A 75-yard game-winning overtime drive engineered by Patrick Mahomes gave the Kansas City Chiefs the Super Bowl victory, their third NFL title in five years, and put the finishing touches to the past football season in dramatic fashion.
Local sports attention now switches to the upcoming high school basketball and wrestling tournaments underway to crown PIAA state champions. Pitchers and catchers have reported to MLB spring training, and March Madness is on our doorstep, so regardless of the accuracy of the prediction from the furry one from Punxsutawney, spring is waiting just around the corner.
As is always the case, the winter sports season has produced some dramatic moments and significant team accomplishments, resulting in personal and family memories that will be remembered and relived many times in the years ahead. For me, a sports memory from years ago was rekindled as a result of a book loaned to me to read by lifelong friend Mike Fogarty.
During a visit, Mike and I reflected upon the days of the Williamsport Billies and how they captured the interest of local basketball fans long before the explosion of televised sports. To cap off our conversation, Mike pulled out a book he wanted me to read. The book, Boxed Out of the NBA, provided a memorable read and reflection upon an era of sports history in Williamsport that most Webb Weekly readers are unfamiliar.
The Williamsport Billies were members of the Eastern Professional Basketball League from 1947 -1964. The league played its games on weekends with other teams in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton. Sunbury, Allentown, Hazelton, Camden, and Trenton, New Jersey. In those days, the NBA had ten teams and operated with an unofficial quota on black players, which limited opportunities for talented players. Additionally, college basketball stars implicated in a 1951 gambling scandal were banned from playing in the NBA.
The league was known for its fast-paced, physical style of play. The games were played in small, smoke-filled gyms, creating an intense atmosphere. The Billies played their home games at the Williamsport Armory and later at the old Roosevelt Junior High gym on West Fourth Street, drawing near-capacity crowds for every game. If you love good basketball, it was the place to be on a Saturday night.
As a young basketball fan, I was a faithful follower of the Boston Celtics in the days of Bill Russell, Sam Jones, and John Havlicek. Back then, a Sunday afternoon telecast was about all TV had to offer. But the Billies brought a high quality of exciting basketball right here in town. On Saturday nights, I always tried to arrive as soon as the doors opened to watch the players warm up, seemingly bigger than life before my eyes.
Because of the limitations mentioned above, the Eastern League was full of talented players. They had regular jobs during the week but played on weekends for the love of the game. Their pay was minimal, ranging from $50 to $250 a game, paid after each game in cash from the box office take.
With rosters featuring a bevy of talented college stars, during their Williamsport tenure, the Billies made the league playoffs in 11 seasons and won EBA titles in 1950, 1953, and 1954. Rosters fluctuated yearly, but some of the great collegiate players of the era wore the local colors.; including John Chaney, Columbia University’s Chet Forte (who later was the TV director for the first Monday Night Football game), Michigan State great Julius McCoy; Penn State’s Jesse Arnell; Al Seiden of St. Johns; NYU’s Cal Ramsey; and Jack Molinas of Columbia.
Of the group, Molinas drew the most attention both for his on-court play and his off-court problems. After graduating from Columbia, the 6’6” center was drafted by the NBA’s Ft. Wayne Pistons in 1953 and, in 32 games, averaged 11 points per game, but was soon banished from the league for gambling on Piston games. In joined the Billies in 1954 and played with the team until 1959. In 1956, he was named the Eastern League’s most valuable player, averaging 27.3 points per game.
In 1963, Molinas was convicted for his role in a collegiate point-shaving scandal and was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. He served five years of the sentence and was paroled in 1968.
At 2:00 a.m., August 3, 1975, at age 43, Molinas was killed while standing in the backyard of his Los Angeles home. A shooter hiding in a neighbor’s yard fired five shots in the darkness, hitting Molinas in the head. His girlfriend and dog were wounded in the attack. Police did not rule out a mob-related murder.
Chaney, who played for the Billies in 1963-66, which included a brief tenure as the team’s coach, went on to collegiate coaching greatness at Temple University from 1982-2006. Despite occasional discrimination faced by players, Chaney held his time in Williamsport in high regard.
“You know, it was extraordinary. Not many black people lived in some of the towns, but Williamsport respected the players. We never had any problems there.”
The Billies team name was a matter of conjecture. Some felt it was named after team founder and longtime Williamsport businessman Bill Pickelner. Others claim the name stemmed from the city’s nickname of Billtown. Whatever the origin, the Williamsport Billies provided local basketball fans with 17 years of Saturday night excitement.
