The Cleveland Pipers were a pro basketball team founded in the early 1950s and were a company team that played in the Amateur Athletic Union before moving to the National Industrial Basketball League in 1959. In 1961, the team joined the professional American Basketball League (ABL) founded by Harlem Globetrotters, owner of the Harlem Globetrotters. They won the league's first championship using Public Hall as their home court and a few months later, in July of 1962, were offered membership in the established pro basketball league.  That fell through and the Pipers stayed in the ABL. However, in December 1962 the league went out of business and along with it the Pipers.