There was a time when playing basketball in Pittsburgh’s City League meant sharing the court with players who were headed to major college basketball—and, in some cases, the NBA.
You don’t need to look much further than 1971.
Fifty-five years later, the names from that season’s All-City League team read like a history lesson in just how much basketball talent once existed inside Pittsburgh’s city schools.
Schenley alone had Maurice Lucas and Ricky Coleman among the standouts. Fifth Avenue had Dwight Clay. South Hills had Kirk Bruce.
Those weren’t simply good high school basketball players. What they accomplished after leaving the City League puts that era into perspective.
Maurice Lucas Became an NBA Champion
Maurice Lucas eventually became the biggest name of the group.
After starring at Schenley, Lucas went on to play college basketball at Marquette, where he helped the Warriors reach the 1974 NCAA championship game. His basketball journey eventually took him to the professional ranks, where he became an NBA All-Star and one of the most respected power forwards of his generation.
Lucas was a major piece of the Portland Trail Blazers team that won the 1977 NBA championship and spent 12 seasons in the NBA.
Think about that for a second. One of the best players in the NBA was once just another great player coming through Pittsburgh’s City League.
And he wasn’t the only one.
Ricky Coleman Was Another Schenley Star
Ricky Coleman gave Schenley another player with major college talent.
Coleman eventually landed at Jacksonville University, which had emerged as a national basketball power during that era. His talent was good enough to put him on the NBA’s radar as well. The Boston Celtics selected Coleman in the sixth round of the 1975 NBA Draft.
That means one Pittsburgh high school had two players from the same era who would eventually hear their names called in professional basketball circles.
That’s serious talent.
Dwight Clay Made College Basketball History
Then there was Fifth Avenue’s Dwight Clay.
Clay went to Notre Dame, but his place in basketball history was secured on January 19, 1974.
UCLA entered that game riding an incredible 88-game winning streak. Clay hit the late jumper that gave Notre Dame the lead and helped end a streak that remains one of the most famous accomplishments in college basketball history.
A kid who came out of Pittsburgh’s City League made one of the biggest shots in college basketball history.
Kirk Bruce Helped Pitt Make a Run
Even the second-team All-City selections showed how deep the league was.
South Hills standout Kirk Bruce went on to play at Pitt and was part of the Panthers’ memorable 1974 team that advanced deep into the NCAA Tournament.
That’s what makes looking back at this particular All-City team so interesting. It wasn’t just one superstar carrying the reputation of an entire league. The talent was everywhere.
Imagine This Level of Talent in One League Today
That’s the part younger basketball fans may have trouble appreciating.
Today, if a local league produced an NBA champion, an NBA Draft selection, the player responsible for ending an 88-game winning streak at UCLA and another player who helped Pitt make a major NCAA Tournament run—all from roughly the same high school era—we would talk about that group constantly.
In 1971, they were competing against each other in the Pittsburgh City League.
Different schools. Different neighborhoods. Same league.
And that’s why old City League basketball deserves to be remembered as more than nostalgia. The gyms weren’t packed simply because people had nothing else to do.
People came because Pittsburgh had players worth watching. Maurice Lucas. Ricky Coleman. Dwight Clay. Kirk Bruce. Their careers eventually took them far beyond Pittsburgh.
But before the NCAA Tournament, before Notre Dame stunned UCLA, before the NBA Draft and before an NBA championship, they were City League kids battling each other in Pittsburgh gyms.
Fifty-five years later, the 1971 All-City team remains a reminder of just how loaded Pittsburgh basketball once was.