History of the Pittsburgh Raiders

The Pittsburgh Raiders were a professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League during the 1944-45 season. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Raiders existed in the NBL for only one year, finishing with a 7-23 record and missing the playoffs.

Although their league tenure was short and unsuccessful, the Raiders were part of a much longer professional basketball tradition in Pittsburgh. Their history can be traced through earlier Pittsburgh clubs, including the Pittsburgh Y.M.H.A. and Pittsburgh Pirates, and through the independent Pittsburgh Corbetts that competed in the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament.

The Raiders also featured several notable players, led by Huck Hartman, who averaged 10.9 points per game and earned Second Team All-NBL honors. Other important players included Hank Evans, Joe Urso, Matt Vaniel, Freddie Crum, George Haines, Irv Brenner and Pete Lalich.

After the 1944-45 season, the Raiders left the NBL. Several of their players subsequently became associated with the Youngstown Bears, another short-lived NBL franchise that began play in 1945-46.

Professional Basketball in Pittsburgh Before the Raiders

Professional basketball had existed in Pittsburgh long before the Raiders appeared in 1944.

The city supported numerous independent, semi-professional and company-sponsored basketball teams during the first half of the twentieth century.

One important organization was the Pittsburgh Y.M.H.A., which competed in the Midwest Basketball Conference during the middle of the 1930s.

When the Midwest Basketball Conference was reorganized as the National Basketball League in 1937, the Pittsburgh organization adopted the name Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates represented Pittsburgh during the first two NBL seasons.

The Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pittsburgh Pirates basketball team should not be confused with the city's Major League Baseball franchise, although the basketball club adopted the same nickname.

The Pirates played in the National Basketball League during the 1937-38 and 1938-39 seasons.

After the second season, the organization became inactive.

Pittsburgh therefore disappeared from the NBL for several years before professional basketball was revived in the city during World War II.

Meyer "Buck" Gefsky

One of the most important figures in Pittsburgh's early professional basketball history was Meyer "Buck" Gefsky.

Gefsky had been involved with professional basketball in Pittsburgh for years and possessed connections to the earlier Y.M.H.A. and Pirates organizations.

He eventually became the owner of the Pittsburgh Raiders.

Gefsky's decision to revive a major professional basketball team in Pittsburgh was influenced in part by the success of local players competing in independent basketball during World War II.

Basketball During World War II

World War II dramatically affected professional basketball.

Many of the best young players entered military service, while travel restrictions and gasoline rationing made operating professional teams increasingly difficult.

The NBL contracted to only a handful of organizations during the worst years of the war.

At the same time, military teams and independent clubs became important sources of high-level basketball.

Pittsburgh remained active within that independent basketball environment.

The Pittsburgh Corbetts

During the 1943-44 season, an independent team known as the Pittsburgh Corbetts emerged as one of the city's leading basketball clubs.

The Corbetts earned the opportunity to represent Pittsburgh in the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago.

That tournament was one of the most prestigious events in professional basketball before the creation of the NBA.

Teams from the NBL competed alongside major independent organizations and touring teams.

The 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament

The Pittsburgh Corbetts faced the famous Harlem Globetrotters in the opening round of the 1944 tournament.

Pittsburgh nearly produced a major upset.

The Globetrotters defeated the Corbetts by only 41-40.

Despite the first-round loss, Pittsburgh guard Manny Hyatt played well enough to earn a place on the tournament's Second Team.

The performance demonstrated that Pittsburgh possessed enough professional talent to support a stronger organization.

From the Corbetts to the Raiders

After the tournament, Buck Gefsky acquired many of the players who had competed for the Corbetts.

He organized them into a new professional team called the Pittsburgh Raiders.

Gefsky reportedly considered the Raiders a revival or continuation of his earlier Pittsburgh professional organization rather than a completely unrelated franchise.

The National Basketball League accepted Pittsburgh for the 1944-45 season.

The 1944-45 National Basketball League

The NBL was operating with only six teams during the 1944-45 season.

They were divided into Eastern and Western divisions.

