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.