Cherry Hill Rookies
The Cherry Hill Rookies, based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, played the 1973-74 season in the Eastern Basketball Association (EBA), a minor league of the era. Rich Iannarella, a former pro basketball executive, bought the franchise rights in 1973. The team played home games at Cherry Hill Arena.
The Rookies went 5-22 and finished fourth in the East Division. They did not reach the playoffs. Center Luther Rackley, listed at 6-foot-10, made the EBA All-Star team. In 1974 the team also had a short visit from John Brisker, a forward sent down by a big-league club, who scored 51 and 58 points in the two full games he played for Cherry Hill before returning.
The franchise folded after one season. A team called the Cherry Hill Pros took its place on the 1974-75 schedule, went 9-17, and again finished fourth, without making the playoffs. Iannarella later described the purchase as the worst financial mistake of his life, in a 1977 newspaper interview. The Pros also lasted a single season.
