A Triumphant Return In The Making: The Steel City Yellow Jackets Return To The Court This Weekend
Ace Pippens and guard Kenny Holmes are ready to bring the Steel City Yellow Jackets back to Pittsburgh. Photo by Thomas Leturgey By Thomas Leturgey Averill “Ace” Pippens never wavered. The owner/coach of Pittsburgh’s entry into the American Basketball Association (ABA) always said the team would be back. And the black and yellow of the Steel City Yellow Jackets opens its 2024-2025 this Saturday in the Allentown neighborhood within the city of Pittsburgh. Pippens, who coached the team to years of playoff success before winning the ABA Championship in Baltimore in 2022, shut the club down after losing in the regional playoffs on their own court at the A Giving Heart Community Center gymnasium on Climax Street. The team compiled a 14-2 regular season record when they lost. There was some strife and hard feelings among some of the team that he doesn’t talk about. A startup squad, led by the nucleus of the squad that defeated Team Trouble 123-118 in Baltimore, only to lose to Clevelan