Buffalo Germans

Enshrined 1961

In 1895, six young boys who frequently played basketball together at a YMCA on Buffalo's East Side decided to form a team. Naming themselves the Buffalo Germans --the dynasty of basketball's first great team humbly began. The Germans became the most-feared team in the country, playing against the best pro and amateur teams in the world, and winning with relative ease. They captured the 1901 Pan American Championship. They took the 1904 Olympic title in St. Louis. For three years beginning in 1908, the Germans, led by star player Al Heerdt and coach Fred Burkhardt, won 111 straight games, and defeated their opponents by more than 30 points a game. Their most impressive victory was a 134-0 win over Hobart College. In 1925, the legendary boys disbanded after compiling an impressive 792-86 record. The Germans are one of only five teams enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.