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Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons Team History

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Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons




  • 1941
  • 1944 - 1945
  • 1948
  • Zollner Pistons 1946

    Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons Formation

    The Detroit Pistons’ franchise was founded as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, a National Basketball League (NBL) team, playing in the gym of North Side High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Owners Fred Zollner and his sister Janet’s Zollner Corporation was a foundry, manufacturing pistons, primarily for car, truck, and locomotive engines. Fred Zollner, who currently owns a professional softball ...
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  • Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 1944

    NBL Championship 44′ and 45′

    1944 The Zollner Pistons continued to fire on all cylinders winning their second straight regular-season title with an 18-4 record. In the playoffs, the Pistons would roll through the competition beating the Cleveland Chase Brassmen in two straight games before sweeping the Sheboygan Red Skins to capture the NBL Championship. 1945 Coming off their NBL Championship the Zollner Pistons continued ...
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  • Zollner Pistons 1945

    Pistons drop the Name Zollner

    The NBL continues to lose talent to the BAA prompting talk of a merger. Among the people leading the calls for a merger is Pistons Owner Fred Zollner. The Zollner Pistons would go on to finish in third place with a record of 40-20. In the playoffs, the Zollner Pistons would once again be taken out by the Rochester Royals ...
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History of the Pistons

The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons were an American professional basketball team based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The franchise was founded in 1941 by Fred Zollner as a member of the National Basketball League (NBL). They played their home games at North Side High School Gymnasium and won two NBL championships before joining the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1948. In 1949, they moved to Detroit and became the Detroit Pistons.

The Zollner Pistons had a successful run during their time with the NBL, winning two league titles between 1944-45 and 1945-46 seasons under coach Murray Mendenhall. During this period they featured some of the greatest players from that era such as George Glamack, Ralph Hamilton, Bill Karrasch, and Howie Schultz who helped lead them to victory over teams like Oshkosh All Stars or Sheboygan Redskins for those titles wins. Their success also included making it all way to finals four times out of five years within the same span but unfortunately losing on each occasion except one when they beat Anderson Duffey Packers for the championship title-winning season 1945–46 campaign.

In addition to being champions twice during its tenure with NBL, Fort Wayne Zollner pistons are credited for introducing several innovations which later become standard practice throughout the NBA today including playing three full-court zones instead of the traditional man-to-man defense used back then. Also, first, every use of a “fast break” offense is still a popular strategy employed by many modern-day teams nowadays. Last but not least due to the popularity gained while playing fort Wayne Zollner Pistons ended up becoming founding members of BAA (which later merged into the NBA )and eventually moved city Detroit where to continue their legacy to date.





Established
1941

City
Fort Wayne - Detroit

League History
1949 – Present / National Basketball Association
1948 – 1949 / Basketball Association of America
1941 – 1948 / National Basketball League

Team History
1957 – Present / Detroit Pistons
1948 – 1957 / Fort Wayne Pistons
1941 – 1948 / Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons

Nickname
Pistons - Originally the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, the teams name comes from team owner Frank Zollners piston manufacturing company. Owners Fred Zollner and his sister Janet’s Zollner Corporation was a foundry, manufacturing pistons, primarily for car, truck and locomotive engines.

Championship
NBA Championships 0
2004, 1990, 1989

Arena
2016 – Present / Little Caesars Arena
1988 – 2016 / The Palace of Auburn Hills
1978 – 1988 / Pontiac Silverdome
1961 – 1978 / Cobo Arena
1957 – 1961 / Olympia Stadium

*Fort Wayne*
1952 – 1957 / Allen County War Memorial Coliseum
1941 – 1952 / North Side High School Gym

Owner
2011 – Present / Tom Gores
2009 – 2011 / Karen Davidson
1974 – 2009 / William Davidson
1941 – 1974 / Fred Zollner

Who is the greatest Fort Wayne Pistons/Zollner Pistons?
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To qualify as the greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
* verifies that player has played for this team as an added player by a fan.

Retired Number
1 / Chauncey Billups
2 / Chuck Daly
3 / Ben Wallace
4 / Joe Dumars
10 / Dennis Rodman
11 / Isiah Thomas
15 / Vinnie Johnson
16 / Bob Lanier
21 / Dave Bing
32 / Richard Hamilton
40 / Bill Laimbeer
– / William Davidson
– / Jack McCloskey

*Blue is this team’s history

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