The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961–1962, and part of the next season until the league folded on December 31, 1962. The ABL was the first basketball league to have a three point shot for baskets scored far away from the goal. Other rules that set the league apart were a 30-second shooting clock and a wider free throw lane, 18 feet instead of the standard 12.
The American Basketball League was formed when Abe Saperstein did not get the Los Angeles National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise he sought. His Harlem Globetrotters had strong NBA ties. When Minneapolis Lakers owner Bob Short was permitted to move the Lakers to Los Angeles, Saperstein reacted by convincing National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL) team owner Paul Cohen (Tuck Tapers) and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Champion Cleveland Pipers owner George Steinbrenner to take the top NABL and AAU teams and players and form a rival league.
League franchises were: the Chicago Majors (1961-1963); Cleveland Pipers (1961-1962); Kansas City Steers (1961-1963); Long Beach Chiefs (1961-1963), as Hawaii Chiefs in 1961-62; Los Angeles Jets (1961-1962) — disbanded during season); Oakland Oaks (1961-1963), as San Francisco Saints in 1961-62; Philadelphia Tapers (1961-1963), as Washington Tapers in 1961-62 — moved to New York during 1961-62 season, as New York Tapers; and the Pittsburgh Rens (1961-1963).
When Saperstein's American Basketball League (1961–62) was born in 1961, Tuck Tape owner Paul Cohen purchased a franchise, gave it the Tapers name, and placed it in Washington, D.C. (playing at the Washington Coliseum). Cohen signed Gene Conley, who had played for the Boston Celtics and pitched for the Milwaukee Braves. While with the Tapers, Conley often accompanied Paul Cohen on sales calls for his Tuck Tape Company.
The team was a failure in Washington, and Cohen transplanted the franchise mid-season — on January 2, 1962 — to Commack, New York, renaming it the New York Tapers. They played their final game in New York at Long Island Arena on March 14, 1962.