1944

Zollner Pistons Basketball Fred Zollner Appreciation Plaque

The Zollner Pistons basketball team was started by Fred Zollner in 1938, originally as an industrial league team, but by 1941, Zollner had set his sights much higher. The team's first National Basketball League (NBL) game was played 1 December 1941, against the Chicago Bruins at North Side High School gym. The North Side venue remained the home of the Pistons for several years. Zollner set out to buy the best talent available, and the team thrived through the 1940s. After World War II, a second basketball league started, the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The two leagues competed, but in 1949 the National Basketball Association (NBA) was launched, growing out of a merger between the NBL and the BAA. The agreement was signed at Piston's coach Carl Bennett's house in Fort Wayne during the spring of 1948. In essence, the NBA was born in Fort Wayne.

The Pistons found a permanent home in Fort Wayne when the War Memorial Coliseum was finished in September 1952, built specifically with the team in mind. Zollner believed that road travel made his players unnecessarily tired, resulting in a lower quality of play, and so preferred to fly his team from city to city for games. This was the first time in sports history that an airplane was used to transport entire teams to games. After the 1956-57 season ended, Zollner announced that he was moving the team to De-troit, and history clearly shows that the team has enjoyed great support and success in the Motor City.

In the 1943-44 season, the Zollner Pistons brought home the team's first of two consecutive national championships, defeating the Sheboygan Redskins by a score of 48 to 38. To cap off a stellar season, the Pistons then moved on to the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago and, after defeating the Brooklyn Eagles by a score of 50 to 33, the victorious team returned to Fort Wayne with the team's first of three consecutive world championship crowns. As a thank you for the continued support of Fred Zollner, the team presented him with this plaque, uniquely shaped like a piston, that featured the pictures of the players from all of the 1943-44 National Basketball League and World Professional Basketball Tournament championships.