Rochester Zeniths

The Rochester Zeniths were a professional basketball team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). They played in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester at the Dome Arena and in downtown Rochester, New York, at (what is now known as) the Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. They existed for six basketball seasons, winning two league titles and generally had great success on the basketball court before they disbanded after the 1982/83 season. Pro-basketball in Rochester before the Zeniths The Rochester Centrals were a charter member of the original American Basketball League, the first attempt to form a major professional basketball league in the United States. The Centrals competed in the ABL from 1925 through the 1930-31 season, playing home games at the Naval Militia Armory in Rochester. The Rochester Royals played in the National Basketball League and the National Basketball Association from 1945–46 through the 1956-57 season before moving to Cincinnati. They played their home games at the Edgerton Park Sports Arena and later the Rochester War Memorial in the city of Rochester. They enjoyed success at the turnstiles and on the basketball court, winning the NBA title in 1951 and finishing as runner-up in the NBL in 1947 and 1948. Their move to Cincinnati in the summer of 1957 was part of the general franchise relocation process of the 1950s and 1960s in the NBA which saw these older smaller markets abandoned in favor of larger markets with larger arenas. In the summer of 1958, a group of Buffalo businessmen announced that they were creating a team called the Rochester Colonels to begin play in the fall of that year in the Pennsylvania-based Eastern Professional Basketball League. The team was intended to fill the void created when the Royals left town. Former Rochester Royals great Arnie Risen was recruited to join and coach the team to pique fan interest. The Colonels also featured former Royal Dick Ricketts and future Hall of Famer Hubie Brown. It was all for naught as the team went 0-8 and folded in December 1958, playing just two home games before modest crowds at the Rochester Community War Memorial.