The Grumman Flyers, known also as the Grumman Bombers (1941), the Long Island Grumman Flying-Vs (1941–42), the Grumman Wildcats (1942–43), and the Grumman Hellcats (1944–45) were a men's professional basketball team owned and sponsored by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation based in Bethpage, New York. Most of the Flyers home games were played at the Freeport High School gymnasium in Freeport, New York. After the United States entered World War II on December 7, 1941, the team was bolstered by several professional basketball players who left their teams to come work for Grumman manufacturing planes for the wartime effort.
Team history edit
Former Long Island University basketball player Dolly King was hired to a clerical position by Grumman in July 1941. He was the ninth African American ever hired by Grumman. It was announced at the time he was hired that he would join the company's fledgling professional basketball team.[1]
The Grumman Flyers played their first game on November 11, 1941 against the Brooklyn Celtics, almost a month before the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 which sent the United States formally into World War II. Grumman lost the game 40–52 at the Freeport High School gymnasium in Freeport, New York in front of 1,000 spectators.
1942 World Basketball Tournament edit
References edit
- ^ "OMP Reports New Gains Against Aviation Barriers". The Afro American. Baltimore, Maryland. July 9, 1941. p. 9.