George Steinbrenner’s Pipe Dream : The ABL Champion Cleveland Pipers / Bill Livingston.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Livingston, Bill.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Steinbrenner, George M. (George Michael), 1930-2010 owner.

Steinbrenner, George M.

American Basketball League--History.

American Basketball League.

Cleveland Pipers (Basketball team).

Basketball--United States--History--20th century.

Basketball.

Basketball--Ohio--Cleveland--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (185 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Kent, Ohio : Black Squirrel Books, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Steinbrenner nearly beats the Cavaliers to the NBA by eight years In an eleventh-floor corner office in downtown Cleveland during the spring of 1961, 30-year-old George Steinbrenner sketched with his hands the future as he dreamed it. He grabbed the young basketball player who was sitting near him by the shoulder with one hand and jabbed the air with invisible designs with the other. A glittering 12,000-seat basketball palace, Steinbrenner said to Larry Siegfried, the just-graduated captain of the Ohio State basketball team, would soon spring from the weedy empty lots along the Lake Erie shoreline. It would be an arena fit for the basketball royalty Steinbrenner was assembling for the Cleveland Pipers of the new American Basketball League. Before the Pipers' tumultuous story was over, Steinbrenner would win Siegfried's services and the ABL championship. In George Steinbrenner's Pipe Dream, Bill Livingston brings to life the remarkable story of the one-season wonder Pipers and their unlikely national championship. Drawing on personal interviews and extensive research, he introduces readers to the personalities that surrounded the organization, including John McLendon, the first African American head coach in any professional sport; Jerry Lucas, one of college basketball's greatest players; Dick Barnett, the best player on the team and the driving force for their ABL championship; the extravagantly talented prodigy Connie Hawkins; and Jack Adams, the Pipers' captain, who was traded in midseason in a fit of pique on Steinbrenner's part. Bill Livingston takes readers along for the Pipers' short but wild ride, providing a compelling and entertaining story about a fascinating chapter in sports history.

Contents:

Castles in the Air

Ed Sweeny's Pipe Dream

From Russia, with Fear and Grumbling

George

John

George and John

The League of Extraordinary Aspiration

The Rivals

Controversies and a Star for Christmas

The Unorthodox Shot and Unexpected Life of Dick Barnett

Cage Fight

The Amazing Jerry Lucas

"A Team Divided"

The First Half Playoffs-"Heads Will Roll!"

The Players Revolt

Heads Rolled

Bill Sharman, the Meticulous, Generous, Violent Basketball Visionary

Sharman Takes Over

To the Brink of Expulsion

"We Still Have a Chance."

Co-Champions

The Buckeyes' March Sadness

The Sudden Death Tournament

Champions

A Contract that Overshadowed Wilt's

Into the NBA

Out of the NBA

Endgame

Post-Mortem.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-63101-150-2

OCLC:

933516516