Sports History
The Early Days of Pittsburgh Basketball
By Anne Madarasz

It's not for a lack of trying that professional basketball never caught on in this city. Teams such as the Ironmen, the Rens and the Condors flourished briefly, then folded. The 1967-68 Pittsburgh Pipers, led by future Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins, even won the first ABA championship before moving to Minnesota the following year. The Piranhas played for the CBA title in the 90s and also moved the next season. Currently, the Xplosion are struggling at the gate even as they make a run for the ABA playoffs.

It may come as a surprise then, that some of the best basketball played in this country in the early 20th century was played in western Pennsylvania. Teams born in the ethnic and industrial communities of the region crafted a tradition of excellence and some even a national reputation. African American and Jewish teams from Pittsburgh's Hill District were fierce rivals in the 1910s and the early 1920s, and attracted thousands of fans. One such group, the Monticello Athletic Association, formed a team in 1911. Led by one of the best basketball players of the era, Cum Posey, they took on all comers, including national black basketball champions, Howard University. Monticello's defeat of Howard put both the team and the city on the map. Pittsburgh became, with New York and eventually Chicago, a leading national center of black basketball.

Some of the most exciting games played in the Hill took place at the Union Labor Temple, and featured the Coffey Club against the Loendi Club. The Coffey Club, founded in 1910 at the Irene Kaufman Settlement House, fielded a strong team of six to 10 players. During the 1915-16 season, they played 25 games against teams from the North Side to New Brighton. Led by center Sol Adler and scrappy guards Moy Marks and Lefty Abrams, this team of six posted 20 wins that year, crushing a Freedom team 76 to 9, and St. Peters 71 to 11. Undated newspaper accounts from this period record 6,000 fans showing up to watch the Coffey Club take on the Loendi Club, which represented the African American men's club of the same name. Formed in 1912, the Loendi Big Five played mostly African American teams on the East Coast. From 1921 through 1925 they were the champions of the black basketball world, capturing the Colored Basketball World Championship. But games against neighborhood rivals, the Coffey Club and the 2nd Story Morry's (featuring Chick Davies, who later coached at Duquesne) provided these teams a special opportunity to shine for the home crowd. Holding court, in the community and on the national stage, these teams created a name for Pittsburgh in the world of early basketball.

Anne Madarasz is Director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, which preserves the story of early basketball both in the exhibit and in their Archives.