The Eastern Division consisted of:

• Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
• Cleveland Allmen Transfers
• Pittsburgh Raiders

The Western Division included:

• Sheboygan Red Skins
• Chicago American Gears
• Oshkosh All-Stars

The league was still dealing with wartime player shortages, but several outstanding teams remained.

Duquesne Gardens

The Raiders played in Duquesne Gardens, one of Pittsburgh's most important indoor sports venues.

Duquesne Gardens had hosted hockey, boxing, basketball and other events for decades.

Playing there placed the Raiders in a considerably larger and more prominent venue than many early NBL teams, which often played in high school gymnasiums or industrial recreation centers.

Joe Urso

Joe Urso became one of the central figures on the Raiders roster.

The 5-foot-10 guard had played college basketball at Duquesne and became both a player and an important leader for the Pittsburgh club.

Urso appeared in 29 games, scoring 202 points.

He averaged 7.0 points per game.

That was a respectable figure during an era when scoring averages were dramatically lower than in modern professional basketball.

Huck Hartman

The best player on the Pittsburgh Raiders was center Pierre "Huck" Hartman.

Hartman appeared in all 30 games and led the team in nearly every major scoring category.

He made 127 field goals and 73 free throws for a total of 327 points.

That gave him an average of 10.9 points per game.

For the mid-1940s NBL, averaging nearly 11 points per game represented major offensive production.

Huck Hartman Earns All-NBL Honors

Hartman's performance was good enough to earn him Second Team All-NBL honors.

He was the only Pittsburgh Raider to receive an All-NBL selection.

The honor was especially notable because the Raiders finished with one of the poorest records in the league.

Hartman later continued his NBL career with the Youngstown Bears.

Sadly, his life ended shortly afterward when he died from pneumonia in March 1946 at only 25 years old.

Hank Evans

Hank Evans was Pittsburgh's second-leading scorer.

The 6-foot-3 forward-center appeared in 28 games.

Evans scored 238 points, averaging 8.5 per game.

Before joining Pittsburgh, Evans had spent years playing for independent and industrial basketball clubs in western Pennsylvania.

His experience made him an important frontcourt partner for Hartman.

Matt Vaniel

Forward Matt Vaniel provided another strong scoring option.

Vaniel played 24 games and scored 179 points.

His average of approximately 7.5 points per game ranked among the best on the roster.

Freddie Crum

Freddie Crum appeared in 29 games for Pittsburgh.

The guard-forward scored 168 points, averaging 5.8 per game.

Crum's versatility allowed him to contribute at multiple perimeter positions.

George Haines

George Haines was another regular member of the rotation.

The guard-forward appeared in 26 games and scored 145 points, an average of 5.6 per game.

Irv Brenner

Center-forward Irv Brenner played 14 games.

He scored 64 points, averaging 4.6 per game.

Brenner later joined the Youngstown Bears.

Ralph Churchfield

Ralph Churchfield appeared in 20 games for Pittsburgh.

He scored 67 points while providing additional backcourt and forward depth.

Pete Lalich

Forward Pete Lalich appeared in nine games.

He scored 20 points during his brief Raiders tenure.

Nat Hickey

One of the most interesting players to appear for Pittsburgh was veteran Nat Hickey.

Hickey appeared in only two Raiders games.

His professional basketball career had begun many years earlier, and he later became famous for appearing in a Basketball Association of America game at age 45 while coaching the Providence Steamrollers.

For decades, Hickey was recognized as the oldest player ever to appear in what became NBA history.

Other Pittsburgh Raiders Players

• Sid Levine
• Joe Proksa
• Jack Scarry
• Al Schrecker
• John Novotny
• Johnny Stevenson
• Paul Kessy
• Bobby Neu
• Frank Vukosic

The large number of players used by Pittsburgh reflected the unstable roster conditions common during wartime professional basketball.

Pittsburgh Raiders Leading Scorers

Pittsburgh Opens With a Victory

The Raiders began their NBL season on November 29, 1944, with an encouraging road victory.

Pittsburgh defeated the Oshkosh All-Stars 43-41.

