On a recent trip, I found out that the Tri-Cities Blackhawks – based in Moline, Illinois for several years – were once a professional basketball team.

They played in Moline for 5 years before moving and becoming the Milwaukee Hawks (later the St. Louis Hawks and the Atlanta Hawks).

Having a team in Moline would not fit in the modern NBA where teams are located within the largest cities in the United States. Even at the start of pro basketball, many teams were in large cities. But, Moline was not alone in having an early pro basketball squad. Here are some of the other Rust Belt cities that had early teams:

-Providence

-Pittsburgh

-Fort Wayne

-Rochester

-Syracuse

-Anderson, Indiana

-Sheboygan, Wisconsin

-Waterloo, Iowa

What does it mean that all of these cities are out of the NBA within a few years? It could be part of a larger restructuring and expansion of professional sports around this period. More cities in the West and South gained teams. I recently read that the St. Louis Cardinals were the furthest south and west team in baseball for a long time; this is hard to remember when all pro leagues stretch coast to coast.

But it could also be partially due to the relative decline of the Rust Belt. These places that were once sizable and/or important places fell behind as other cities grew in population and status. Or the region itself, stretching from the middle of New York and Pennsylvania through the eastern Great Plains, fell on harder times.

Pro basketball may have started in small big cities in the Midwest but it did not stay there long as the sport and other places grew.