my-server
← Wiki

Sports in Fort Wayne, Indiana

Fort Wayne, Indiana, is home to several sports teams. These include the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons (now in Detroit), the Fort Wayne Daisies of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and the Fort Wayne Kekiongas of the National Association of Professional Baseball

History

Fort Wayne has been home to a few sports firsts. On June 2, 1883, Fort Wayne hosted the Quincy Professionals for one of the first lighted baseball games ever recorded. Fort Wayne has been credited for being the birthplace of the NBA when Fort Wayne Pistons owner Fred Zollner brokered the merger of the BAA and the NBL in 1949 from his kitchen table. The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, who later became the Detroit Pistons, were charter members of the National Basketball League (a forerunner to the NBA) and won back-to-back NBL championships in 1944 and 1945. Also, on March 10, 1961, Wilt Chamberlain became the first player in the NBA to reach 3,000 points in a single season while competing at Memorial Coliseum.

Fort Wayne hosted two NBA Finals Games in 1955 and 1956, as well as the third city to host the NBA All-Star Game in 1953. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum was also venue to the 2000 NCAA Men's Division I Volleyball Championship matches, in addition to hosting the 2000, 2001, and 2002 Mid-Continent Conference men's basketball tournaments. Fort Wayne also annually hosts the U.S.S.S.A. National and Boys State Championships, held at Spiece Fieldhouse.

On November 22, 1950, the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers with a final score of 19 to 18 in the lowest scoring game in NBA history.

Fort Wayne hosted another major league team in a Big Four sport, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas of the National Association. The National Association was the first professional baseball league and the forerunner of the National League; it is sometimes considered to have been a major league, and sometimes not. The Kekiongas were a founding member of the national association (in 1871), and played and won the first National Association game, but disbanded partway through the 1871 season.

Wildcat Baseball League was a baseball league in Fort Wayne formed by Dale McMillen in April 1960 as an alternative to Little League Baseball. Fort Wayne was rated the "Best Place in the Country for Minor League Sports" in a 2007 issue of Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal.

Current sports teams

Former sports teams

Notable natives and former residents

Athletes

Professional baseball

Professional basketball

Professional BMX

  • Barry McManus, BMX racer in 1980-'90s
  • Scott Yoquelet, BMX racer in 1990–2000s
  • Joey Marks, BMX dirt freestyle 1998–2010
  • Brian Doty, BMX racer 1980-'90s

Professional football

Professional golf

Professional hockey

Martial arts

Professional soccer

Olympic swimming and diving

Olympic track and field

Professional volleyball

Other notable individuals

Northeast Indiana's Top 50 Athletes

The News-Sentinel's Northeast Indiana's Top 50 Athletes of the 20th century are:

  1. Rod Woodson
  2. Johnny Bright
  3. George Yardley
  4. Everett Scott
  5. Len Thornson
  6. Bobby McDermott
  7. Don Lash
  8. DeDee Nathan
  9. Lloy Ball
  10. Cathy Gerring
  11. Bill Kratzert
  12. Matt Vogel
  13. Sharon (Wichman) Jones
  14. Emil Sitko
  15. Eugene "Bubbles" Hargrave
  16. Dottie Wiltse Collins
  17. Willie Long
  18. Ivan Acosta
  19. Eddie Long
  20. Paul "Curly" Armstrong
  21. Bill Wambsganss
  22. MaChelle Joseph
  23. Steve Hargan
  24. Henry James
  25. Gene Hartley
  26. Bill West
  27. Bernie Kampschmidt
  28. Joanne Weaver
  29. Herm Schaefer
  30. Lionel Repka
  31. Vaughn Dunbar
  32. Walter Jordan
  33. Bruce Miller
  34. Lashanda Harper
  35. Nel Fettig
  36. Terry Pembroke
  37. Steve Platt
  38. Tom Beerman
  39. Cathey Tyree
  40. Jason Fabini
  41. Tiffany Gooden
  42. Lamar Smith
  43. Leslie Johnson
  44. Tom Bolyard
  45. Roosevelt Barnes
  46. Conan Myers
  47. Lee Ann Reed
  48. Tom Kelley
  49. Mike Augustyniak
  50. Colin Chin

See also

References