Pittsburgh Summer League 1983

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Summer League 1983 (pre-draft)
Summer League 1983 info
In the Beginning

Teams
Blue Vein Throbbers
Highland Park Disc
Mars Gnu Kidds
North Side Slide
Squirrel Hill Swine
Western Psychs

Summer League 1983 General Information:

Champion:
Blue Vein Throbbers

Finalist:
Mars Gnu Kidds

MVP:
Keith Easter, ()

From Jim Parinella of the Blue Vein Throbbers:
There were six teams in that first year. In addition to the Throbbers, Gnu Kidds, North Side Slide, and Squirrel Hill Swine, there was Highland Park Disc, led by Dave "Savage" Bansavage (sp), and a team known perhaps only informally as "The Western Psychs", led by a fat guy named Sid and an Asian-American named Bruce (Feldman?). They were doctors at Western Psychiatric, I think.

From Todd Williams of the Blue Vein Throbbers:
Par is right. Those were the six teams. The Throbbers beat Mars in the finals...the only finals ever played to 21. It was a brutally hot day with a slight breeze, that made for long points. It was close...21-18 or 21-19. Both teams gain a respect for one another that day that carried on for years.

From Jay Cohen of the North Side Slide:
The summer league blueprint was started in the spring of 1983 by myself and Todd Williams in my apartment on the North Side. Actually, not many of the Slag helped out at all. Henry Thorne coined the phrase "summer's hottest sport" which lasted for several years. As far as the idea behind the summer league was very accurate in the write up. We had small groups of people from the Slag form teams, recruit players, and find field space. There was also a supplemental draft for the unknown people that signed up. The Baldwin Throbbers were really called the Blue Vain Throbbers, but for image reasons, was bastardized to Baldwin Throbbers (what a shame).

Do you have any memorable stories, pictures, or information about the 1983 summer league season and finals? If so, please contact Matthew Bourland so that this section can be complete.