October 23, 1967: The Nets Debut

 

Former NBA star Max Zaslofsky, head coach,

and the original 1967-68 New Jersey Americans.

October 23, 1967: The franchise known today as the Brooklyn Nets plays its 1st game. As the New Jersey Americans, they host the Pittsburgh Pipers at the Teaneck Armory. The Pipers, led by future Hall-of-Famer Connie Hawkins, win, 110-107, and will go on to win the 1st American Basketball Association title.

It is the 1st game for a major league team (or even one pretending to be major league) in New Jersey since the 1915 Newark Peppers of baseball's Federal League, and the 1st one ever for a team using "New Jersey" as their locality instead of a city name.

Connie Hawkins, banned from the NBA after a gambling scandal despite no one ever proving he did anything illegal, would be the ABA's Most Valuable Player that season, and he showed NBA fans what they were missing, scoring 32 points for the Pipers. Charles Williams added 32. For the Americans, Dan Anderson led all scorers with 41, and former Duke star Art Heyman, also banned by the NBA for ridiculous reasons, scored 25.

The Americans finished the 1967-68 season at 36-42, 5th and last in the ABA's Eastern Division, and missing the Playoffs. They moved to Long Island after just 1 season, becoming the New York Nets; back to New Jersey, to the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway, in 1977, becoming the New Jersey Nets; to the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford in 1981; to the Prudential Center in Newark in 2010; and to the Barclays Center in 2012, becoming the Brooklyn Nets.

They won the ABA Championship in 1974 and 1976 -- making them still the most recent pro basketball team in the New York Tri-State Area to win a league title. But the move to the NBA meant paying an expansion fee to the NBA and a territorial indemnification fee to the Knicks. This forced them to sell off their best player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, and they immediately went from the best of the 6 teams that closed the ABA to the worst of the 22 teams in the NBA.

From their arrival in 1976 until 2001, their 1st 25 NBA seasons, they won exactly 1 Playoff series, against the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984. In 2001, they traded for Jason Kidd, and won the Eastern Conference Title in 2002 and 2003, losing the NBA Finals both times. They won Atlantic Division titles in 2004 and 2006.

But the long process of moving to Brooklyn essentially left them a lame duck, and crowds dried up. As the Brooklyn Nets, they have remained terrible, a joke franchise despite their early-2000s success. Only the colossal ineptitude of Knick management has saved them from the glare of the spotlight.

Built in 1936, the Teaneck Armory still stands, at 1799 Teaneck Road. John F. Kennedy has a campaign rally there on November 6, 1960, 2 days before the Presidential election -- and also had one at the Nets' next arena, the Long Island Arena in Commack, later that day. It was also used as a filming location for the movies Sweet and Lowdown, You've Got Mail, Bogus and Stonewall. It now hosts youth soccer, under the name of the Soccer Coliseum.

Despite winning the 1st ABA title, the Pipers fared even less well. A Minneapolis attorney bought them, and moved them, making them the Minnesota Pipers. They went back to Pittsburgh for 1968-69, but the momentum was lost. They became the Pittsburgh Condors in 1970, and folded in 1972.

From their time as the New York Nets, the team has retired the numbers 23 of John Williamson, the 25 of Bill Melchionni, and the 32 of Julius Erving -- but not, as once widely believed, the 4 of Wendell Ladner.

From their time as the New Jersey Nets, the team has retired the numbers 3 of Dražen Petrović, the 5 of Jason Kidd, the 15 of Vince Carter, and the 52 of Buck Williams. (UPDATE: Through the 2025-26 season, no numbers of the Brooklyn Nets have been retired.)

And Bill Raftery and Mike Fratello have received the Curt Gowdy Media Award, the Basketball Hall of Fame's award for broadcasters.

*

October 23, 1967 was a Monday. The baseball season had ended 11 days earlier, with the St. Louis Cardinals beating the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. It was football season, but the NFL hadn't yet adopted Monday Night Football. The AFL was playing then, but they didn't play on Monday nights, either.

There were no games played in the NHL or the NBA that night, but there was 1 other played in the ABA: The Dallas Chaparrals beat the Houston Mavericks, 100-83 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston. The Mavericks have no connection to the current Dallas Mavericks, or the Houston Rockets, for that matter: They became the Carolina Cougars in 1969, and the Spirits of St. Louis in 1974, and were not among the ABA teams absorbed into the NBA in 1976. The Chaparrals were, having become the San Antonio Spurs in 1973. 

