| Waterloo Hawks HISTORY
Player info
Roster
| Team info
| Stats |
Quick facts:
Founded: 1948
Folded: 1950
Arena: The Hippodrome
Waterloo, IA
Built in: 1936
Capacity: 5,155
Cost: $105,000
Titles: none
Playoffs: none
Owner: P.L. "Pinkie" George
Colors: Black, Gold, and White
Hawks Standings
|
Season | League | W | L | % | Playoffs | |
1948-49 | NBL | 30 | 32 | .484 | None | |
1949-50 | NBA | 19 | 43 | .306 | None | |
1950-51 | NPBL | 32 | 24 | .571 | League Disbanded |
Iowa:
The Hawks are the only professional team in any of the US big 4 sports (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL) to permanently call the state of Iowa home. The Tri-Cities Blackhawks, now the Atlanta Hawks did play in Davenport but most of their home games were in Molina, Il.
The Name:
Both the Tri-Cities team and the Hawks were named after the Chief Blackhawk, who lead a long standing war against the US Government in the area in the 19th century.
When the Waterloo Hawks disbanded and the Tri-Cities team moved to Milwaukee, they took the Hawks moniker which they keep to this day.
The Christmas Day Miracle:
On Christmas day in 1949 the Hawks trailed the hotshot Indianapolis Olympians by 12 points with 48 seconds left. The Olympians were short on players due to injuries and foul trouble and a player got his 6th personal foul, and with no one to replace him a technical foul was called. This process repeated itself several times allowing the Hawks to make one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history as they would win the game 97-93.
The game saw the Olympians called for 90 personal fouls and the Hawks shooting 45 free throws.
3 Leagues:
The Hawks have the distinction of being one of the few teams in basketball history to play in 3 different leagues in 3 different seasons. The Hawks started out in the National Basketball League, and when the NBL merged with the BAA they moved to the NBA. After one season in the NBA they and several other former NBL teams were forced out and formed the NPBL. The NPBL didn't last a full season before it and the Hawks disbanded.
Arena Name:
the Hippodrome, also know as McElroy Auditorium, seated 5,155 people after its rennovation in 1936. The arena was named after R.J. McElroy in 1956. The area has been in continuous operation since 1919, making it one of the oldest arena's still in use in the United States.
The arena is owned and operated by the National Cattle Congress. It normally hosts concerts, trade shows, conventions, livestock shows and rodeos.
There is some confusion about the name. When the Hawks played there the arena name was the Hippodrome. The confusion stems from an NBA publication from the 1960s which erroneously listed the current name of the arena and not its historical name.
McElroy Auditorium
Waterloo Hawks vs Denver Nuggets ticket
Ben Schadler
News stories about the Waterloo Hawks vs Hammond Bucs and vs the Tri-Cities Blackhawks
Noble Jorgensen
Dale Hamilton
Johnny Payak
 
Harry Boykoff
Wayne See
1949-50 Waterloo Hawks team photo
Waterloo Hawks vs Minneapolis Lakers
 Anderson's Ed Stanczak trying to steal the ball from Waterloo's Don Boven.
Leo Kubiak of the Waterloo Hawks drives past Syracuse's Johnny Rizzo in an NBL game.
Waterloo's Leo Kubiak goes past Denver's Bobby Royer and Al Guokas
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