|
Tricities Blackhawks HISTORY
Quick facts:
Founded: 1946
Moved 1951
Arena: Wharton Fieldhouse, Molina, Il
Founder: Leo Ferris
Division Championships: None
NBA Titles: None
NBL Titles: None
Playoffs: 3 (48,49,50)
How The Blackhawks got their nickname:
Tri-Cities is located in the midwest, in lands which once belonged to the Kickapoo, Sauk, and Fox Native American tribes. The three tribes fought a long war against the United Stated called the Blackhawk war after their chief Blackhawk.
First Ever NBA Game:
The Blackhawks and the Denver Nuggets played in the first NBA game after the merger of the NBL and the BAA which formed the NBA.
The Blackhawks would win the game 93 to 85. Billy Hassett would lead the Blackhawks with 15 and Denver's Bob Brown would lead all scorers with 16.
1947-48 Tri-Cities Blackhawks
Bobby McDermott and Murray Wier
Blackhawks warm ups
Don Otten came with the team from Buffalo.
The first NBA game played after the merger of the BAA and NBL occurred in Molina, Illinois and was between the Denver Nuggets and Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
Leo Ferris: The man who saved the NBA
The early days of basketball often seen slow fan-unfriendly low scoring matches that often left spectators bored. Games often only got into the 40s and many of the best players averaged less than 15 points a game. Many early basketball games looked more like a glorified version of the childrens game of keep-away than an action packed professional sport. This style of play culminated in a game between Minneapolis and Fort Wayne, where the Pistons of Fort Wayne held the ball most of the second half nursing a 1 point lead over the Lakers. The Pistons would win 19-18 in the lowest scoring game in NBA history. Prior to that the fewest points ever score 33 points, just 4 fewer than both teams scored, and that game was one the opening night of the NBA, or BAA as it was called back then.
This place pace bored fans, many of whom where promised an action packed fun experience and attendance and interest in the new league had begun to dip. The NBA needed a solution and needed it fast. The solution was an ingenious one and one that would revolutionize the game as we know it. A simple clock, with just 24 seconds on it would forever change the game.
The clock was the brain child of Syracuse Nationals general manager Leo Ferris, a man that the NBA has long forgotten in one of the biggest travesties in the games history. Ferris, is as important to the early days of the NBA as anyone and one could argue that without Ferris there would be no NBA today; and there definitely would be no Atlanta Hawks, or Philadelphia 76ers. The NBA would look much different today without Ferris's input all those years ago.
Complete Article
|
|
NBA History
NBL History
|