The win suggested that the new team might be competitive.

Unfortunately, consistency quickly became a problem.

A Difficult Season

Pittsburgh finished the 30-game schedule with only seven victories and 23 losses.

The Raiders' .233 winning percentage was the worst record in the league.

They finished third and last in the Eastern Division.

Fort Wayne dominated the division at 25-5, while Cleveland finished second at 13-17.

Only the top two teams reached the playoffs.

Pittsburgh Raiders 1944-45 Record

Offensive Problems

Pittsburgh scored 1,460 points during its 30 games.

That amounted to an average of 48.7 points per game.

The Raiders ranked fifth among the NBL's six teams in scoring.

Only Oshkosh averaged fewer points.

Defensive Problems

The defense was even more problematic.

Opponents scored 1,665 points, averaging 55.5 points per game against Pittsburgh.

That was the worst defensive scoring average in the league.

The nearly seven-point average scoring deficit explains much of Pittsburgh's 7-23 record.

Pittsburgh's Seven Victories

• Pittsburgh 43, Oshkosh 41
• Pittsburgh 55, Cleveland 53
• Pittsburgh 49, Sheboygan 47
• Pittsburgh 49, Oshkosh 42
• Pittsburgh 48, Cleveland 42
• Pittsburgh 64, Chicago American Gears 49
• Pittsburgh 55, Oshkosh 48

Five of Pittsburgh's seven victories came at home.

The Raiders' only two road victories both came against Oshkosh.

A Three-Game Winning Streak

The strongest stretch of the season came in January 1945.

Pittsburgh defeated Oshkosh 49-42 on January 8.

Five days later, the Raiders beat Cleveland 48-42.

On January 15, Pittsburgh defeated the Chicago American Gears 64-49.

The three consecutive victories represented the Raiders' longest winning streak of the season.

Fort Wayne Dominates the East

One of Pittsburgh's greatest problems was sharing a division with the powerful Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.

Fort Wayne finished 25-5.

The Pistons were led by legendary guard Bobby McDermott, one of the greatest players of the pre-NBA era.

Fort Wayne had won the NBL championship in 1944 and repeated in 1945.

Pittsburgh simply did not possess the depth or talent necessary to compete consistently with such a dominant organization.

The Cleveland Allmen Transfers

Pittsburgh's more realistic competition for a playoff berth was the Cleveland Allmen Transfers.

Cleveland finished only 13-17.

The Raiders beat Cleveland twice but still finished six games behind them.

Those six games represented the difference between Pittsburgh reaching the postseason and finishing last in the division.

No Playoff Appearance

The Raiders never qualified for the NBL postseason.

Their only league season ended when the regular schedule concluded.

Fort Wayne and Cleveland represented the Eastern Division in the playoffs.

Pittsburgh's final NBL record remained permanently fixed at 7-23.

The 1945 World Professional Basketball Tournament

The Raiders' season continued after the NBL schedule through participation in the 1945 World Professional Basketball Tournament at Chicago Stadium.

Fourteen professional teams entered the competition.

The field included NBL organizations, independent clubs and famous touring teams.

Pittsburgh advanced beyond the opening stage and ultimately finished among the tournament's group of fifth-place teams.

A Prestigious Tournament

The World Professional Basketball Tournament was an important event in the era before a single dominant professional league existed.

The tournament included clubs from different leagues, allowing teams that normally did not play one another to compete directly.

Winning the event carried considerable prestige.

The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons ultimately won the 1945 championship.

The End of Pittsburgh's NBL Membership

After the 1944-45 campaign, the Raiders did not return to the National Basketball League.

The organization resumed playing independently instead.

That decision ended the Raiders' official NBL history after only one season.

The Raiders Continue Independently

Unlike many short-lived NBL franchises, the Pittsburgh Raiders did not immediately disappear completely.

The club continued playing independent basketball.

The Raiders returned to the World Professional Basketball Tournament in 1946.

They lost to the Chicago American Gears 69-56 during that tournament.