September 17, 1961: The Civic Arena Opens In Pittsburgh

September 17, 1961: The Civic Arena opens in Pittsburgh. The city had been without a major sports arena since the Duquesne Gardens was demolished in 1956.

Edgar J. Kaufmann, who ran Kaufmann's department stores, and commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to build his house, Fallingwater, in 1938, came up with the idea for an auditorium with a retractable round roof -- for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, hence the building's name. The CLO had previously been using the University of Pittsburgh's Pitt Stadium. But he died in 1955, and never saw construction begin.

That construction began in 1955, with the demolition, for the arena and its parking lots, of buildings that were home to 8,000 black people and 400 businesses, ruining what had been the lower Hill District, the cultural center of black life in Pittsburgh. This would be paralleled a few years later by the demolition of housing for Mexican-Americans on what became the site of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. In a touch of irony, this new arena for the Steel City was delayed in 1959 by a steelworkers' strike.

The 1st event was the Ice Capades. The 1st roof opening was on July 4, 1962, for a comedy show headlined by Carol Burnett, who said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present the sky!"

Upon its opening, it seated 10,732 people. An addition in 1967 boosted it to 12,508, another in 1975 to 16,402, and it peaked in 1993 at 17,537.

The building immediately became home to the CLO, which used it until 1973, when it moved to Heinz Hall, then to the Benedum Center in 1988, and to The CLO Cabaret at Theater Square in 2004. The American Hockey League's Pittsburgh Hornets, dormant since the Duquesne Gardens was torn down in 1956, were restarted, and played at the Civic Arena until the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins debuted in 1967. The American Basketball League's Pittsburgh Rens (short for "Renaissance") also began play shortly after the Arena opened, but folded with the ABL a year later.

Duquesne University played games there from 1964 to 1988. The University of Pittsburgh used it for some home games from 1984 to 2002. The NBA's Philadelphia 76ers used it for one or two "home games" per season until The Spectrum opened in 1967. The American Basketball Association's 1st title, for the 1967-68 season, was won there by the Pittsburgh Pipers, but they moved after just 1 season, moved back after another, changed their name to the Pittsburgh Condors in 1970, and folded in 1972. The Arena was also home to minor-league teams, like the Pittsburgh Spirit of the Major Indoor Soccer League and the Pittsburgh Gladiators of the Arena Football League.

Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the featured speaker at a Republican Party rally at the Arena on October 12, 1962. In the closing days of the 1964 election, both major-party candidates for President spoke there, first President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Democrat, on October 27, then the Republican nominee, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, on October 29. Former Vice President Richard Nixon, running for President, had a rally there on October 28, 1968.

Cassius Clay, not yet Muhammad Ali and not yet the Heavyweight Champion of the World, beat Charlie Powell there on January 24, 1963. Larry Holmes defended the Heavyweight Championship there against Renaldo Snipes on November 6, 1981.

The 1st rock concert there was hosted by Craig "Porky" Chedwick, the WHOD disc jockey known as "The Daddio of the Raddio" and "The Pied Piper of Platter." Local group The Skyliners headlined a show that included Jackie Wilson, The Drifters, The Coasters, Jerry Butler, The Flamingos, The Angels, and The Blue-Belles, whose lead singer was Patti LaBelle.

Other concerts there included The Beatles on September 14, 1964; The Temptations on March 6, 1969; The Doors on May 2, 1970, recorded for a live album; The Rolling Stones on July 22, 1972, March 11, 1999, and January 10, 2003; Pink Floyd on June 19, 1973; Elvis Presley on June 25 and 26, 1973, and December 31, 1976; the 1st American concert by Rush on August 14, 1974; The Bee Gees on September 4 and 5, 1979; Michael Jackson with his brothers on August 13, 1981, and solo on September 26, 27 and 28, 1988; Destiny's Child on July 20, 2005; and Taylor Swift on October 1, 2009.

