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The Baltimore Claws were an American
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
team which was supposed to appear in the 1975–76 season in the
American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major professional basketball league that operated for nine seasons from 1967 to 1976. The upstart ABA operated in direct competition with the more established National Basketball Association thr ...
. However, the team played only three exhibition games, all losses, before being expelled from the league due to financial difficulties.


Background

The team that eventually became the Baltimore Claws was a charter member of the ABA, playing as the
New Orleans Buccaneers The New Orleans Buccaneers were a charter member of the American Basketball Association. After three seasons in New Orleans, Louisiana, the franchise moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where it became the Memphis Pros, Pros, Memphis Tams, Tams, and Me ...
from 1967 through 1970. They then moved to Memphis from 1970 to 1975, playing first as the Pros from 1970 to 1972, the Tams from 1972 to 1974, and the Sounds during the 1974–75 season. The Memphis franchise had struggled through the years and in its last season there it had relied on the league itself to handle some of its bills. The Sounds began the 1974–75 season with a win followed by several losses; fan interest waned but the team rallied to finish in fourth place in the ABA's Eastern Division. In the playoffs they lost in the Eastern Division semifinals to the eventual league champion Kentucky Colonels, 4 games to 1. Of the Sounds' draft picks that season, two of them ( Lonnie Shelton and Terry Furlow) remained in college, while the third ( Rich Kelley) signed with the NBA's New Orleans Jazz instead. At the close of the 1974–75 season, league commissioner Tedd Munchak issued an ultimatum to the Sounds if they wanted to stay in Memphis: sell 4,000 season tickets, line up new investors for the team, and get a better lease at the Mid-South Coliseum. When none of the conditions were met, the league effectively took control of the franchise and put it on the open market.


Relocation to Maryland

Prior to the 1975–76 season, a consortium of seven
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
businessmen led by David Cohan bought the troubled Sounds for $1 million and relocated it to
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
. In August 1975, new ABA Commissioner
Dave DeBusschere David Albert DeBusschere (October 16, 1940 – May 14, 2003) was an American professional basketball player and coach, and professional baseball player. He played for the Chicago White Sox of MLB in 1962 and 1963 and in the NBA for the Detroit Pi ...
suddenly awarded the franchise to another group in Memphis due to apparent financial problems involving the Baltimore owners. However, the Memphis group in question backed out on buying the Sounds franchise the very next day, and the franchise reverted to Baltimore once again after the Cohan-led group made a $250,000 down payment. The team was initially named the Baltimore Hustlers, but both league and public pressure forced them to rename it to the Claws instead.


Personnel

In September the Claws gained attention early by gaining the rights to superstar Dan Issel of the reigning
ABA champion The American Basketball Association (ABA) Finals were the championship series of the ABA, a professional basketball league, in which two teams played each other for the title. The ABA was formed in the fall of 1967, and the first ABA Finals we ...
Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels were supposed to receive center Tom Owens and $500,000 in cash for Issel, but the $500,000 never arrived. When Colonels owner John Y. Brown, Jr. found out the money hadn't arrived, he stormed into a Claws' board meeting and announced he was selling Issel to the
Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...
instead. To make the move look like a trade between Denver and Baltimore, the Nuggets sent forward Dave Robisch to the Claws. The Claws' owners protested, claiming that three more players should have come to Baltimore with Robisch. They threatened to shut down if the other players didn't arrive, claiming that they would not be able to field a competitive team without them. However, the league sided with Denver. The Claws then sent another good player, Rick Mount, to the
Utah Stars The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround. History prior to moving to ...
in another trade. The Claws entered the preseason under head coach Joe Mullaney with a roster that included
Mel Daniels Melvin Joe Daniels (July 20, 1944 – October 30, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Minnesota Muskies, Indiana Pacers, and Memphis Sounds, and in the National Bas ...
and Stew Johnson as key players. The Claws also suited up guard Skip Wise, who in the previous year was the first freshman to make the
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...
All-Conference First Team after the NCAA changed its rules to allow for freshmen players to play college basketball. But Wise (a native of Baltimore) chose not to return to Clemson for his sophomore year, instead signing a five-year, $700,000 no-cut contract with the Claws.


Games

The Claws played only three games in their history, all preseason exhibitions. The first was on October 9, 1975, in the nearby city of
Salisbury, Maryland Salisbury ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, United States. Salisbury is the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region, with a population of 33,050 at the 2020 United States census ...
, against the
Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, a ...
. The Squires won their first match against the Claws 131–121; attendance was reported to be at 1,150 people. Two days later the Claws lost to the NBA's
Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...
103–82 in
Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a Township (New Jersey), township within Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As a suburb of Philadelphia, the township is part of the South Jersey and Delaware Valley regions. Cherry Hill ...
, in front of a capacity crowd of 1,213 at the East High School there. On October 16, 1975, the Claws played the Squires again, this time at the Knott Arena in Mount St. Mary's College at Emmitsburg, Maryland. Virginia won once again, this time by a 100–88 final score, in front of approximately 500 spectators.


