Offered is an original 1952 Baltimore Bullets program vs the Baltimore Bullets neatlyscored, tight binding, no missing pages. Program is EX condition. The Bullets would beat the visting Milwaukee Hawks 91-80 in this historic game in which the NBA officials called the first half of the game from tennis judges’ charis in this experiment by the NBA to see if there would be less congestion on the court (as there would be less people on the floor during the game). Fred Scolari of the Bullets lead the Bullets with 25 pts and Don Otten of the Hawks had 26 points in this losing effort.
The program has been signed in dark pencil b the entire Bullets team (10) and Charley Eckman (who was officiating the game and had quite a storied career – see bio).
Includes:
Charley Eckman (D. 1995) was an American basketball head coach and professional basketball referee for the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was also a sports broadcaster. The American Basketball League's Hollywood Shamrocks called in 1947 and hired him to officiate a number of the team's games; two years after that he began refereeing games for the Basketball Association of America. The BAA merged with the National Basketball League in late 1949 and became the National Basketball Association.
Eckman was ranked as one of the top officials in the NBA during his time as a referee, until 1954, when Pistons owner Fred Zollner signed the 32-year-old Eckman to a three-year coaching contract.
Eckman officiated at the first NBA All-Star Game in 1951, and later was the head coach of the Western Conference All-Star teams in 1955, and 1956, becoming the only person to have officiated and coached in an NBA All-Star Game. In 1967, after 29 years and over 3,500 collegiate and professional basketball games, Eckman, announced his retirement from officiating, after experiencing leg problems. Eckman is the only person to have ever officiated the NIT, NCAA and NBA Finals games During his first year as head coach, the Pistons finished with a 43–29 record, and first place in the Western Division. During the 1955 NBA Finals, the Pistons lost a hard-fought seven-game to the Syracuse Nationals. The first-year head coach was honored as NBA Coach of the Year. The following season, Eckman led the Pistons to another trip to the NBA Finals, where the Pistons fell to the Philadelphia Warriors, 4–1. In his third season as head coach, Eckman led the Pistons to the playoffs, where they lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in the semifinals. During the 1957–58 season, the Pistons relocated from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Detroit, Michigan. Unfortunately for Eckman, his stay in Detroit didn't last long. He was relieved of his coaching duties just 25 games into the season following a 9–16 start. Eckman's overall coaching record was 123–118. He eventually returned to officiating.
For the Bullets:
Don Barksdale –(D 1993) was an American professional basketball player. He was a pioneer as an African-American basketball player, becoming the first to be named NCAA All-American, the first to play on a United States men's Olympic basketball team, and the first to play in an National Basketball Association All-Star Game. After college, he played for the Oakland AAU team until the NBA began to integrate. While playing professional basketball, he started a career in radio broadcasting. In 1948, he became the first black radio disc jockey in the San Francisco Bay area. He also worked in television and owned a beer distributorship. He became the first African-American beer distributor and the first African-American television host in the Bay area with a show called Sepia Review on KRON-TV. In 1951, he signed a lucrative contract with the Baltimore Bullets and entered the NBA as a 28-year-old rookie. He would be one of the first African-Americans to play in the NBA after Nathaniel Clifton, Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Hank DeZonie had joined the league in 1950. While with the Bullets, he became the first African-American to appear in an NBA All-Star Game, in 1953. Shortly afterward, he was traded to the Boston Celtics. Two years later, his playing career was cut short by ankle injuries. Elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, posthumously.
Brady Walker (D. 2007) was selected in the 1948 BAA Draft by the Providence Steamrollers after a collegiate career at Brigham Young. He played for the Steamrollers, Boston Celtics, and Baltimore Bullets in his four-year BAA/NBA career
Fred Scolari (D. 2002) Though he was blind in one eye, deaf in one ear and often overweight, "Fat Freddie" excelled in basketball at Galileo High School and the University of San Francisco. In 1946, he joined the Washington Capitols of the Basketball Association of America (now the NBA) at the start of a nine-year (1946–1955) professional career with the Capitols, Syracuse Nationals, Baltimore Bullets, Fort Wayne Pistons and Boston Celtics. He was one of the last two NBA players who played in its predecessor BAA from its inception in 1946 to retire. Scolari became known for his unorthodox, yet effective, shooting style, in which he released the ball from his hip. He led the BAA in free-throw percentage for the 1946–47 BAA season. He was also a well-regarded defender, and was voted to the All-BAA Second Team in 1947 and 1948.
Stan Miasek (D. 1989) Miasek played six seasons (1946–1950; 1951–1953) in the Basketball Association of America and National Basketball Association as a member of the Detroit Falcons, Chicago Stags, Baltimore Bullets, and Milwaukee Hawks. He averaged 10.6 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game in his BAA/NBA career.
Frank Kudelka (D. 1993) played from 1949-53 for the Chicago Stags, Washington Capitols, Boston Celtics, Bullets, and Warriors
Bill Calhoun – played from 1947-55 for the Rochester Royals, Baltimore Bullets, and Milwaukee Hawks.
Kevin O’Shea – (D. 2003) All-American out Notre Dame who played for the Minneapolis Lakers, Milwaukee Hawks, and Bullets
Joe McNamee (D. 2011) power forward/ center out of U of San Francisco played in the NBA from 1950-52 for the Rochester Royals and Baltimore Bullets
Jim Slaughter (D. 1999) played in the NBA from 1951-52 for the Baltimore Bullets and Washington Capitols
Dave Minor (D. 1998) was a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played with the Baltimore Bullets before being traded along with Stan Miasek to the Milwaukee Hawks for Don Boven, Pete Darcey and George McLeod. He began his college career at Toledo, it was interrupted by World War II; following the war, he enrolled at UCLA. In 1947–1948, Minor was honored as an All-Conference guard basketball player at UCLA. His full name was Davage Minor, but Gary, Indiana sportswriters called him "The Wheelhorse of Steel City." He began shooting the first jumpers seen around the Great Lakes in December 1937 in his high school gym in Gary. By 1941, the shot was so unstoppable he used it to take the Froebel High School Blue Devils all the way to the Final Four of the Indiana state tournament, the "mother of them all." Eventually, he starred with the old Oakland Bittners of the AAU, and he was one of the first five African Americans signed in the NBA.
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