The Arena is best remembered as the home of the Penguins, who struggled at first. Even a switch of team colors in 1979-80, from blue and gold to the black and gold of the World Series-winning Pirates and the Super Bowl-winning Steelers, didn't help. In 1984, they drafted Mario Lemieux, who made them contenders, and led them to the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.

The Arena was a filming location for the 1979 basketball film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh; the 1995 film Sudden Death, about a terrorist attack during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals; and the 2001 film Rock Star, in which Mark Wahlberg played a singer with a concert there in 1987.

The cost of operating the retractable roof proved too much, and it remained closed from 1995 onward. As the team's largest creditor, Lemieux was awarded ownership of the bankrupt Penguins in 1999. He sold the naming rights to Pittsburgh-based Mellon Bank, and the building was known as the Mellon Arena almost to the end. The Arena's mailing address was changed to 66 Mario Lemieux Place, after his uniform number.

In 2005, Sidney Crosby debuted with the Penguins. They reached the Stanley Cup Finals again in 2008, and won them in 2009. In 2010, they moved to a new arena, across Centre Avenue, originally named the CONSOL Energy Center, now named the PPG Paints Arena. The Civic Arena, its old name restored, was demolished the next year.

The Penguins had played their 1st game there on October 11, 1967, and their last on May 12, 2010, a Playoff game. In both of these milestone games, they were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens. The last event was on June 26, 2010, a concert by James Taylor and Carole King. King had written, among so many others, "You've Got a Friend," and Taylor had hit Number 1 with it in 1971. For millions of people in Western Pennsylvania, the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh was a friend.

UPDATE: The Penguins have a team Hall of Fame. From the 1960s and '70s, they have inducted head coach Jack Riley, goaltender Les Binkley, centers Syl Apps Jr. and Dave Burrows, and right wings Jean Pronovost and Rick Kehoe.

From their 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup winners, they have inducted team owner Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., general manager Craig Patrick, head coach Bob Johnson, center Mario Lemieux, defensemen Paul Coffey and Ulf Samuelsson, and right wings Mark Recchi and Joe Mullen. So far, Lemieux as owner is the only inductee from their 2009, 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup winners.

And they have inducted such long-term team personnel as clubhouse attendants A.T. Caggiano and Frank Sciulli, organist Vince Lascheid, broadcaster Mike Lange, executive Elaine Heufelder, and team physician Charles "Chip" Burke.

Lemieux, Lange and Sidney Crosby have been elected to the Pittsburgh Sports Hall of Fame. Connie Hawkins of the 1968 Pipers is the only Pittsburgh professional basketball player elected to it.

*

September 17, 1961 was a Sunday. The NFL season began, and these games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 21-10 at Yankee Stadium.

* The Minnesota Vikings played their 1st game, and beat the Chicago Bears, 37-13 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. This was also the professional debut of quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who completed 17 out of 23 passes, for 250 yards, 4 touchdowns, and no interceptions. This would be the highlight of the season for the Vikes: They went 3-11.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-20 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Colts beat the Los Angeles Rams, 27-24 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers, 17-13 at the new Green Bay City Stadium, which was renamed Lambeau Field in 1965.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-24 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* And the San Francisco 49ers beat the Washington Redskins, 35-3 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

There were 2 games played in the American Football League. The Buffalo Bills beat the New York Titans, 41-31 at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo. And the San Diego Chargers beat the Oakland Raiders, 44-0 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Roger Maris hit his 58th home run of the season in the top of the 12th inning. Luis Arroyo became the winning pitcher, in relief of Bill Stafford. Bill "Moose" Skowron and Clete Boyer also hit home runs. Mickey Mantle went 0-for-4 with 2 walks. Yogi Berra went 0-for-5 with a walk. Al Kaline went 2-for-5 with a walk.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bill Monbouquette pitched a 3-hit shutout, outpitching Chuck Estrada. The only run scored in the bottom of the 4th, when Jim Pagliaroni doubled Pete Runnels home. Rookie Carl Yastrzmeski went 1-for-2 before being pinch-hit for. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 3-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Larry Jackson pitched a 5-hit shutout. Stan Musial hit his 453rd career home run. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-3.

