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This book tells the story of the Eastern Professional Basketball League, a pro basketball institution for over 30 years. The league featured top players who just couldn’t make the NBA—many because of scandals or because of unofficial quotas on Black players—with games played in tiny gyms across the northeast.
List of contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter I - Welcome to the Eastern League: A Brief History and the Influences that Shaped It
Chapter II - Stars of the Early Years (1946-53)
Chapter III - The Fixers . . . and One Frustrated Superstar
Chapter IV -Blackballed: Race, the NBA, and the Rise of the Eastern League
Chapter V - The Glory Years (1954-67): The Second-Best League Around
Chapter VI - Stars of the Glory Years (1954-67)
Chapter VII - Tough Guys, Characters, and Urban Legends
Chapter VIII - Life in the Eastern League
Chapter IX - The Towns, the Gyms, the Fans: Big-Time Basketball on a Small Scale
Chapter X - The Impact of the ABA and the Beginning of the End
Chapter XI- Stars of the ABA Era and the Eastern League's Final Years (1967-78)
Chapter XII - The Coaches
Chapter XIII - The Refs
Chapter XIV - The CBA and the End of the Eastern League
Chapter XV - Legacy of the Eastern League
Chapter XVI - Epilogue: Life After the Eastern League
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Authors
About the author
Syl Sobel is the author of five children's books on U.S. history and government. He is an award-winning journalist, attorney, contributor to the op ed page of various newspapers, and was for many years the director of publications for a federal government agency.Jay Rosenstein was a reporter for the newspaper American Banker and a financial writer for a federal government agency for many years. He now writes books for adults and children. The authors grew up together in Scranton, PA, home to one of the Eastern League's anchor franchises, the Scranton Miners and Apollos. Rosenstein was a statistician for the team.
Summary
This book tells the story of the Eastern Professional Basketball League. Formed in the 1940s, it was a pro basketball institution for over 30 years, featuring top players who just couldn’t make the NBA—because of scandals, because they weren’t quite good enough, or because of unofficial quotas on black players.
