Player info Roster

Team info

Stats

Quick facts:

Founded:  1946
Folded:   1947
          

Arena:    Duquesne Gardens
          110 N. Craig Street
          Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Built in: 1890
Capacity: 6,500
Arena Cost: $500,000 
Titles:   None
Playoffs: None
Trivia:   Has the record for worse ELO ranking in NBA History making them a strong candidate for worst team ever.

Season records
Year   W    L  
46-47  15   45

A City of Basketball Failures:
Pittsburgh has long been a city of failure for the game of basketball. The NFL with the Steelers, MLB with the Pirates, and even the NHL with the Penguins have all enjoyed a lot of success in the city. Basketball, not so much.

The city went through many early teams in the early leagues, many lasting just weeks. The first real major team for the area was the Pittsburgh Pirates, which was mainly an all Jewish barnstorming team, but went semi-pro in the mid 1930s and joined the Midwest Basketball Conference and eventually the NBL. The Pirates, named after the MLB team, did not see very much success and disbanded in 1939. A few years later the NBL tried Pittsburgh again and founded the Raiders, they lasted just one season before failing.

The BAA tried with the Ironmen, but they failed after just one season. The Ironmen may have been one of the worst teams in NBA history.

The ABA tried and seen some success in the 1960s with the Condors, but they too failed.

An NBA beginning:
Peter "Press" Maravich was a 6'0" guard from Davis & Elkins College. He had previously played for the Youngstown Bears of the NBL and a few other teams. He would be most famous for being the father of NBA legend "Pistol" Pete Maravich. Piston Pete would go on to have one of the best college career's every while at LSU and go on to become a hall-of-fame player for the Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Jazz.

John Abromvic

Coulby Gunther


Father-son day promotion between the Stags and Iron Men.

Pittsburgh vs Providence.

A student ticket promotion for early season games. The IronMen only had 10 home games before December 30, 1946.

Pittsburgh Ironmen team photo