Hoop Lore: A History of the National Basketball Association »

Connie Kirchberg is a freelance writer specializing in biographies and popular American culture. She is the coauthor of Elvis Presley, Richard Nixon, and the American Dream (1999, with Marc Hendrickx). She lives in Fresno, California.

In an age where teenage hoop stars sign multimillion-dollar endorsement deals before their first professional tip-offs, it's hard to imagine a time when basketball was among the least publicized of all professional sports. After the game's creation in 1891, establishing a viable professional league was an intense struggle, requiring decades of hard work and dedication from players, owners, coaches and fans. While the game evolved from two-handed set shots, fruit baskets, short-shorts and tiny gyms to slam dunks, shoe endorsements, global popularity and massive urban arenas, the NBA established itself as one of the world's dominant professional leagues.

This work, the first comprehensive history of the National Basketball Association, offers a detailed look at how and why the NBA was able to overcome the obstacles that had crushed its predecessors and competitors to become the most successfully marketed league in professional sports. Covered here are Naismith's invention of the game; the rise and fall of the NBL, BAA, ABL and ABA; early teams like the Buffalo Germans and the Harlem Rens; basketball's Olympic debut in 1936; the first professional superstars; dominant franchises; and the current state of the league. Appendices offer lists of early professional basketball leagues and commissioners of the NBA, NBL and ABA.

Acknowledgments     vi
Foreword   Jim Barnett     1
Preface     3
Introduction     5
Peach Fuzz     7
Play Ball     13
To Pay or Not to Pay     21
Color Lines     31
Around the Bend     39
Double Trouble     47
One for the Money     59
Tick Tock     67
Dynasty by Committee     77
Starlight, Star Bright     86
Tremors     98
Real Deal     109
Survival of the Fittest     122
A Matter of Style     132
Last Hurrah     143
A Fighting Chance     154
Saviors     162
Glory Days     171
The Greatest Show on Earth     181
The Good, the Bad, and the Global     192
Intermission     202
The Greatest Show on Earth, II     210
Promised Land     216
The Dark Age     226
Staying Alive     238
The Money Tree     247
The Air Apparents     258
The Young and the Restless     264
The Global Revolution     273
A New Foundation     281
Renovation     288
Early Professional Basketball Leagues     299
Professional Basketball Commissioners     300
Miscellaneous NBA Statistics and Awards     301
Miscellaneous ABA Statistics and Awards     306
Chapter Notes     309
Bibliography     321
Index     329