Pittsburgh Condors
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The Pittsburgh Condors were a professional basketball team in the original American Basketball Association, playing under that name from 1970 through 1972. The team played their home games in Pittsburgh's Civic Arena, now known as the Mellon Arena.
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[edit] Background
The Condors started life as the Pittsburgh Pipers, one of the ABA's inaugural franchises in 1967, and won the league's first championship at the end of the 1967-68 season. They shared the Arena with the city's expansion National Hockey League team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. They led the league in attendance, averaging 12,500 fans per game. [1]
However, for reasons that remain unknown to this day, the Pipers moved to Minnesota as the Minnesota Pipers. The Minnesota Muskies had faced problems there during the prior season and thus moved to Miami to become The Floridians. The Pipers fared no better, and as widely expected, moved back to Pittsburgh after only one season. For the first season back in Pittsburgh the team retained the "Pipers" nickname. However, the team failed to match their previous success. After the season, Haven Industries, maker of the "Jack Frost" brand of sugar products, bought the team and decided a name change was in order.
[edit] 1970-1971 season
A "name-the-team" contest yielded the nickname "Pittsburgh Pioneers." However, local NAIA school Point Park College (now Point Park University) used that name and threatened to sue. In addition, another fan claimed the winning entry didn't stay within the 25-word limit. Ownership sought to defuse the situation by changing the name to Condors.
Jack McMahon took over as coach. John Brisker and Mike Lewis played in the ABA All Star Game. The team finished with a record of 36 wins and 48 losses which placed them in fifth place in the Eastern Division and kept them out of the ABA playoffs one game behind The Floridians. The Condors' average home attendance for the season was 2,806, though some observers close to the team thought the actual average was closer to 1,100. Attendance was so bad that for one early-season game, the Condors actually gave away every available seat. Only 8,074 fans showed up, and 3,000 season ticketholders didn't bother to come. Ownership didn't like the idea at all, and the general manager was fired after the game.
[edit] 1971-1972 season
For the next season, Haven tried to change the Condors' image, with a new logo and uniforms. After a 4-6 start, general manager Mark Binstein fired McMahon for unknown reasons and named himself head coach. The move backfired disastrously; the Condors only went 21-50 the rest of the way.
As the season progressed, attendance dropped below 1,000 fans per game. The situation was so bad that it was thought the Condors would fold before Christmas. While they managed to survive through the New Year, Haven finally had seen enough and announced the Condors would be playing elsewhere for the 1972-73 season. In the meantime, they began relocating home games, first to other cities in Pennsylvania, and then to farther places. On March 24, 1972 the Condors hosted the Kentucky Colonels in Birmingham, Alabama; on March 28, 1972 the Condors hosted the Colonels again, this time in their last ever 'home' game, in Tucson, Arizona. (Attendance in both Birmingham and Tucson was significantly better than the crowds the team drew in Pittsburgh.) John Brisker and George Thompson played in the ABA All Star Game. After starting the season with 21 wins and 53 losses, Jack McMahon was fired as coach and replaced by Mark Binstein for the final ten games of the season. The Condors went 4-6 under Binstein, finishing in sixth place in the Eastern Division at 25-59 and failing to make the playoffs. The Condors averaged 2,215 fans per home game.
[edit] Aftermath
In June of 1972, the ABA canceled the Condors franchise. The Condors' roster was put into a dispersal draft; George Thompson went to the Memphis Tams, Mike Lewis to the Carolina Cougars, Skeeter Swift and James Silas to the Dallas Chaparrals, and Walt Szczerbiak to the Kentucky Colonels. John Brisker jumped to the Seattle Supersonics of the NBA.
[edit] Notable Players
Connie Hawkins, Pro Basketball Hall of Fame
