New Orleans Buccaneers

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The New Orleans Buccaneers were a charter franchise in the American Basketball Association, originally based in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the league's first year, they qualified for the finals, losing to the Pittsburgh Pipers. They were hampered from the beginning by the lack of a truly suitable venue for home games, playing at first at the Loyola Field House of Loyola University New Orleans, later at Avron B. Fogelman Arena at Tulane University and also at the Municipal Auditorium. The franchise was never strong financially, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee after the 1969-1970 season, becoming the Memphis Pros.

The Buccaneers were coached by Babe McCarthy, who was famous for two reasons. One was that he had coached Mississippi State University to a Southeastern Conference championship in an era when that league's basketball was dominated by the University of Kentucky. The other was when the then all-white Mississippi state legislature forbade the team to participate in the racially integrated NCAA Tournament. McCarthy took the team out-of-state in the dead of night and had them participate anyway, which gave him a near-legend status in the eyes of some (and the undying hatred of others).

The team was owned in part by Morton Downey Jr prior to his becoming a famous talk show host. In his autobiography Downey describes an incident in which he was arrested for bringing some of his African American players to a local restaurant, defends himself in court, and is acquitted.