New Orleans Buccaneers
| New Orleans Buccaneers | ||
|---|---|---|
| founding | 1967 | |
| resolution | 1970 | |
| history |
New Orleans Buccaneers 1967–1970 Memphis Pros 1970–1972 Memphis Tams 1972–1974 Memphis Sounds 1974–1975 Baltimore Hustlers 1975 Baltimore Claws 1975 |
|
| Stadion |
Loyola Field House 1967–1969 Tulane High School and Municipal Auditorium 1969–1970 |
|
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | |
| Club colors | red, white and blue | |
| league | ABA | |
| division | Western Division | |
| Head coach | Babe McCarthy | |
| owner | Sean Morton Downey Jr., L. Torrey Comila, Ronnie Cole, James A. Ware, Lionel J. Cunningham, Charles G. Smither, and Maurice M. Stern | |
|
|
||
The New Orleans Buccaneers were an American basketball franchise based in New Orleans , Louisiana and a founding member of the American Basketball Association . After three seasons in New Orleans, the team moved to Memphis , Tennessee , where they played as the Memphis Pros , Memphis Tams and Memphis Sounds for four years before moving to Baltimore in 1975 and continuing as Baltimore Claws .
Origins
When ABA was founded on February 2, 1967, a franchise was granted to a group that included Morton Downey, Jr. The group raised only $ 1,000 for the team, while most of the others paid $ 30,000. Charles G. Smither, one of the seven owners, became president; another of the investors, Maurice M. Stern, managing director. The team was named New Orleans Buccaneers and the former coach of Mississippi State University Babe McCarthy was signed as the first coach. Early players included Doug Moe , Larry Brown , Gerald Govan, Jimmy Jones and Red Robbins.
1967-1968
The Buccaneers played their first season home games in front of 2,337 fans at Loyola University Fieldhouse. Doug Moe, Red Robbins, Larry Brown and Jimmy Jones were called up to the first All Star Game in which Babe McCarthy was the coach of the West. Larry Brown was named the All Star Game MVP and had the most assists in the league of the season. Doug Moe joined the All ABA Team and Jimmy Jones joined the All Rookie Team. The Buccaneers recruited Jackie Moreland, who was from Minden , Louisiana and played for the Detroit Pistons from 1960 to 1965 .
The Buccaneers finished the season first in the Western Division with 48 wins and 30 losses, two games before the Dallas Chaparrals and three games before the Denver Rockets . They defeated the Denver Rockets 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs and won the division championship 4-1 against the Dallas Chaparrals. In the first ABA final series they lost in the decisive seventh game against the Pittsburgh Pipers 113: 122.
1968-1969
Before the season started, the Buccaneers gave Larry Brown and Doug Moe to the Oakland Oaks in exchange for Steve Jones, Barry Liebowitz and Ron Frantz. Red Robbins and Steve Jones played in the ABA All Star Game. They ended the season with 46 wins and 32 losses, which meant second place in the Western Division, 14 games behind the Oakland Oaks. An average of 2834 spectators came to the games.
The Buccaneers met in the first round of the playoffs on the Dallas Chaparrals, who could be defeated 4: 3. In the division finals they then lost to the Oakland Oaks 4-0.
1969-1970
The Buccaneers were now playing in the Tulane Gym (today Fogelman Arena). Jimmy Jones sustained a knee injury in December that limited his activity that season; nevertheless, like Steve Jones and Gerald Govan, he was nominated for the All Star Game. Babe McCarthy was training the west again.
The Bucs ended the season with 42 wins and losses. The team was fifth and last in the powerful Western Division and could not qualify for the playoffs. (In the Eastern Division the result would have been enough for third place and thus for the playoffs.) An average of 2599 fans attended the home games.
End of stay in New Orleans
The team acquired Wendell Ladner in the draft and named themselves in the Louisiana Buccaneers with the plan to play the home games in the 1970/71 season across the state, i.e. in New Orleans, Shreveport , Lafayette , Monroe and Baton Rouge . Like most of the ABA teams, the Bucs never had a strong financial base and the move to the smaller Tulane Gym along with their worse game drowned their revenues. It was hoped that a regional team could raise more capital.
Even so, the franchise was acquired by a new owner on August 21, 1970, relocated to Memphis, Tennessee ten days later and renamed Memphis Pros.
On December 10, 2008, the Buccaneers were revived for the first time in a game against the Charlotte Bobcats by the New Orleans Hornets , the city-based NBA team who played in the first season's Bucks jerseys. The cheerleaders also appeared in their season outfit, team highlights were shown on videos during the game, and many of the former players and coaches were honored at halftime. The Hornets won the game 105-89. In an away game with the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 16, 2009, the Hornets wore these jerseys again and lost 78:92.