Continuing problems

Due to mounting financial problems, the second loss to the Squires ended up being the Claws' final game. Cohan's group found it difficult to meet rudimentary team expenses. The players and coaches had not been paid, and the players were not even getting their per diem meal money. The players were still wearing old red Sounds uniforms with a green patch saying "Claws" over the old "Sounds" name, along with unaltered red Sounds warmups. Their practice T-shirts also had rips under the arms. Only 300 season tickets had been sold, below even the number of fans in their last preseason game. On October 16, 1975, ABA Commissioner DeBusschere got word that one of the Claws' banks had yanked its
line of credit A line of credit is a credit facility extended by a bank or other financial institution to a government, business or individual customer that enables the customer to draw on the facility when the customer needs funds. A financial institution ...
. DeBusschere responded with an ultimatum to Cohan and his partners: unless they posted a $500,000 "performance bond" with the league within four days to cover expenses, the league would cancel the franchise. The Claws got together half of the money, but could not raise the rest. Reportedly, the remaining money plus an additional $70,000 was being held in escrow by the city, to be released only if Cohan resigned as team president. The Claws asked the league for more time to get the needed money for the bond. However, the ABA refused and expelled the Claws on October 20, 1975, less than a week before the regular season began. The league issued a statement noting that it had been prepared to enter the 1975–76 season with "nine financially strong franchises." League officials added that the Claws' backers had been unable to get their affairs in order despite being given extra time to do so. The Claws' office at the Baltimore Civic Center was padlocked by arena management due to unpaid bills. (Incredibly, the Claws were just one of ''four'' different Baltimore "major league" franchises that vanished in 1975, the others being the Baltimore Banners of World Team Tennis, who folded in February; the Baltimore Blades of the
World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...
, who folded after their 1974–75 season concluded during their brief stay there; and finally the
North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...
's Baltimore Comets, who shifted to San Diego just a few days before the Claws officially folded.) The Claws threatened to seek an injunction delaying the start of the season until Baltimore were reinstated, citing a provision in the rules requiring a ten days notice before any team could be shuttered. However, after both the ABA and the city threatened to file their own legal actions, the Claws quietly folded operations entirely. The league felt the ten-day rule was trumped by a larger obligation to ensure that its franchises were being run in a professional manner (and later, for the league's survival in its final season of existence).


Dissolution

The Claws' players were put into a dispersal draft. Both Dave Robisch and Paul Ruffner ended up going to the Spirits of St. Louis. Stew Johnson was sent to the San Diego Sails (who also folded just a few weeks later, with the
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
acquiring Johnson in a different dispersal draft). Claude Terry was sent to the Denver Nuggets. Chuck Williams was sent to the Virginia Squires. Scott English was sent to the
Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
. Joe Hamilton was sent to the Utah Stars. George Carter also ended up with the Stars despite not being picked in the dispersal draft; Utah would become the ABA's third casualty of the season, suspending operations in early December. Only the Kentucky Colonels,
New York Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
, and
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
declined to enter the dispersal draft for the defunct Claws franchise. The Claws' best known player, Mel Daniels, was disappointed at the Claws' fate and retired from play altogether rather than play for another team elsewhere. In
Terry Pluto Terry Pluto (born June 12, 1955) is an American sportswriter, newspaper columnist, and author who primarily writes columns for ''The Plain Dealer'', and formerly for the ''Akron Beacon Journal'' about Cleveland, Ohio sports and religion. Pluto ...
's book on the ABA, " Loose Balls", Daniels recalled that the Claws' players were allowed to take equipment and furniture from the team's office in lieu of payment.


Aftermath

The league's assertion that they still had "nine financially solid franchises" quickly proved to be incorrect, as both the San Diego Sails and the Utah Stars ceased operations before the 1975 calendar year was out. The wobbly Virginia Squires franchise did manage to finish the regular season, but with an awful 15–68 record played in front of small crowds. They too folded before the end of the 1976 ABA Playoffs, leaving the ABA with only six remaining teams. Finally, the ABA would merge with the NBA during the summer of 1976. By that point in time, the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets, and San Antonio Spurs would be the four teams from the ABA to survive and make it to the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
(NBA), while the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis (the latter of whom initially planned to become the
Utah Rockies Utah Rockies was the name under which the Spirits of St. Louis were to play during the ultimately aborted 1976–77 American Basketball Association (ABA) season. The Spirits of St. Louis had some earlier connections to Utah. On November 29, 1975, ...
had they survived) ended up folding during the merger talks.


References


External links


Remember the ABA Baltimore Claws page


* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150627052652/http://www.remembertheaba.com/Baltimore-Claws.html#ClawsFanMemories#ClawsFanMemories Baltimore Claws fan memories {{ABAteams American Basketball Association teams 1975 in sports in Maryland 1975 establishments in Maryland 1975 disestablishments in Maryland Basketball teams established in 1975 Basketball teams disestablished in 1975 Basketball teams in Maryland Defunct basketball teams in the United States de:Memphis Sounds