The Alternate Universe Basketball Association

[legendsport]

A brief note before I begin the actual dynasty writing:

I've created a 1961-62 mod and am using it to build a brand-new online league called the Alternate Universe Basketball Association. While the league is a 12-team online league, I will also be posting stories about the league as a dynasty here on the Wolverine forums and hope that people will enjoy reading about the league.

Those who have a strong knowledge of pro basketball history will have heard of the American Basketball League (ABL), the brainchild of Harlem Globetrotters creator Abe Saperstein and an ill-fated 8-team circuit that tried to go head-to-head with the NBA starting in 1961-62. While the ABL is largely forgotten today, it did do several important things:

1) It was the first league to employ the three-point shot (something the ABA generally gets credit for)
2) It was the first league to employ an African-American as head coach (John McClendon coached the Cleveland Pipers) - and by first league, I mean first professional league in any American sport.
3) It was the first league to allow Connie Hawkins to play professionally after the point-shaving scandal at Iowa (Hawkins was never proven to have done anything, but the NBA banned him anyway). It was only after playing in both the ABL and ABA that Hawkins - a future Hall of Famer - finally got to play in the NBA.
4) It introduced the sports world to George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner owned the Cleveland Pipers and his tenure foreshadowed his later management of the New York Yankees. He interfered with his coach (McClendon - who quit because of it and was replaced by Bill Sharman); he signed collegiate star Jerry Lucas to a huge (for the time) contract; and he negotiated his team into the NBA, although this last was blocked by an ABL lawsuit.

So the ABL produced a fairly significant legacy considering it didn't even complete two full seasons of play.

In the AUBA we will be reconstructing history with a slight twist, which is coming up in the next post.

If you'd like to visit the AUBA website (which is not quite complete yet), you can visit http://www.simsportleagues.com

[legendsport]

Summer, 1961

MAKE PEACE, NOT WAR

It all began with a misunderstanding. Abe Saperstein, the empresario behind the extremely successful barnstorming basketball team the Harlem Globetrotters thought that he had been promised an NBA team in Los Angeles. Not just a team, but a team that he would own. Saperstein had been a good friend to the NBA during its formative years, often booking the Trotters as the opening game in a double-header with an NBA game - and the Trotters, not the NBA game, was the headliner. Though the league had grown more successful with the emergence of stars such as Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and several others, no one could deny that Saperstein had played a role in building the league's fan base.

During the summer of 1960, Minneapolis Lakers owner Bob Short announced that he was moving his team to Los Angeles. The other NBA owners, and league president Maurice Podoloff, approved the move. The Lakers' relocation meant that Saperstein would not get his expected expansion franchise in the City of Angels. Feeling betrayed, Saperstein began to make approaches to several of the bigger backers of teams in two of the more successful industrial leagues: the National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL) and the American Athletic Union (AAU).

Saperstein was on the verge of creating a rival league to the NBA - all he needed was to finish rounding up his financial backers. It was then that fate intervened in the form of basketball great George Mikan. The legendary former star of the Minneapolis Lakers, Mikan was now an attorney in Minnesota and had a friendly relationship with Saperstein as well as being well-respected by the powers within the NBA. Realizing that a rival league would likely fail (which would hurt Saperstein) or would strain the NBA's growing popularity (which he himself had done much to build), Mikan sought to be peacemaker.

Mikan acted as intermediary between Podoloff and the NBA owners on one hand and Saperstein and three of his backers on the other. In the end, a compromise was reached. The NBA, which had been planning on adding a team in Chicago (the Packers) to expand from eight teams to nine, would admit three additional teams: the Pittsburgh Rens (owned by Saperstein and partner Leonard Lipman), the Cleveland Pipers (owned by shipbuilder George Steinbrenner) and the Kansas City Steers (owned by cattleman Ken Krueger). These three teams would join Chicago in beginning play for the 1961-62 season.

The league also approved a major change recommended by Saperstein: a three-point basket. The three-pointer would add excitement to the game, opening things up and allowing teams with good long-distance shooters to quickly close a gap. It meant less fouling at the end of the game and would turn out to be one of the most exciting rule changes ever implemented.

[Cleasby]

so excited to read the rest is the league full??