The Oakland Bittners were an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball team, located in Oakland, California. The team was named after sponsor Lou Bittner and became the first club to bring a basketball championship back to Oakland back in the day. The Bittners changed their name to Oakland Blue 'n Gold Atlas in 1949 getting a sponsorship from an engineering company, called Atlas-Pacific. The sponsor was Oakland businessman Ted Harrer.

History

First years

The Bittners were the brainchild of Lou Bittner, who had opened a tax consulting and insurance company. The team entered the American Basketball League in 1946 where the played for two seasons. In their first season they won 18 out of their 20 games and they finished second to Phillips 66ers. Don Barksdale was the most prominent player of the league and he set the ABL's scoring record. The next season they finished third behind the Phillips 66ers and the Denver Nuggets. But the Bittners became widely known when they reached the AAU championship final in 1947 but they lost to Phillips 66ers (62-41). Two years later the Bittners would take revenge on the Phillips defeating with in the championship game by 55-51. That team was coached by Lou Bittner and had the likes of the later NBA stars

Don Barksdale Donald Argee Barksdale (March 31, 1923 – March 8, 1993) was an American professional basketball player. He was a pioneer as an African-American basketball player, becoming the first to be named NCAA All-American, the first to play on a Un ...

and

Jim Pollard James Clifford Pollard (July 9, 1922 – January 22, 1993) was an American professional basketball player and coach. As a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Pollard was considered one of the best forwards in the 1950s and was ...

. But after the end of the season, the team got the sponsorship from the Blue 'n Gold Atlas company and lost two of its greatest players, Charles ''Chuck'' Hanger and Dave Minor who transferred to Denver Blue 'n Gold Atlas. In the 1949-1950 season the team with Hal Fischer as a coach reached the AAU Final once again but lost to the Phillips 66ers by 65–42. The next season the Oakland Blue 'n Gold Atlas-Pacific entered the National Industrial Basketball League where they competed for two years.

Ed Voss Ed Voss (1922 – March 21, 1953) was an American basketball player. College basketball career A center from University High School in Oakland, California, Voss played collegiately for Stanford University. As the team's starting center, he ...

, who helped the team win the title in 1949, died four years later at age 31. Barksdale represented the Bittners in the Olympic Games as a part of the 1948 United States men's Olympic basketball team.

Notable players

Paul Napolitano Paul Walter Napolitano (February 3, 1923 – June 22, 1997) was an American basketball player.Paul ...

* Dave Minor *

Don Burness Donald S. Burness (June 1, 1919 – March 3, 1987) was an All-American basketball player at Stanford University. College career Burness, who was , played center in high school at Lowell High School in San Francisco. He switched to playing for ...

Ron Livingstone George Ronald Livingstone (October 9, 1925 – August 26, 1991) was an American professional basketball player. Livingstone was the sixth overall pick in the 1949 BAA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. He played for the Bullets for just sixteen gam ...

* Mike O'Neill *

Charles Hanger Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

* Bill Calhoun *

Ken Leslie Ernest Kenneth Leslie OBE (14 May 1911 in Hitchin – 6 January 2010) was an Australian Anglican bishop. He was the Anglican Bishop of Bathurst from 1959 to 1981. Leslie was educated at Trinity Grammar School, Kew “Who was Who” 1897-2007 Lo ...

References

{{reflist * * * * Amateur Athletic Union Basketball teams in the San Francisco Bay Area 1941 establishments in California Basketball teams established in 1941 1952 disestablishments in California Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1952 Sports clubs and teams in Oakland, California