Sports / Business & brands
Fred Zollner
1901–1982 · industrialist, basketball team owner
Piston manufacturer who founded the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1941, helped create the NBA and moved the team to Detroit in 1957.
- Born
Little Falls, Minnesota- Died
North Miami, Florida
aged 81- Also known as
- Mr. Pro Basketball
- Detroit years
- 1957–1974
- Field
- Sports, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Zollner ran a Fort Wayne, Indiana, company that made pistons for car, truck and aircraft engines, and in 1941 he founded a company basketball team named after its product, the Zollner Pistons. The team became a powerhouse of the National Basketball League, and around Zollner's kitchen table in 1949 the leaders of the rival leagues agreed to merge into the National Basketball Association. Small-town Fort Wayne could not support an NBA team for long, so in 1957 Zollner moved the club to Detroit, the auto capital that made a natural home for a team called the Pistons. They played first at the Olympia and from 1961 at the new Cobo Arena downtown, but crowds stayed modest and the team rarely contended. In 1974 he sold the Pistons to Bill Davidson. Zollner, known as "Mr. Pro Basketball", was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor.
Highlights
- Founded the Zollner Pistons in Fort Wayne in 1941
- Hosted the 1949 talks that created the NBA
- Moved the Pistons to Detroit in 1957
- Owned the team until selling it to Bill Davidson in 1974
- Basketball Hall of Fame (contributor)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1957–1961
Olympia Stadium
Demolished · 1927–1979
The Pistons' first Detroit home after the move from Fort Wayne; demolished in the 1980s.
Related place · 1961–1974
Cobo Arena
Closed
The Pistons' downtown arena from 1961 to 1978; in 2015 the arena space was converted into halls and the Grand Riverview Ballroom.