Steel City Yellow Jackets Begin Defense Of ABA Championship On Saturday

Ace Pippens and the Yellow Jackets trophies from the 2021-2022 season. Photo from Pippens' FB.

By Thomas Leturgey

Ace Pippens was in need of a haircut. On Friday, October 28, the Owner, CEO, and Head Coach of the Steel City Yellow Jackets was gearing up for the next day’s team pictures.

On November 5, the Steel City Yellow Jackets look to keep the 23-year-old American Basketball Association (ABA) National Championship. The Yellow Jackets are the latest addition to Pittsburgh’s legendary status as City of Champions and the team, as well as Pippens, have never been more enthused and excited.

“It’s Time,” Pippens said from his Churchill home Saturday Night. He didn’t get the hair cut, nor did the team get pictures taken. His schedule as President, CEO and Coach had to take a back seat to being a Dad and family man.

The team has started practice three days a week for the grueling season. Some 18 games are scheduled for the 2022-2023 season, with some of their frequent foes refusing to play the defending champions. “I’m told that’s what happens to the National Champion,” said Pippens. The team will travel to New Jersey, Baltimore, as well as spend a weekend in the state of Indiana in late February.

“This has motivated me and elevated my desire for knowledge about the game,” said the Yellow Jackets’ founder. After the team's 170-81 exhibition game victory earlier this month, Pippens raced home and watched videos of other games. “I’m more of an X’s and O’s guy. More than my 30 years of coaching.”

The Steel City Yellow Jackets remain pretty much intact from last April’s inspiring win over California’s Team Trouble in the ABA finals. Last season, Pippens and team Co-Captains Tone Reddic and Gilmore Cummings all independently talked about a chip on their shoulders about being so close, yet so far from the ABA Championship. They thought back on what their legacies as professional basketball players might be. When the squad won in Baltimore, observers could feel the weight of responsibility lift from the veterans.

Kenny Holmes, who returned to the Yellow Jackets after playing a COVID-shortened season in Canada, won the playoff Most Valuable Player Award. A few weeks later, an elated Mayor Ed Gainey physically led the Yellow Jackets’ championship parade in downtown Pittsburgh.

Since then, some of the players have prepared themselves to defend the championship by playing in a summer league and a pro-Am. From mid June to mid August, several of the players, including Cummings and Reddic, played just as hard as they did going down the ABA’s home stretch. Especially for Reddic, he only knows to play with unparalleled intensity. 

Jason Arrington, Etholion Vennie and Stephen Vorum aren’t scheduled to return. Vennie and Vorum played sporadically throughout last season, and are now looking into opportunities elsewhere. Arrington, who provided a constant presence in the paint, has a growing construction business and found that work interfering with basketball.

One of the strengths of the championship team was its speed. Pippens believes that the 2022-2023 squad “will be faster.” He reiterates that the team will press “94 feet” throughout each game. It’s a defensive strategy that has worked.

And the Yellow Jackets have the legs to make that happen. Twins James and Tim Jackson, who both came on strong in the playoffs, have only gotten stronger. “James scored 33 points in the exhibition game and didn’t play in the fourth quarter,” said Pippens. Their input will be important, especially in the early season, as both Reddic and another key Yellow Jacket, Claude Scott, Jr. nurse lingering injuries sustained during the summer league. Reddic, as athletic as there is in the game, frequently crashes to the hardwood, has a nagging back injury, and Scott tweaked a knee not long after the ABA finals. Both are participating in light practice activities–Scott’s lateral movement isn’t where anyone would like it–and Pippens isn’t rushing either of them back.

As the foundation of the club, Cumming and Reddic will prove veteran leadership, says Pippens. “They won’t take as much abuse and punishment as they have in the past. They won’t ‘die’ on the court.”

Holmes will come off the bench in the first half of the season. However, he is contracted to return to a Canadian team in January. Even though he is one of the Yellow Jacket’s most explosive players, Pippens believes others will be poised to take over that part of the game.

Pippens is excited to have Forward Brandon Burnett back, and he has big plans for 6’7” Forward Dominic McClung. “We’re blessed to have him,” said Pippens. He had been playing for some local teams on the North Side when a friend pointed him to the Yellow Jackets. “He fit right in,” said Pippens. “He blocks, rebounds and blocks shots. He runs well too.”

The Coach is looking for big things from newcomer Amaru Caldwell. “He’s a first-year player who will come off the bench. He shoots and dribbles well.” And Marcus Smith is another impactful guard who played with the Yellow Jackets five years ago. His return is “big” according to the Coach.

The entire team is ready for the season to begin. On Saturday, the championship banner will unfurl in a pre-game ceremony. Pippens was recently blindsided by news that the club’s championship rings won’t be ready until early next year. He has a positive attitude about the day, saying that when the trophies arrive, “we will be in first place and ready for a boost!”

After the November 5 Home Opener, the team plays at A Giving Heart Community Center the next two Saturdays. There are three weekends in which the team plays Saturday evening and then Sunday afternoon. 

Pippens expects his team to be competitive; historically, they have been a force in the playoffs every year. If the team wins the Division (they are ranked #1 in the ABA’s power rankings for the very first time), they will go to Atlanta for the Final 8. Pippens is excited at the prospect, as he has family in and around the Peach Tree State. And for that trip, he would need another haircut.