Cleveland Pipers

The Cleveland Pipers was an American industrial basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950's and early 1960's. Th Pipers are most known for having played in the short-lived American Basketball League from 1961-62, arguably as that brief pro league's pivotal franchise. General Manager, Mike Cleary hired John McLendon, the first African American head coach in professional basketball, to lead the squad. Playing under coach John McLendon, and later coach Bill Sharman, the team won the league's 1962 championship, the only full season the league would ever have. The team had a number of interesting and notable moments. Future baseball legend George Steinbrenner got his start in professional sports ownership with the Pipers, which he bought from plumbing business owner Ed Sweeny to enter into the new ABL. Later, McClendon got a former college player he had coached, Dick Barnett, to jump from the NBA's Syracuse Nationals to the Pipers. Then, Steinbrenner, signed away Jerry Lucas from the NBA's Cincinnati Royals. Even early on here, long before his days as boss of the baseball Yankees, Steinbrenner could be meddlesome and irrepressible. In a game against the Hawaii Chiefs, George Steinbrenner sold player Grady McCollum to the Chiefs at halftime.