Our personalized basketball gifts Christmas ornaments are 7½ inches long. The personalized basketball gifts Christmas ornaments hang from a 3 inch loop of red satin ribbon. The personalized basketball gifts ornaments shows a young girl, wearing a youth baseball uniform, and white basketball shoes with white socks, jumping up to make a lay up shot. The basketball jersey is red with stripe around the neck and armholes and down each side. She has her hair in pigtails with red ribbons. There is a white1 1/8 x 7/8 inch nameplate, with red edging, at the bottom of the personalized baseball gifts Christmas ornaments for adding a name and or date.
History of Professional Basketball.
The first professional basketball league was the six team National League, formed in 1898. It lasted for five seasons. The Buffalo Germans, founded in 1895, dominated early professional basketball. The team won 111 straight games from 1908-1910. The most famous professional team of the early 1900’s was the Original Celtics of New York City, founded in 1918. They won 720 of 795 games from 1921 to 1928.
The American Basketball League was formed in 1925 with teams from the East and Midwest. The league disbanded in 1931 and reformed in 1933 with teams concentrated in the East. A primarily midwestern league called the National Basketball League or NBL was organized in 1937. The Basketball Association of America or BAA was formed in 1946. The NBL and BAA merged in 1949 to form the National Basketball Association.
During the 1920’s and 1930’s two all black professional teams dominated their competition. The teams were the New York Renaissance Big Five, called the Rens and the Harlem Globetrotters. Because professional leagues were segregated, the Rens and Globetrotters were forced to play exhibition games. The Globetrotters still play today.
In 1950, Chuck Cooper signed with the Boston Celtics, becoming the first black player in the NBA. In a short time, black players were on teams throughout the NBA. Some of the most outstanding players of the 1950’s and 60’s were Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Elgin Baylor. Bill Russell led the Boston Celtics to 11 NBA titles from 1957 to 1960.
In 1967 a professional league called the American Basketball Association was formed, which merged with the NBA in 1976, forming a 22 team league.
Bob Cousy.
Bob Cousy was born Robert Cousy on August 9, 1928 in New York City. He is a former basketball player who played guard with the Boston Celtics from 1951 to 1963 and the Cincinnati Royals in the 1969-70 season. He is often referred to as “The Cooz” or “Houdini of the Hardwood.”
Cousy played at Holy Cross during his college career. In the NBA, he led his team to six championships, including the 1957 one and five consecutive titles, from 1959 to 1963, after which he retired. The five consecutive titles towards the end of his career were part of a Celtics’ streak of eight consecutive championships.
cousy is the Celtics’ all time assist leader with 6,955 assists. He also scored 16,960 points and participated in the all star game thirteen consecutive times, picking up the most valuable player award at that game in 1954 and 1957. Cousy originally retired after the Celtics’ 1962-63 season, but returned seven years later and played seven games for the Cincinnati Royals, now the Sacramento kings. He coached the Royals form 1969 to 1974, but was never able to help the team improve their record above 36-46. During the 1973-74 season, the Royals’ second in Kansas City, Missouri, he was replaced after the team’s 6-16 start.
In about 1963 Cousy’s best selling autobiography “Basketball Is My Life” was published. In the book, Cousy describes how breaking his right arm as a child forced him to play sports with his left hand. He felt that the resulting ambidexterity made him a better basketball player.
In 1999, Bob Cousy was chosen as one of the NBA’s greatest players of all time, and ESPN
chose him at number 94 of the 20th century sports century 100 greatest athletes.