[1] In reality, Saperstein and Cohen each secretly made arrangements with local promoters in the other cities to finance those teams so there would be an eight-team league.
He got Bill Sharman as coach and signed former NBA players Larry Friend and George Yardley to give the team instant credibility.
McLendon had several of his star players from Tennessee State such as John Barnhill and Ben Warley, plus several former Akron Wingfoots, such as Johnny Cox and Jimmy Darrow, who had won the AAU National Championship the year before.
Steinbrenner immediately named Sharman, from the recently defunct Jets, as his coach, and the Pipers went on to win the only ABL title in the league's brief history.
The radical changes, combined with uneven attendance (although some teams, such as the Kansas City Steers, drew well), and no fresh capital from new owners, caused Saperstein and Cohen to decide to throw in the towel with the close of 1962 on December 31.
The ABL proved to be a helpful alternative for some players that had been implicated in the 1961 NCAA University Division men's basketball gambling scandal (as well as the CCNY point-shaving scandal in the case of Bill Spivey), as a select few players like Tony Jackson and Connie Hawkins (who would not be drafted there, but would sign up with the ABL following this draft) would manage to see professional playing time they otherwise wouldn't have due to their bans from the NBA at the time.
While every team got enough picks to showcase entire, proper teams, no known round records were officially held during that period of time, though it was known that Rafer Johnson was drafted in what could technically be considered the first round of that draft (even though he's officially considered to be a territorial pick) by the Los Angeles Jets and he would go into the 1956 & 1960 Summer Olympics for the decathlon.
[7] The Philadelphia Tapers, Kansas City Steers, Hawaii Chiefs, Cleveland Pipers, and the Los Angeles Jets eventually returned to their NABL roots, where they continue as AAU Elite teams.