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The Paterson Crescents were an American Basketball League team that played from 1944-51. The Bridgeport Newfields also known as the Steelers played one year in the league (1948-49) and had a 24-17 record.
These 1940’s teams were basically the minor leagues for the BAA and NBL (which became the NBA).
Not scored, tight binding, no missing pages, one page has a partial cut out.
Signed on the cover in blue ink by 10 including:
For the Paterson Crescents:
Frank Mangiapane (who was a player and coach) – (D. 2005) guard out of NYU who played several years in the ABL and played 6 games for the first year, New York Knicks (1946-47).
Dick Murphy (D. 1973 at the age of 52) member of the first year, New York Knicks (1946-47) and also a member of the first year, 1946-47 Boston Celtics
Tom Kelly (D. 2008) Kelly postponed his engineering career when he was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and farmed out to the Hartford Hurricanes in their American Basketball League. After leading the league in scoring, he was recalled to the Celticsand was high scorer in their victory over the Fort Wayne Pistons and labeled by the Boston sports media as a contender for "Rookie of the Year". He played 27 games in his one-season, 1948–1949, with the Celtics
Lenny Cohen – (D. 2017) Cohen was a prolific scorer out of the 2nd Ward in Passaic, New Jersey. He played three seasons in the ABL, being named MVP. He would sign with the New York Knicks of the NBA, but was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1951, serving through 1953. After the army, he tried out with the Knicks but despite his long-range shooting skills, he did not make the club. He left basketball behind and became a policeman and detective.
Dick Kraus (D. 1995) played college ball at West Virginia and went off to WW II, when he came back, he played several years in the ABL and other various minor league basketball circuits.
Jim Weston (D. 1997) popular player at St. John’s who played minor league basketball in the late 40’s – early 50’s.
Dick Holub (D. 2009) was on the LIU NIT championship team of 1941 and then went off to WW II. He returned to school for the 1946-47 season. He then played for the 2nd year, New York Knicks team in 1947-48 before spending a few years playing minor league ball in the ABL. He went on to coach Farleigh Dickinson from 1949-66.
Bob Smith (D. 2014) The 6'5, 200-pound Smith attended LIU but entered the Marines after in 1943, training at Muhlenberg College. He served in World War 2, and after the war, made his way back to LIU, where he was the basketball team captain. He was there during the point-shaving scandal, and when two of the crooked players, Eddie Gard and Nate Miller, approached Coach Bee asking Smith be benched, Bee knew something odd was up. Smith was a hard-nosed leader and definitely not one gamblers would approach to fix games, and Gard and Miller knew their point-shaving task would be made easier without the skilled Smith on the court. Bee met with Smith and they began to piece together what was happening. Smith graduated that year and played a season with the Paterson Crescents. Bee would resign in 1951 amidst the point-shaving scandal which grew outside of LIU to CCNY and beyond. (I want to make clear that Bee was not involved in the fixing of games, but resigned from LIU because it happened under his watch. He was a very respected coach who to coach the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.)
For Bridgeport:
Bill Zirkel (D. 2011) played one year at West Virginia State University, putting up 262 points as a Freshman, but then left school to played minor league basketball in the mid 40’s – early 50’s.
Marty Powers (D. 1991) signed to play minor league baseball at age 16 in the mid-40’s. He would toil around the minor leagues of both baseball and basketball until the early 1950’s.
*Note* many of the bios were taken from https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com
We highly recommend their site for research
Super rare autographs and 1 of a kind!
Item: 12315
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