When the league folded less than halfway through that season, Kansas City had played 31 games and had a 3 1/2 game lead over the Chiefs.
I mentioned the Pipers. They were owned by (love him or hate him) George Steinbrenner. After the 1961-62 season ended, the Pipers and the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals both drafted Ohio State star Jerry Lucas. Apparently, Cleveland had the upper hand, even offering Lucas stock in the franchise. The NBA desperately wanted Lucas, so they offered Steinbrenner’s Pipers an opportunity to join the established league. The Royals protested and the NBA added fees for Cleveland’s potential entry. Steinbrenner then folded the franchise, losing a great deal of money on the venture. Contractual obligations forced Lucas to sit out the 1962-63 season prior to joining the Royals. Regarding the jersey in the photo below: The number above the team’s name on their jersey front is odd (earliest instance of this placement I’ve ever seen), but nicely balanced with those stripes and looks good, I think.
Too bad Steinbrenner and his ABL club didn’t make the jump to the NBA. It would have been interesting to see how the Pipers-Royals rivalry played out. Cincinnati made it known to the league that they were furious about Lucas and over the possibility of having to share Ohio with another NBA team. (As it turned out, that didn’t become a reality until the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons when the Cavaliers were in their infancy.)
But uniform aficionados would have noticed another thing that surely didn’t please Cincinnati about the Pipers. Aside from lettering and numbers, Cleveland’s 1961-62 jersey was a direct rip-off of the Royals design, as you can see from this 1960-61 team photo. The Royals had the last laugh, though. Not only did Lucas become a Royal, but Cincinnati once again became the sole pro hoops team in the state for the remainder of that decade and continued sporting that uniform layout for a while, without a rival on the lake.
One last ABL item: Lucas wasn’t the only star whose name was associated with the upstart league’s 15 minutes of fame. Connie Hawkins (who I’ll have more photos of in a future edition) played for the Pittsburgh Renaissance (more commonly known as the Rens). He would win the league’s MVP award at age 19 and later play in the ABA for a Pittsburgh franchise ironically named Pipers, becoming MVP in that league’s inaugural season, as well.
Until next time…
Cheers!
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
GTGFTS: Aug 2, 1966, Angels 6, Yanks 5 in 11. Angels walk off in the 11th with a solo HR by Paul Schaal. 1966 was their first season in newly build Anaheim stadium.
LeBron tearing off the sleeves of his Cavs jersey is unforgettable. The three striped suppliers from Germany certainly fouled out with that one which is too bad because the quality of their materials was and is superior in general to those of the Swoosh. Great stuff again, Leo. The Renaissance/Rens should have been the team name for the NFL team in Washington instead of Commanders, I still think.
GTGFTU
2021 Week 7
24 October as the Pack beat the WFT 24-10.
Fun fact: neither team had a logo on their helmet for this game.
The Football Team had numbers on the sides, though, which makes it my favorite Washington helmet.
I have to agree on those Golden State sleeved unis from 2012-13. They’d be a home run without the sleeves. It’s crazy to me that they don’t have a yellow option every season.
I think of a Clipper as being a large sailing ship. This looks like a yacht.
Very true. It’s a 1000% better logo than the Dollar Store Lakers logo they used to have, but they needed a mast to show that those are sails and not decks of a cruise ship. The compass points are clever, but by blending them with the hull, it looks like the ship has wings. It’s better than good, but less than excellent.
Needs to have more of a side view of the ship. Another team called the Clippers has a new logo this year too. Think the BCHL Nanaimo Clippers did it better for the image of the ship.
link
Couple of things here
*When sleeved NBA jerseys made a comeback I never understood while the Celtics didn’t use these as throwbacks especially since there are so few looks the Celtics can actually throwback to. Instead they made a rather lousy new alt.
* Also an interesting fact with the Cleveland Pipers is that Bill Sharman was the head coach meaning he’s the only Coach to win rings in the ABL, NBA as player (Celtics), Coach (Lakers), and the ABA as a coach (Utah Stars).
I’ll take sleeves over spaghetti straps any day. Thanks for showing us so many of these great jerseys!
Thanks, Mr. V! More goodies on the way…
The Rens! They could’ve had great cheerleaders:
“Stimpy, you IDIOT! Stop slobbering on the ball and pass it to Ren”