Birmingham and Memphis have a long-standing relationship in professional sports.
The Birmingham Barons and Memphis Egyptians started the rivalry in 1903 in the Southern Baseball Association, while the Birmingham Black Barons and Memphis Red Sox began playing each other in the Negro National League in 1924. As members of the Southern League, the towns went head-to-head for decades.
The cities have also competed in several football leagues. The Birmingham Americans and Birmingham Vulcans faced the Memphis Southmen in the World Football League; the Birmingham Stallions met the Memphis Showboats in the United States Football League; the Birmingham Barracudas and Memphis Mad Dogs shared a division in the Canadian Football League; the Birmingham Bolts and Memphis Maniax opened the 2001 XFL season against each other; and the Birmingham Iron and Memphis Express lifted the lid on the Alliance of American Football campaign in 2019.
And continuing the football theme, Birmingham Legion FC and Memphis 901 FC currently compete against each other in the USL Championship.
Finally, the Mississippi River Kings (located in the Memphis suburb of Southaven, Mississippi) skated against the Birmingham Bulls in the Southern Professional Hockey League up until 2018.
But professional basketball?
I was all set to declare Monday night’s NBA G League clash between the Birmingham Squadron (5-5 in the Showcase Cup) and Memphis Hustle (6-4) a moment of living history, marking the first time professional roundballers representing these great Southern cities had ever met on the hardwood.
But a bit of research reveals that isn’t the case.
In fact, Birmingham and Memphis played each other for the first time in a play-for-pay hoops contest on December 8, 1947.
With player/coach Wheeler Flemming leading the way with 19 points, the visiting Birmingham Vulcans trounced the Memphis Legionnaires, 62-43, in a Southern Professional Basketball League game.
Birmingham never trailed and Flemming – also a minor league baseball player – got help from Bobby O’Brien, who scored 15 points, and guards Manuel Dorsky and Bubba Ball, who accounted for 11 points apiece.
Bob Murphy was high-point man for the hosts and led all scorers with 21 points.
Wheeler Flemming was an all-state product from Ramsey High School and starred at Samford (then Howard) University, and his brother, Frank, was also on the Vulcans’ roster.
Murphy was a Menlo (California) Junior College standout who was one of the most dominant scorers in the SPBL.
According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal the game was played before a small crowd at the Shelby County Arena located at the state fairgrounds, but sportswriter Emmett Maum made it sound exciting – at least for Birmingham fans:
“Birmingham Vulcans gave a basketball exhibition reminiscent of the old New York Celtics last night by passing the Memphis Legionnaires dizzy to win, 62-43.”
That was high praise, indeed. The New York Celtics (also known as the Original Celtics) were a barnstorming team that won championships in both the Eastern Basketball League and American Basketball League.
Ironically, Wheeler Flemming was on the Howard team that stunned the Celtics, 54-43, during a 1943 exhibition played at Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham.
As for the SPBL, it was formed on August 10, 1947, in Birmingham, with the idea of bringing minor league basketball to the Deep South. News reports had player salaries ranging from $400 to $600 per month.
The nation’s major leagues at the time were the National Basketball League, which had been formed in 1937, and the Basketball Association of America, founded in 1946 (the NBL and BBA merged in 1948 and was rebranded the National Basketball Association).
The American Basketball League (founded in 1925) was also still playing, but had been overshadowed by the NBL and BAA.
Yet none of those leagues had franchises anywhere near the southeast, so the Southern League set out to fill that void. The original SPBL lineup featured the Birmingham Vulcans, Gadsden Whiz Kids, Jackson Senators, Memphis Legionnaires, Mobile Bears, Montgomery Rebels and Nashville Vols.
The void would be filled for only two seasons.
With most of the teams facing financial woes and teams playing before miniscule crowds, the SPBL disbanded after its second season.
The Vulcans folded at the end of the 1947-48 campaign and were replaced by the Birmingham Steelers the following season, while the Legionnaires relocated to Mobile on January, 1948.
Before all the drama the Vulcans and Legionnaires played four times, with Birmingham winning three of the four including the last played on January 9, 1948. The Vulcans won that one, 73-71, in front of 400 fans at the National Guard Armory. Frank Flemming scored 27 points for the hosts and Murphy led Memphis with 31.
Seventy-four years and five days after the Vulcans and Legionnaires started it, the Squadron and Hustle continue the basketball rivalry between Birmingham and Memphis Monday at Legacy Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.