The Pittsburgh Pirates Name Returns

The Pittsburgh basketball organization later briefly revived the Pittsburgh Pirates name for the 1947 World Professional Basketball Tournament.

This complicated lineage reflects the fluid nature of early professional basketball.

Team names, sponsors and league affiliations could change rapidly while the same ownership or organizational structure continued operating.

Connection to the Youngstown Bears

The most important consequence of the Raiders leaving the NBL was the creation of the Youngstown Bears.

Basketball supporters in Youngstown, Ohio, became interested in bringing professional basketball to their city.

Players associated with Pittsburgh became part of the new Youngstown organization.

The Bears joined the NBL for the 1945-46 season.

Players Who Continued to Youngstown

• Huck Hartman
• Joe Urso
• Irv Brenner
• Pete Lalich

The transition created a strong personnel connection between the two organizations.

Joe Urso in Youngstown

Urso played 15 games for Youngstown in 1945-46.

His scoring role was smaller than it had been in Pittsburgh, but he provided continuity and professional experience.

Huck Hartman in Youngstown

Hartman also continued with Youngstown.

He again became an important frontcourt scorer.

His career was tragically cut short when he died of pneumonia on March 25, 1946, shortly after the end of the Bears' first season.

He was only 25.

Pittsburgh Raiders and Youngstown Bears

Although they should be treated as distinct team identities, the shared personnel and circumstances make the Raiders an important part of the story leading into the Youngstown Bears.

Pittsburgh Raiders Franchise Record

Pittsburgh Raiders Major Honor

Notable Pittsburgh Raiders Players

• Huck Hartman
• Hank Evans
• Joe Urso
• Matt Vaniel
• Freddie Crum
• George Haines
• Ralph Churchfield
• Irv Brenner
• Pete Lalich
• Nat Hickey
• Bobby Neu
• Jack Scarry
• Sid Levine

Home Arena

The Pittsburgh Raiders played at Duquesne Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The building was one of the city's principal indoor sporting venues during the first half of the twentieth century.

It also hosted hockey, boxing and college basketball.

Pittsburgh's Professional Basketball Landscape

The Raiders were only one of several attempts to establish major professional basketball in Pittsburgh.

The city had previously hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NBL.

Only one year after the Raiders left the NBL, Pittsburgh received another major professional franchise.

The Pittsburgh Ironmen entered the newly formed Basketball Association of America for the 1946-47 season.

The Pittsburgh Ironmen

The Ironmen were unrelated to the Raiders as an official franchise.

They played only one BAA season, finishing 15-45.

The Ironmen then folded.

Their short existence continued the pattern of professional basketball struggling to establish long-term stability in Pittsburgh despite the city's size and sporting culture.

The Raiders and the NBL-BAA Transition

The Raiders disappeared from the NBL just before professional basketball entered its most important period of restructuring.

The Basketball Association of America began play in 1946.

The NBL and BAA competed for players and franchises during the late 1940s.

Several of the NBL's strongest organizations eventually moved into the BAA.

In 1949, the remaining teams came together under the National Basketball Association name.

Teams the Raiders Faced That Helped Shape the NBA

Several organizations Pittsburgh faced during its only NBL season became important parts of later professional basketball history.

The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons eventually became the Detroit Pistons.

Other NBL franchises from the era helped create the league structure that evolved into the NBA.

The Raiders disappeared before that transformation was completed.

Meyer Gefsky's Place in Pittsburgh Basketball

Buck Gefsky's efforts helped keep professional basketball alive in Pittsburgh across several different eras.

His involvement extended from the earlier Y.M.H.A. and Pirates organizations into the Raiders period.

The changing names of those teams reflected the unstable nature of professional basketball before modern franchise structures existed.

The Raiders and Wartime Basketball

The Pittsburgh Raiders are also an example of how World War II shaped professional sports.

Player availability changed constantly.

Many athletes were serving in the military or returning from service.

Independent teams flourished because normal professional league structures had been disrupted.

The Raiders emerged directly from that wartime environment.

The Corbetts Connection

The Pittsburgh Corbetts are therefore essential to understanding how the Raiders were created.

