Baltimore Hustlers

The Baltimore Claws was an American basketball team which was supposed to appear in the 1975–76 season in the American Basketball Association. The team collapsed before the season started, playing only three exhibition games, all losses, in its brief history.

The team that eventually became the Baltimore Claws had earlier competed in the ABA as the New Orleans Buccaneers from 1967 through 1970, as the Memphis Pros from 1970 through 1972, as the Memphis Tams from 1972 through 1974 and as the Memphis Sounds during the 1974–75 season. The Memphis franchise had struggled through the years and in its last season there it had relied on the league itself to handle some of its bills. The Sounds began the 1974–75 season with a win followed by several losses; fan interest waned but the team rallied to finish in fourth place in the ABA's Eastern Division. In the playoffs they lost in the Eastern Division semifinals to the eventual league champion Kentucky Colonels, 4 games to 1. Of the Sounds' draft picks that season, two (Lonnie Shelton and Terry Furlow) remained in college and the third (Rich Kelley) signed with the NBA's New Orleans Jazz. At the close of the 1974–75 season league commissioner Tedd Munchak issued an ultimatum to the Sounds if they wanted to stay in Memphis: sell 4,000 season tickets, line up new investors and get a better lease at the Mid-South Coliseum. When none of the conditions were met, the league took control of the franchise and put it on the market.

Prior to the 1975–76 season a consortium of seven Maryland businessmen led by David Cohan bought the troubled Memphis franchise (which had been taken over by the league midway through the previous season) for $1 million and relocated it to Baltimore. In August 1975, new ABA Commissioner Dave DeBusschere suddenly awarded the franchise to another group in Memphis due to apparent financial problems involving the Baltimore owners. However, the Memphis group backed out the very next day. After the Baltimore group made a $250,000 down payment, the franchise reverted to Baltimore.

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