ld f i fh Glory Days The Pistons are one of the oldest teams in professional l h basketball They started as a factory team for the Zollner Machine Works in the 1930s The company was located in Fort Wayne Indiana and made pistons for the automobile industry Company owner Fred Zollner liked to hire basketball players after they graduated from college They would work in the factory during the day and then play for the company team a couple of nights a week Pro basketball did not pay much money during this time the best players could make more money working day jobs By 1941 Fort Wayne was good enough to be invited to join the National Basketball League NBL Zollner recruited Paul Birch and Bobby McDermott to lead the team on the floor The pair didn’t know much about pistons 6
but they knew how to win And win they did The Pistons lost just 32 league games in their first six seasons They won the NBL title in 1943 44 and 1944 45 The team’s success and the high salaries paid by Zollner attracted top talent to Fort Wayne The stars of the championship clubs included forward Buddy Jeannette and centers Jake Pelkington and Ed Sadowski In 1947 the Pistons joined the Basketball Association of America BAA The BAA later joined forces with the NBL to form the National Basketball Association NBA During the 1950s the Pistons were one of the NBA’s most exciting teams They reached the NBA Finals twice in the decade but fell short of a championship both times The Pistons top player was George Yardley a high scoring forward with great leaping ability They also had stars such as Larry Foust Frank Brian Mel Hutchins Bob Houbregs Andy Phillip and Gene Shue LEFT This program is from a time when the Pistons were better known as the Zollners ABOVE As this booklet shows George Yardley knew a lot about putting the ball in the basket 7
In 1957 Zollner moved his business to Michigan Now in Detroit the Pistons continued to find good players including Ray Scott Don Ohl Terry Dischinger Dave DeBusschere Bob Ferry Bailey Howell Jimmy Walker and Dave Bing However despite the talent on its roster Detroit struggled to win Over the course of 10 seasons starting in 1963 64 the Pistons made it to the playoffs just once Detroit eventually built a very good team In the mid-1970s Bing and center Bob Lanier led a group of tough and talented players that included Curtis Rowe Chris Ford and M L Carr But when the club traded Bing and then Lanier the Pistons returned to their losing ways During the 1980s the Pistons rebuilt through the NBA draft In 1981 they selected point guard Isiah Thomas In 1985 they found a backcourt mate for Thomas in Joe Dumars A year later Detroit picked rebounding demon Dennis Rodman Meanwhile the Pistons traded for center Bill Laimbeer forward Adrian Dantley and guard Vinnie Johnson They found two more tough big men in LEFT Isiah Thomas floats to the basket for a layup ABOVE Joe Dumars proved to be a perfect fit with Thomas 9