* The Minnesota Twins swept a doubleheader from the Cleveland Indians, 5-0 and 5-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Camilo Pascual allowed 8 hits in the opener, but kept a shutout. Over the 2 games, Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-5 with 3 walks.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Art Mahaffey pitched 8 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and Frank Sullivan pitched a perfect 9th. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Los Angeles Angels, 8-1 and 4-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Over the 2 games, Luis Aparicio went 2-for-6 with 4 walks and 3 stolen bases.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. In the top of the 11th inning, Joe Torre singled Eddie Mathews home with a go-ahead run. But in the bottom of the 11th, Duke Snider singled Tommy Davis and Bob Aspromonte home with the winning runs. 

Snider had pinch-hit for Don Drysdale, and went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs. The winning pitcher, having pitched 2 innings of relief, was Sandy Koufax. Mathews went 1-for-4. Hank Aaron went 2-for-5 with an RBI.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Felipe Alou went 4-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBIs. Willie Mays went 2-for-4 with a walk. Willie McCovey did not play.

May 4, 1968: The 1st ABA Championship

May 4, 1968: The 1st American Basketball Association Finals goes to a Game 7 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pipers, coached by Vince Cazzetta, and led by Connie Hawkins -- unfairly banned from the NBA, although this will be rescinded while he can still play at a star level -- defeat the New Orleans Buccaneers 122-113, and take the title.

A modern replica of Connie Hawkins' Pipers jersey

Up until the Steeler dynasty of the 1970s, titles were few and far between for Pittsburgh sports teams. So, even though few people considered the ABA "major league" at this point, for the Steel City, it was a very big deal.

And basketball has not been a priority for Pittsburgh. In the 1st season of the league that became the NBA, 1946-47, they had the Pittsburgh Ironmen, playing at the Duquesne Gardens. They did not do well, and folded after the season. Neither the University of Pittsburgh nor Duquesne University has done well.

And the Pipers? They moved after 1 season, too, becoming the Minnesota Pipers for 1968-69. The President of the ABA was former Minneapolis Lakers star George Mikan, who was hired solely for the value of his name. The Minnesota Muskies had failed after that 1st season, and Mikan wanted a team in the Twin Cities. (Both the Muskies and the Pipers played at the Metropolitan Sports Center in suburban Bloomington.)

But attendance went down, as Minneapolis and environs weren't interested in pro basketball at the time. The Pipers went back to Pittsburgh -- according to Terry Pluto, in the definitive book about the ABA, Loose Balls, because team co-owner Gabe Rubin couldn't think of anywhere else to go.

Throw in the fact that the NBA reinstated Hawkins so that he would drop his lawsuit against him, and he signed with the Phoenix Suns, and the Pipers were doomed. The team was sold in 1970, and the new owners changed the name to the Pittsburgh Condors. It didn't work, and they flat-out folded in 1972.

No one has made a serious attempt to bring the NBA back to Pittsburgh since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976. The closest they've come is the 1979 film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

*

May 4, 1968 was a Sunday. Football was out of season. The NBA season had ended 2 days earlier, when the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in 6 games. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Cisco Carlos outpitched Fred Talbot, allowing just 2 hits, a single to Mickey Mantle and a double to Steve Whitaker.

* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-3 at Shea Stadium. Ernie Banks went 1-for-4 with an RBI. For the Mets, Ed Charles hit a home run. Dick Selma got the win. The next season, he would be a key figure in the Cubs' bid to win the National League Eastern Division, which fell apart in a "September Swoon" as the Mets made their "Miracle" run.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Rookie Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with a walk. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-2 with 3 walks.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 5-3 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington. Frank Robinson did not play. Brooks Robinson went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Frank Howard went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Steve Hargan pitched a 3-hit shutout. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-4. Rod Carew did not play.

* The California Angels beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 5-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Hank Aaron went 1-for-4.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Gerry Arrigo pitched a 2-hit shutout, outpitching Bill Singer. Pete Rose went 3-for-4 with an RBI, and rookie Johnny Bench went 0-for-4.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-6 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Dick Schofield, playing shortstop in place of Dal Maxville, went 4-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Roger Maris walked as a pinch-hitter, moved to right field, and flew out. Willie Mays and Willie McCovey hit home runs for the Giants.

And in English soccer, North London team Arsenal went to South Yorkshire, and beat Sheffield Wednesday, 2-1 at Hillsborough Stadium.