The Hazleton Hawks were a professional basketball franchise in the

Eastern Professional Basketball League The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

. The Hawks, based in

Hazleton, Pennsylvania Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,963 at the 2020 census. Hazleton is the second-most populous city in Luzerne County. It was incorporated as a borough on January 5, 1857, and as a city on ...

, joined the league in 1955, playing as the "Hazleton Professionals"; they were named the "Hawks" in their second season in the league. In the team's first season, the franchise went through several different lineups and two coaching changes, but later made the playoffs by signing several players who had been part of the college

point-shaving In organized sports, point shaving is a type of match fixing where the perpetrators try to change the final score of a game without the intention of changing who wins. This is typically done by players colluding with gamblers to prevent a team fr ...

scandals, including Sherman White of

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

, Bob McDonald of Toledo University, and Ed Warner of CCNY. With that lineup, the team was able to reach the Eastern League finals in its first season - only to lose to the

Wilkes-Barre Barons The Wilkes-Barre Barons were a basketball team from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Barons played between 1933 and 1980 in different United States, American sports league, leagues. The team won 11 titles during this time, including while playin ...

in a best-of-three series. By the team's second year of operation, the franchise was now known as the "Hawks," and became the first basketball team in an integrated professional league to have an all-black starting lineup, which included White, Tom Hemans of

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in the census-designated place Niagara University, New York, in the town of Lewiston near Niagara Falls. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and ...

, Jesse Arnelle from

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, Fletcher Johnson from

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, and Floyd Layne of CCNY. The 1957-58 season saw the Hawks finish with an 18-10 record, tying them for first place in the league with the

and Easton Madisons; after a three-way playoff, the Hawks were seeded third in the Eastern League playoffs, where the team eventually lost to the Madisons. Among the notable basketball stars who played for the Hawks were John Chaney, later to become coach of

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

's men's basketball team; and Jack Molinas, who became a player-coach during the 1960-61 season. The Hawks remained in the Eastern League until 1962, when after three consecutive losing seasons the franchise folded.

Year-by-Year

Hazleton Mountaineers, EPBL

{, class="wikitable" !Year !League !Record !Reg. Season !Playoffs , - , 1954/55 , EPBL , 15-15 , 4th , Finals , - , 1955/56 , EPBL , 11-15 , 5th , ''did not qualify'' , - , 1956/57 , EPBL , 20-10 , 2nd , Finals , - , 1957/58 , EPBL , 18-10 , 1st, tie , Semifinals , - , 1958/59 , EPBL , 16-12 , 4th , Semifinals , - , 1959/60 , EPBL , 9-18 , 7th , ''did not qualify'' , - , 1960/61 , EPBL , 10-18 , 8th , ''did not qualify'' , - , 1961/62 , EPBL , 4-21 , 8th , ''did not qualify'' Continental Basketball Association teams Basketball teams established in 1955 1955 establishments in Pennsylvania