1950-51 JOHNSTOWN CLIPPERS
ALL-AMERICAN BASKETBALL LEAGUE2-8 .200, withdrew January 24, 1951
Hailing from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the CLippers joined the AAB with pro basketball veteran Nat Hickey as coach. Hickey, a long-time star with the Original Celtics during the Depression, had most recently coached the Providence Steamrollers in the BAA. The team wound up struggling before being hit with the worst of tragedies.
The Clippers managed to be competitive, but more often on the wrong end of the score. They finished the 1951 calendar year with only two wins in 8 games, but only one loss was more than a ten-point defecit. Their worst beating of the season was on January 10, 1951, when they were pounded by the Wheeling Blues, 107-72, at the court of the West Virginia city. But that was not to be the worst part of that trip.
On the way back to Johnstown after the game, a car driven by Nat Hickey and carrying a few members of the team slid on an icy highway and crossed over into oncoming traffic. Chuck Karmarkovich, the team's leading scorer with 15 points per game, suffered a fractured skull and died early the next morning in the hospital. The team opted to take time off to grieve, but two weeks later decided to withdraw from competition.
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| Chuck Karmarkovich |
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