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The Reading Keys were one of the original six franchises in the Eastern Professional Basketball League, and they played like champions on the court - despite all the turmoil off the court. Their 1946-47 season was a strong one, as Bill Zubic led the Keys in scoring. Although the Keys were knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual playoff champion Wilkes-Barre Barons, the Keys did draw a respectable crowd to the Reading Armory, their home court. In 1947-48, the Keys used the Armory to their advantage, especially when the league schedules came out. Reading received Sunday afternoon home games at the Armory, which meant that teams who played Saturday night contests eventually had to play two games in 24 hours if their second game was a Reading afternoon Sunday contest. Other teams despised the Armory's tiny confines, and complained that the nets were attached to the basketball hoops with electric tape. Despite all this, the Keys finished the season with a 19-9 record, fortified with sharpshooters Norm "Pappy" Butz and Carl "Dewey" Boltz, as well as Joe Lord and Russ Guensch, who rounded out the team. During the season, however, the Keys had a disagreement with the Pottsville Packers over the Packers' use of several players who were playing concurrently in other leagues - mostly Hank Baietti and Vince Verdeschi. After confirming that Baietti and Verdeschi were moonlighting in other circuits, EPBL president William D. Morgan banned both players for the duration of the season - including the playoffs. Since Reading and Pottsville finished in a dead heat for the 1947-48 regular season crown, a one-game playoff in Hazleton (Pa.) was scheduled, which Pottsville eventually won, 60-57. However, Reading won the league playoffs, upending the Hazleton Mountaineers on Norm Butz' last-minute basket. The 1948-49 season started out strongly, as Reading defeated the BAA's Philadelphia Warriors in an exhibition contest at the Armory. But by this time, even the Keys were grumbling about the tiny Armory. Keys owner/coach Arlie Roblitzer petitioned the Reading School District to allow the Keys to play at Northwest Junior High School, which had a larger floor and more seating. The school district rejected the proposal. Roblitzer asked again, hoping the Keys' 6-2 record at the time might sway the school board. No dice. With that, Roblitzer actually relocated the Keys' home games to Allentown, so by January 1949 the franchise, then known as the Allentown Keys, played their home games at spacious Rockne Hall. But even with their new home, the Keys lost more money - because of the late-season relocation, there were very few prime dates available at Rockne Hall for the Keys. Barely a month after moving to Allentown, the Keys returned to Reading to finish out the season. The Keys ended the season in a three-way tie for first place, and special tiebreaker contests were played to determine the regular season champion. Reading defeated Harrisburg, 68-66, but were clobbered by the Williamsport Billies, 100-77. In the playoffs, the Harrisburg Senators extracted their revenge, beating Reading 2-1 in a best-of-three playoff. In the offseason, a new franchise, the Reading Rangers, replaced Roblitzer's Keys in the Armory. The newly-christened Reading Rangers still played their home contests in the Reading Armory, and feverishly petitioned to play at Northwest Junior High School, whose gymnasium would hold more fans than would the crumbling Armory. The Board of Education refused to allow the team to play at Northwest, citing the use of a non-profit facility for a for-profit enterprise. For two seasons, the Rangers limped along, losing more games than it won. The Rangers began the 1950-51 season with an impressive 6-4 record, thanks to the return of their top stars, Carl “Dewey” Boltz and Norm “Pappy” Butz, but could only win two of its next 20 games after that. Most of the year was, once again, spent begging the school district to let the team use Northwest Junior High School. It should be noted that among the players who suited up for the Rangers was Willem “Butch” van Breda Kolff, who previously spent four years with the New York Knicks as a player; and later became a successful NBA and coach. The Rangers forfeited their final games at the end of the season, and a new ownership group came in to run pro basketball in the Pretzel City. A consortium of business owners operated a "Reading Merchants" franchise for the 1951-52 campaign, and after the Merchants played a few contests at Mt. Penn High School and at their old court, the Reading Armory, the Northwest Junior High School board finally gave in and allowed the franchise use of their court. One of the highlights of Reading's stint at Northwest JHS was a special "Old Timer's Day" on January 17, 1952, where after the Merchants defeated the Lancaster Red Roses 58-40 in front of 800 fans, the team honored the surviving members of the 1913 Reading Bears, whose team in the original Eastern League defeated the mighty Troy Trojans of the New York State League for professional basketball supremacy. Among those honored that night were George "Horse" Haggarty, whose son Jack Haggarty played on the current Merchants team; and Harry "Yummy" Armpriester, who was one of the Eastern League's earliest referees. But after a few contests at Northwest, as the crowd hovered to less than 400 patrons per night, the Northwest experiment was deemed a failure, and the Merchants relocated BACK to the Armory. When the 1951-52 season ended, so did professional basketball in Reading - at least for several seasons. Professional basketball returned to Reading, Pennsylvania, as the Reading Keys resumed play for the 1957-58 EPBL season. Head Coach Charley Dunkelberger, who coached high school ball in Reading for nearly a quarter of a century, let fans know that "We have a club composed of high-type boys who are all college graduates, and I'm sure they can make the people of Reading proud of them." The team included Denny Roth, a 6'7" center from Muhlenberg College; George Conrad, a 6'1 Albright College standout, and John Russell, who previously suited up for the Lancaster Red Roses. If the Keys had any weakness in the early going, it was the lack of an extra big man - Roth and Jack Ziegler were 6'7" apiece, the tallest men on the team. That was later rectified with the signing of 6'5" Bill Deibert (6'3") and LaSalle's Fred Iehle (6'5"), and the Keys took to the hardwood for their first home opponent, the Easton-Phillipsburg Madisons. Reading won that first home game, 129-110, in front of 1,040 fans at the Armory, as Johnny Russell led the team with 35 points. That was an auspicious win for the Keys. It was the only win they would register all season. After losing their next seven straight games, including a 136-117 whipping at the hands of the Wilkes-Barre Barons at the Reading Armory, Eastern League president Harry Rudolph requested that no further games be scheduled at the Armory - with the reason given for the request as lack of seating accommodations. Or, more formally, lack of seated customers. Before the season began, Reading hoped to play their games at Northwest Junior High, but - as usual - the school board turned the team down. Until a new venue could be found for the Keys, they spent nearly a month playing "home" games in neutral cities as the opening game of a hoops doubleheader. In the 1950's, pro teams allowed independent teams or high school squads to play the first game of a doubleheader, with the Eastern League team playing the nightcap. Essentially, the Keys were now reduced to being the opening act for other Eastern League teams. By late January, with their losing streak reaching 13 games, the Keys were able to schedule home games in Reading - this time at the Mount Penn High School gymnasium, where despite 42 points from their newest signee, John Conrad, the Keys lost to the Scranton Miners, 128-118 - increasing the Keys' losing streak to 14 consecutive games. The streak reached 18 losses in a row when the Keys lost to Easton, 101-95. With the crowds getting even smaller, and the team forced to play with the only five men who showed up at the game; Reading's days at Mount Penn High School were drawing short. Plans were made for the Keys' next home game, against Hazleton, to be played at Ashland High School; but only 100 fans braved a blizzard to watch Reading's losing streak rise to 19 in a row with a 136-107 loss to Hazleton. Things got so bad that the team's business manager, Bill Mason, suited up for the game (he hit one free throw during the game). With such a small crowd, the Keys were unable to provide the $200 guarantee to visiting club Hazleton for the contest, and EL President Rudolph ordered that Reading's next two games be cancelled until further notice. On February 23, 1958, it became official - the Reading Keys withdrew from the Eastern League, citing poor box office support. The Keys' remaining contests were declared forfeits, giving the squad a pitiful 1-27 record.
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