Their near upset of the Harlem Globetrotters in the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament demonstrated that Pittsburgh possessed professional-level talent.

Gefsky used much of that talent as the foundation for the Raiders.

Within months, Pittsburgh was back in the National Basketball League.

Why the Raiders Struggled

Several factors contributed to Pittsburgh's poor 7-23 record.

The roster lacked the star power of Fort Wayne.

Defensively, the Raiders allowed more points than any other NBL team.

Their offense depended heavily on Hartman, Evans and Urso.

Roster depth was also difficult to maintain in the wartime environment.

Even with several capable players, Pittsburgh could not compete consistently with the league's stronger organizations.

A Better Team Than the Record Suggests?

The Raiders' statistical profile suggests they may have been somewhat unlucky in addition to being weak.

They lost numerous competitive games and defeated several respectable teams.

Pittsburgh recorded victories over Cleveland, Sheboygan, Chicago and Oshkosh.

Their 64-49 victory over the American Gears showed that the Raiders were capable of strong performances.

Consistency was the larger problem.

Franchise Timeline

An Earlier Pittsburgh Pirates Connection

There is some disagreement in historical recordkeeping over precisely how the Raiders should be connected to the earlier Pittsburgh Pirates.

Buck Gefsky regarded the Raiders as a revival of his earlier Pittsburgh basketball operation.

Modern statistical databases, however, generally list the Pittsburgh Pirates and Pittsburgh Raiders as separate NBL team identities.

The most useful historical approach is therefore to recognize the organizational connection while preserving their separate statistical records.

The Raiders Among Defunct NBL Teams

The Raiders belong to a large group of NBL organizations that survived only briefly.

The league included numerous short-lived teams, particularly during its early and wartime years.

Financial instability, wartime player shortages, corporate sponsorship changes and competition from other professional leagues frequently caused teams to disappear.

Pittsburgh's one-season NBL return was part of that larger pattern.

Legacy of the Pittsburgh Raiders

The Pittsburgh Raiders lasted only one season in the National Basketball League, but their history represents an important chapter in Pittsburgh's long and complicated professional basketball story.

The Raiders grew out of a professional tradition that included the Pittsburgh Y.M.H.A. and Pittsburgh Pirates.

After Pittsburgh's earlier NBL team became inactive, the city continued supporting independent basketball.

The Pittsburgh Corbetts represented the city in the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament and came within a single point of upsetting the Harlem Globetrotters.

Buck Gefsky used much of that roster as the foundation for a revived professional organization.

The Pittsburgh Raiders entered the NBL for the 1944-45 season.

Center Huck Hartman became the team's star, scoring 327 points and averaging 10.9 per game. His performance earned him Second Team All-NBL recognition.

Hank Evans, Joe Urso, Matt Vaniel, Freddie Crum and George Haines gave Pittsburgh additional scoring, but the roster lacked the depth of the league's strongest teams.

The Raiders finished 7-23, last in the Eastern Division and worst overall in the six-team league.

Pittsburgh averaged 48.7 points while allowing 55.5, giving the Raiders the NBL's weakest defense.

The team nevertheless produced several memorable victories, including a three-game winning streak in January and a 64-49 win over the Chicago American Gears.

After the season, Pittsburgh competed in the World Professional Basketball Tournament before leaving the NBL.

The Raiders continued independently, while several members of the roster moved into the Youngstown Bears organization.

Pittsburgh's attempt to sustain major professional basketball would soon continue with the Pittsburgh Ironmen of the Basketball Association of America.

The Raiders finished their official NBL existence with a 7-23 record, no playoff appearances and one All-NBL player in Huck Hartman.

Those numbers were modest, but the franchise remains historically significant because it bridged several distinct periods of Pittsburgh basketball: the early NBL Pirates, wartime independent basketball, the Youngstown Bears and the arrival of the BAA.

The Pittsburgh Raiders were therefore more than simply a one-season last-place team. They were part of the constantly changing professional basketball landscape that existed immediately before the creation of the modern NBA.