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3 A NEW LEAGUE, A NEW TEAM Goldman, You’re At Center. —Eddie Gottlieb, quoted in Moe Goldman, interview by Robert Peterson O n October 30, 1933, a meeting occurred at 120 Wall Street in New York City. It marked the first league meeting for the reconstituted ABL. After two years during which all league operations had ceased due to the Great Depression that engulfed the nation, John J. O’Brien reorganized the league and made it more regional as opposed to national in scope. Eddie Gottlieb, representing the Philadelphia SPHAS, was present, along with promoters for the Trenton Moose, Brooklyn Jewels, Brooklyn Visitations, Bronx Americans, Union City Reds, Newark Bears, Hoboken Thourots, Camden Brewers, and New Britain Palaces. The league would have teams as far north as New Britain, Connecticut, and as far south as Philadelphia, with the greatest concentration of teams in New Jersey, just outside of New York City. The meetings, which occurred monthly, always at O’Brien’s New York law offices on Wall Street, covered all aspects of league operations with an emphasis on oversight of the games. For instance, at the November 13 meeting, the league’s second, the starting times for all home games were agreed upon. Philadelphia would tip off at 9:00 p.m., while the other teams started between 9:00 and 9:45 p.m. Only Union City had an early start time, 4:45 p.m. The meetings also dedicated significant time to discussing rules and administrative issues. In December, the owners agreed that a jump ball could 28 • THE SPHAS not take place in the foul zone area but only on the foul line. A player would be allowed to pivot once in any direction following a legal dribble. A horn would be sounded to denote the last five minutes in the final period. Over the next two decades, until the ABL disbanded in 1952–1953, the league continued to have monthly meetings, and Gottlieb had a strong presence in the league’s operation. Since withdrawing his Philadelphia Warriors after the 1927–1928 season in the original ABL, Gottlieb had returned his team to the greater Philadelphia area and the success he enjoyed in the early 1920s. In 1928– 1929, his team, again known as the SPHAS, played independently before joining the newly established Eastern Basketball League in 1929–1930. In four years in the Eastern Basketball League, Gottlieb was able to rebuild the team, shedding some of his players from the early years and adding new ones who would be instrumental in the team’s success over the next decade. With an eye toward the future and working his connections throughout Philadelphia, Gottlieb built a team that, by the mid-1930s, was regarded as one of the best teams in America. He quickly rejoined the ABL when it started anew in 1933–1934. The 1933–1934 ABL season began on November 18 at the Broadwood Hotel as the SPHAS hosted the Hoboken Thourots. The game saw the introduction of three fifteen-minute periods, a rule that had been discarded by the old Eastern League more than twenty years earlier. The game witnessed many out-of-bounds plays, but behind Cy Kaselman’s extraordinary shooting (15 points), the SPHAS cruised to an easy 34–20 win. A week later the SPHAS were back in action at home versus the Union City Reds. The league was still experimenting with different rules and game operations, and this game was notable for introducing the practice of having two officials. One official called the infractions, and the other tossed the ball after each made basket. The second official for this particular game, interestingly, was Hughie Black, a founding member of the SPHAS in 1918. Black received a warm ovation from the crowd. Despite the good feelings in the building, the SPHAS lost a close game, 41–38, to drop to 1–1 early in the season. Throughout the first half, the SPHAS were paced by Cy Kaselman, who led the team in scoring in fifteen games during this period. His offense, though, was not enough to keep the SPHAS from playing inconsistently during the season’s first half. Except for a five-game winning streak in late December/early January, the SPHAS could not gather any momentum or string together a successful winning streak. Two losses to the Newark Bears and Trenton Moose dropped the SPHAS’ record to 15–12 as the season’s first half came to a close. [3...

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