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2 unusual facts about Cleveland Pipers


Cleveland Pipers

After team owner George Steinbrenner unsuccessfully petitioned to get the National Basketball Association to accept his team the following year, the Pipers disbanded.

In the spring of 1962, Cleveland Pipers owner George Steinbrenner signed Jerry Lucas to a player-management contract worth forty thousand dollars.


1961–62 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team

In the spring of 1962, Cleveland Pipers owner George Steinbrenner signed Jerry Lucas to a player-management contract worth forty thousand dollars.

Dick Barnett

The top draft choice of the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers) of the NBA, Barnett played with the team until 1961, when he jumped ship from the NBA to play in the American Basketball League (ABL) with the Cleveland Pipers, who were owned by George Steinbrenner, the future owner of the New York Yankees.

Jerry Lucas

But George Steinbrenner, then the owner of the newly formed American Basketball League's Cleveland Pipers, interested the young star with a contract unlike any in sports.

John McLendon

Cleveland Pipers General Manager Mike Cleary hired him in 1962 to be the head coach of the American Basketball League team which was owned by George Steinbrenner.


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