Springfield Hall of Famers
EPBL 1968-1969

Springfield, Massachusetts is famous as the location where Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball. Springfield is also the location of the National Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum, a place every basketball fan should visit at least once in their lifetime.

Springfield was also the home of the first Eastern League team to ever play in Massachusetts, the Springfield Hall of Famers. The Famers were actually the transplanted Asbury Park Boardwalkers, who spent two seasons in the EPBL. Springfield head coach Matt Zunic had high hopes for this squad, and hoped for a solid performance in the ten-team EPBL.

The original lineup boasted several transplants from the Asbury Park team, including 7' Walter Dukes, Herman "Helicopter" Knowlings, and Henry Payne, who played his college ball on the same Butova Gymnasium court as a student at American International.

But the Hall of Famers played nothing like their name would suggest. After two early losses to Scranton, coach Zunic shuffled the lineup, adding veterans Tom Hemans, Swish McKinney and Lonnie Lynn, as well as Holy Cross rookie John Wendelkin.

But after seven consecutive losses, the Hall of Famers folded on December 10, 1968. Fan support dwindled drastically from the team's first game, as only 200 paid fans showed up for the Famers' third home game; and only 100 hearty souls appeared for the Famers' home loss against Wilkes-Barre.

At an EPBL emergency meeting, it was determined that all teams who would have hosted Springfield for home games would receive forfeit victories for each contest; while Springfield's remaining home games were wiped from the schedule. Technically this meant that the Hall of Famers folded with an 0-7 record, but were credited with a final record of 0-18.