|
|
|
Pottsville, Pa. wasn't originally a member of the Eastern Professional Basketball League until midway through the league's first season, when the Binghamton Triplets folded after seven games and a 1-6 record. The team didn't even have an official nickname in that first season, in which the Pottsville squad went 6-14 to finish the season with a semi-respectable 7-20 combined record. The hometown paper referred to the squad as the "Pros," while the team was known on road games as the "Maroons," possibly in tribute to Pottsville's 1925 NFL championship team. The top player for Pottsville that season was Danny Murphy, one of two players retained by the new Pottsville owner after the franchise relocated from Binghamton. In the 1947-48 season, the team owners held a "name-the-team" contest, and in January 1948 the basketball team was renamed as the "Packers." Murphy returned for the 1947-48 season, and the team was strengthened by the additions of such players as Jack Flannery, Hank Baietti and Vince Verdeschi. No longer doormats of the Eastern League, the Packers tied for the EPBL regular season championship with a 19-9 record, and would play the Reading Keys in a one-game playoff to determine the regular season championship. But during that playoff game, Pottsville had to play without two of its biggest scorers - Biaetti and Verdeschi were suspended from the EPBL for playing games for other leagues concomitantly with their association with the Packers. Verdeschi, for example, played two games in the Mohawk League (NY), and may have played a third contest at the same time as a Packers home game. Despite this setback, the Packers defeated the Reading Keys 60-57 in a special post-season, pre-playoff contest and became the 1948 regular season champions. In the playoffs, however, the Packers lost to Hazleton, 2 games to 1. By the 1948-49 season, the Packers had stockpiled more talent, including the acquisition of Jack "The Giant Killer" McCloskey, who later became a successful NBA coach. The team that season also had Jack Flannery, who played high school ball at Pottsville High; and John Gozenovich, who led the team in scoring. Pottsville's team captain that year was Tommy Bell, a 5'6 guard from LaSalle. However, midway through the 1948-49 season, Bell suffered a debilitating stomach illness, and was unable to finish the season. Within that, the league actually held an All-Star Game, featuring the top league talent against the Pottsville Packers, with the proceeds from the game earmarked for Bell's hospital expenses. The Packers won the championship in 1949 over Harrisburg; but sadly Bell would not return to the team. He died on December 17, 1950, and the Eastern League named its Most Valuable Player award in Tommy Bell's memory. During the 1950-51 season, the Packers started the season not at Pottsville High School, but at the Orwigsburg Community Hall, in an effort to cut costs. But by mid-season, the franchise returned to Pottsville High School. The Packers won one more championship, this time in the 1951-52 season, defeating the Sunbury Mercuries in a best-of-three series. However, that would be the last season for the Packers in Pottsville. After the 1951-52 season, the Packers relocated to Wilkes-Barre for the 1952-53 season, but only played four games as the Wilkes-Barre Aces before the franchise folded. After a one-year hiatus from the league, Pottsville returned to the hoops circuit when the Lebanon Seltzers' franchise relocated to Pottsville. But since the Lebanon franchise was still owned and sponsored by Seltzer's Smokehouse Meats, the team was nicknamed the Pottsville Bolognas. In their inaugural season in Pottsville, the Bolognas barely strung together a sub-.500 record, and the fans treated the team more like baloney than bologna. By January 1954, the Bolognas relocated back to Lebanon, where the team played several games before forfeiting the rest of the season.
|
