New book will rekindle memories of the Allentown Jets and simpler times
Syl Sobel and Jay Rosenstein grew up together in Scranton, and about the age of 7, they began tagging along with their fathers to see games at the Scranton Catholic Youth Center to watch the Scranton Miners in the Eastern Professional Basketball League.
Rosenstein remembers those games as a wonderful bonding experience between fathers and sons.
But he also remembers it as a bonding experience for him and Sobel with the Eastern League.
“Syl and I not only grew up together, but we went to college together and still live near each other in the Washington, D.C., area, and we occasionally still got together and when we did we’d always mention an Eastern League player and the memories would flow,” Rosenstein said. “We’d say, one of these days we’ve got a write a book. Three years ago, we decided to do it.”
What they produced is called: “Boxed Out of the NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League.”
It’s a 199-page tribute to the Eastern League, its players, coaches, referees, personalities, and to what having pro basketball meant to the cities of eastern Pennsylvania, including Allentown, which had a team known as the Jets in the league from 1958-81.
The Jets played their games at Rockne Hall and often filled up the Allentown Central Catholic gymnasium on Saturday nights before eventually finishing their run at Allen High School’s Phys Ed Center, now known as J. Milo Sewards Gym.
The Jets had a very loyal fan base as many Eastern League franchises did.
“We just fell in love with it,” Sobel said. “As we got older, we got thinking about it that no other book had been written about the Eastern League and what people should know is that these were great players. Remember, in the 1950s and 1960s there were not nearly as many NBA teams as there are today and there were only 10 players on a team. Maybe you had 100 guys in the NBA and today there are 450 players. So you had great players in the Eastern League.”
A primary focus of the book is Sobel and Rosenstein wanting
basketball fans to know about the talented players in the EBL who would have all been in the NBA today.
“Very few people know about them and we thought it was about time they did,” Sobel said.
The authors interviewed about 40 people including former players, owners, coaches, even referees.
“We talked to Ray Scott, who used to play in Allentown, and John Chaney, the former Temple coach, who has since passed,” Sobel said. “We talked to [Syracuse coach] Jim Boeheim who played in Scranton and Willie Somerset, Swish McKinney, Maurice McHartley and Bobby Weiss, who played and coached in the NBA,” Sobel said. “We talked to referees like Dick Bavetta and Joey Crawford.”
Sobel said it’s nearly impossible to determine how many hours went into the project.
“We started in late 2017 with our interviews and the first one was with Waite Bellamy who played for the Wilmington Blue Bombers and is one of the all-time leading scorers in the Eastern League,” Sobel said. “I would say the final manuscript was done at the end of 2020.
“So it was about three years of time and over 300 pages
of interview transcripts to go through, like 35 hours of interviews that were recorded. Add to that a lot of newspaper and internet research and working with collectors to get photos and so on, so we did a lot of digging for this book, a lot of talking to people and we sifted through a lot of great stories, facts, and information to compile it.”
Rosenstein said he regretted not deciding to do the book sooner because many of the great players who were part of the scene were no longer living by the time the project took shape.
“I would have loved to have spoken so many great players, great players like Wally Choice,” Rosenstein said. “I was very curious about him but he passed away soon before we started. We lost John Chaney, Richie Cornwall, Howie Landa and Art Pachter, who was the owner of the Scranton Miners for about 20 years. Art was able to be quoted for the book, but many others didn’t get the chance.”
Besides a history lesson, the book conveys the charm of the Eastern League, which unfolded in an era well before dozens of NBA games were available on TV every night and when there weren’t dozens of daily talk
shows devoted to professional basketball.
And you also didn’t have to give up a half a mortgage payment to see a 76ers, Nets or Knicks game and you could actually reach out and touch the players.
“The games were right there in front of you, and the players were within short walking distance of where you were sitting,” Rosenstein said.
“Some of the best players in the world were right there in your local high school gym,” Sobel said. “It was just an incredible opportunity. You were so close and accessible and sometimes the players hung around after games and you got to talk to them. Some of them stayed in the cities that they played in and got jobs there and became part of the community. It was pro sports right there in our hometown.”
Rosenstein loves to talk about the league’s quirky gyms.
“Sunbury, which has a population of about 15,000, had a great team called the Mercuries,” Rosenstein said. “But people talk about the gym where one wall was so close to the basket that players had to be afraid to go in for a layup. There was not even room along the baseline to throw the ball in. At the other end of the court, there was a big stage that the players would sit right next to the court.
“The fans were also on the stage and the players had to make sure they didn’t trip over people’s feet to go into the game. You’re not going to see that in the NBA or anywhere else today.”
Rosenstein also talked about the Kingston Armory, located across the bridge from WilkesBarre, which was home to the Wilkes-Barre Barons.
“It was a massive facility, but it had only one shower in the locker room for both teams,” Rosenstein said. “So after a game, there was a long lineup to get into the shower. There was a long line of things like that.”
Of course, there were also plenty of stories about the Allentown Jets, who were as successful as any Eastern League franchise.
“It was really one of the great anchor franchises,” Sobel said. “Andy Johnson was a great player who played in the NBA and with the Harlem Globetrotters. You had Walt Simon, Brendan McCann, the league’s first great 3-point shooter, Hank Whitney.
“There was just lots of talent and what was important with the Jets is they formed a relationship with the New York Knicks and kind of became the Knicks farm team. Fuzzy Levane, who was a great player in the 1940s and became a longtime NBA scout. Fuzzy coached the Jets and he was a good friend of Red Holtzman who was the chief scout for the Knicks until he became head coach. Frank Wagner, who was the Jets GM and a great executive in the league, also became a friend of Holzman’s. Through those connections, a relationship was formed between New York and Allentown.”
Hawthorne Wingo, a member of the Knicks’ 1972-73 title team, was a fan favorite along with Eddie Mast, who led Temple to the 1969 NIT title and then played professionally with the Knicks and Hawks. Mast made the Lehigh Valley his home and later became the head coach at Dieruff High School.
“When I think of the Jets, I think of great, great players,” Rosenstein said. “Roman Turmon is one of the first who come to mind. This guy was fearsome and putting up numbers like 30 points per game and led the Jets to a great 10 years or so and Ray Scott was also a great player who moved up to the NBA and played for the Pistons and later became a coach.”
The foreword for the book was written by Hall of Fame writer Bob Ryan, who became famous for his coverage of the Boston Celtics for the Boston Globe. Ryan got back to the authors when they asked for his input on the league.
“G-d, I loved that league,” is how Ryan ended his foreword.
Not all was rosy as players encountered racism in certain corners and couldn’t get served in certain towns. Sobel said there was an unwritten quota on the number of African-American players in the NBA, which actually enhanced the quality of the Eastern League.
Sobel said he is seeking video footage or even home movies of Eastern League games that could contribute to a documentary on the league.
For now, the book serves a simpler, glorious time for local basketball fans who worked hard all week and then got to be entertained on a winter Saturday night.
“The league was a forgotten, hidden gem in professional basketball history and only the people from the towns in the league knew about it,” Sobel said. “Those who witnessed it, those who experienced it and who were a part of it, realize that we got to see something special. We were really lucky and now we’ve gotten to share that story.”