  Louisiana Buccaneers 1967-71  Memphis Pro's 1970-72  Memphis Tams 1972-74  Memphis Sound 1974-75   Baltimore Hustlers/Claws |
Quick facts:
Founded: 1967
Folded: 1975
Arena: Loyola Field House (1967–1969)
Tulane Gym (1969–1970)
Municipal Auditorium (1969–1970)
Mid-South Coliseum (1970-75)
Titles: 0
Playoffs: 4
Origins:
With the founding of the ABA on February 2, 1967, a charter franchise was awarded to a group of seven investors, including Morton Downey Jr. The group obtained their franchise for $1,000, as opposed to the $30,000 fronted by most other original teams
The Louisiana Buccaneers technically never exisited. The logo and name change was proposed but never officially adopted. However, some of the Louisiana Buccaneers merchandise was actually made available and can sometimes be found for sale. Not in London:
The name Tams has confused a lot of fans over the years because the name is usually associated with the River Tams in London, England. The name Tams represented Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi, the three-state region from which the team hoped to attract fans. The name also inspired the team's logo, which featured a tam-o'-shanter hat. The collapse that killed the ABA:
The Memphis Sound were having a lot of problems financially, so much so that the ABA took over the team four times in their 5 year history. The final time being in 1975, and the league told the owners to find more investors, sell more tickets and get a better lease on the Mid-South Coliseum. The Sound failed to do all of those, so the league was forced to sell the team.
A group of Baltimore investors bought the franchise with the intent to relocate them to Baltimore and rename them the Hustlers and later the Claws.
The Claws played one ABA pre-season, and two other exhabition games before they ran out of money and ceased operation. At the same time the NBA was putting a lot of pressure on the ABA financially as the NBA was able to sign away the best players and block the ABA from the bigger markets.
With the Claws demise the ABA started the 1975-76 with just 9 teams, and within a few weeks the San Diego Conquistadors folded, a few weeks later one of the leagues stallwart franchises - the Utah Stars- also folded. The league was left with just 7 teams. At the end of the season St Louis announced it was moving to Salt Lake City, and San Antonio, Kentucky, Denver, New York and Indiana were all trying to get into the NBA. Eventually 4 ABA teams merged with the NBA and the ABA was done.
The Claws Exhabition Season:The Claws played only three games in their history, all preseason exhibitions. The first was on October 9, 1975, in the nearby city of Salisbury, Maryland, against the Virginia Squires. The Squires won their first match against the Claws 131–121; attendance was reported to be at 1,150 people. Two days later the Claws lost to the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers 103–82 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in front of a capacity crowd of 1,213 at East High School. On October 16, 1975, the Claws played the Squires again, this time at the Knott Arena in Mount St. Mary's College at Emmitsburg, Maryland. Virginia won once again, this time by a 100–88 final score, in front of approximately 500 spectators.
Johnny Neumann was the first player in basketball history to sign a hardship clause to play professional basketball for the Pros. He left Ole Miss after his sophmore season where he averaged 40 points a game.
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The Baltimore Claws were one of the shortest-lived franchises in professional basketball history. The team existed during the turbulent final months of the American Basketball Association and played only three preseason exhibition games before being expelled from the league in October 1975. The collapse of the Claws was not an isolated event. It was an early warning of the financial disaster that overwhelmed the ABA during its final season. Within weeks, the San Diego Sails and Utah Stars also ceased operations. The Virginia Squires barely completed the regular season before folding, leaving only six teams to finish the ABA's final campaign. By the summer of 1976, the struggling league could no longer survive independently. Four ABA franchises joined the NBA, two others folded during the merger negotiations, and the original ABA disappeared after nine seasons
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