THE PARADE FOR THE YELLOW JACKETS, DOWNTOWN
ABA team based in Allentown given parade in Downtown Pittsburgh
by Thomas Leturgey, For New Pittsburgh Courier
Assistant Coach Clyde Manns told Averill “Ace” Pippens, owner and head coach of Pittsburgh’s Steel City Yellow Jackets, that he would “get out of that wheelchair” when the team won its first American Basketball Association (ABA) championship. At the conclusion of last month’s emotional championship win over Stockton, California’s “Team Trouble,” Manns raced over to his friend of 20 years and pulled him up for a poignant, tear-charged hug.
ACE PIPPENS CELEBRATES WITH HIS YELLOW JACKETS…
Pippens, who was shot five times in 1994 in St. Clair Village by the ex-boyfriend of a girl Pippens was with, has been in a wheelchair ever since. But that hasn’t stopped him from inspiring teams of aspiring hoop stars.
The Steel City Yellow Jackets have played in a variety of locations around town since its inception in 2014. The team—part of a “new” ABA that features fast-paced, high-scoring action with one-of-a-kind “3D” baskets that can register four-points on one shot from beyond the three-point line, began 22 years ago.
The Yellow Jackets have been playing at “A Giving Heart Community Center,” the former Bishop Leonard Gymnasium in Allentown on the South Side, for four seasons.
For all eight seasons of the Yellow Jackets, Antonio “Tone” Reddic Sr. and Gilmore Cummings have led the squad. More recently, the co-captains wondered about their professional basketball “legacies.” With a renewed vigor, they played extraordinarily all season.
Early individual records away from Pittsburgh are sketchy, but Pippens said that Reddic—who was the Yellow Jackets’ All-Star representative this year–has scored “over 2,500 points” in his tenure and Cummings is “at about 2,000.”
Both sharpshooters, Cummings is a three-point specialist at guard, and Reddic, a hybrid guard/forward with a nose for where the ball is at all times, were indispensable to the team’s success.
Pippens said this year’s team had been designed with one goal: to defeat the Jacksonville Giants. Florida’s export went into the Top 8 tournament as the five-time defending champions and seven-time overall ABA champions. The Yellow Jackets succumbed to the Giants in last season’s tournament and although Pittsburgh’s team didn’t take the loss personally, they used that game as incentive.
The Yellow Jackets ran an impressive, undefeated streak for most of this season. Primarily playing Saturdays and Sundays, the team frequently hosted “doubleheaders” that saw Pippens’ team play hard Saturday night and then turn around for a matinee on Sunday.
When asked about Pippens, ABA President Joe Newman simply said, “He’s quite a guy.”
WITH ACE PIPPENS HOLDING THE CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY, the Steel City Yellow Jackets are national champions.
On the court, Reddic and Cummings were joined by Brandon Franklin, Claude Scott Jr., Jason Arrington Sr. and Justin Hamilton. The team lost its first game of the season in Baltimore when the 6’9” center, Hamilton, left the team for work reasons. He returned for the playoffs, struggled early, but then practiced free throws 90 minutes before the championship game to strengthen his game.
Late in the schedule, former standout and starter Kenny Holmes returned to the club. Holmes, who plays basketball anywhere he can, was playing for an ABA squad in Newfoundland, Canada, when COVID-19 struck hard in January. He and others were forced to stay north of the border until details were ironed out. Two weeks later, the ABA season there shuddered. Holmes immediately looked to Cummings and Reddic for guidance. They wanted their “Agent Zero” (the number he’s worn on his jersey since high school) back. His first time out, Holmes scored 42 off the bench for the Steel City Yellow Jackets.
With Hamilton (temporarily) out of the mix, Pippens signed center Brandon Burnett, a 6’10” veteran, who, like Holmes, has played in Spain and other countries. Burnett helped spell forwards Arrington, Scott and Reddic. Reddic’s strong rebounding game meant he frequently got knocked to the floor and each time it took him longer to get up.
Others played key roles for the Yellow Jackets, including the fiery twins Tim and James Jackson, whose excitable play contributed greatly throughout the season. James Jackson rebounded from a late-season ankle injury to play hard in the finals. Fellow talented guard Brandon Franklin also injured an ankle around the same time as Jackson, but he wasn’t able to contribute in a post-regular-season charity game or the final tournament. Leandre Evans, Etholion Vennie and fan-favorite Steven Vorum were among others who all helped the Yellow Jackets get to and win the championship.
Once the Yellow Jackets won the ABA regional championship in Pittsburgh, the No. 2-ranked Yellow Jackets were in line to face No. 7 Las Vegas. They defeated Las Vegas in a heated and controversial affair that saw Pippens and Assistant Coach Mike Mott get more animated by the grueling minute. The final score was 139-133. The very next day was the team’s anticipated showdown with arch-nemesis, the No. 3 Giants.
For many observers, this was the biggest game of the Final 8, and the Yellow Jackets were victorious, 127-122. The presumed champions, the dynasty, was defeated and the Yellow Jackets were elated.
But there was still one game left.
The finals were set and the Yellow Jackets were set to play “Team Trouble,” on April 23. Pittsburgh was better prepared early on, but saw an early 20-point lead evaporate. In the final moments of the contest, held in Baltimore, Team Trouble lived up to its name by taking the lead. Timely shots by Claude Scott Jr. and two 3-pointers by Brandon Johnson pulled Pittsburgh back out in front. When the final buzzer rang out, Pippens’ team was on top, 123-118, and he was embraced by Manns. Holmes was named MVP.
The City of Pittsburgh held a championship parade and proclamation for the Steel City Yellow Jackets on Thursday, May 19. Mayor Ed Gainey was on hand, celebrating the first sports championship celebration for him as mayor.
Celebrating front-and-center was “Ace” Pippens, riding through the streets of Pittsburgh, the city that’s “King of the ABA” in 2022. For Pippens, the Oliver High School graduate who was a star quadruple-threat athlete in football, basketball, baseball and track, he hopes this is the first of many celebrations to come for the Steel City Yellow Jackets.
THE PARADE FOR THE YELLOW JACKETS, DOWNTOWN
JASON ARRINGTON DANCING
VICTORY CELEBRATION
About Post Author
