STATISTICS & HISTORY
Joe Cavanaugh, along with his brothers Archie and Willie, were mainstays of their hometown Manayunk Yunkers in the Philadelphia Basketball League. In 1909, the franchise transferred to North Philadelphia. A dozen games into the season, Cavanaugh was at the center of a series of events responsible for the collapse of the league. After being disqualified from a game by referee Whitey Schoenhut, Cavanaugh struck the official in the jaw, knocking him out. League President William Scheffer quickly announced that Cavanaugh was banned from the league. When some of the teams in the league failed to back Schaffer in his action against Cavanaugh, he resigned and the league collapsed. Cavanaugh had a well deserved reputation as a fiery brawling battler who succeeded by intimidating opponents and referees alike. He was a good athlete who excelled at the center jump and played ferocious defense. Cavanaugh was the center on two successive Eastern Basketball League championship teams: Reading in 1912 and Jasper in 1913. While still active in professional basketball, Cavanaugh began a thirty year career with the Philadelphia Police Department.
| JOE CAVANAUGH | Height: | 6:00 | Weight: | 170 | College: | None | |||||
| Joseph Peter Cavanaugh | Born: | Jun 25 | 1886 | Died: | Apr 14, | 1958 | Hometown: | Manayunk, Pa. | |||
| REGULAR SEASON RECORD | |||||||||||
| Year | Team | League | GA | FGM | FTM | FTA | PCT. | AST | PTS | AVG | |
| 1905-06 | St.Bridget | PCL | |||||||||
| 1906-07 | Manayunk | PBL | 23 | 51 | 23 | 125 | 5.4 | ||||
| 1907-08 | Manayunk | PBL | 22 | 52 | 7 | 111 | 5.0 | ||||
| 1908-09 | North Philadelphia | PBL | 12 | 21 | 0 | 42 | 3.5 | ||||
| 1909-10 | De Neri | EBL | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 2.6 | ||||
| 1910-11 | Homestead | CBL | 47 | 42 | 0 | 84 | 1.8 | ||||
| 1911-12 | Connellsville | CBL | 63 | 114 | 0 | 228 | 3.6 | ||||
| 1912-13 | Reading | PBL | 34 | 38 | 0 | 23 | 76 | 2.2 | |||
| 1913-14 | Reading–Jasper | PBL | 30 | 29 | 0 | 58 | 1.9 | ||||
| 1914-15 | Jasper | PBL | 37 | 30 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 21 | 60 | 1.6 | |
| 1915-16 | Jasper | PBL | 40 | 24 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 15 | 48 | 1.2 | |
| 1916-17 | De Neri | PBL | 10 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1.0 | |||
| Major League Totals | 323 | 411 | 33 | 855 | 2.6 | ||||||
| POST SEASON RECORD | |||||||||||
| Year | Team | League | GA | FGM | FTM | FTA | PCT. | AST | PTS | AVG | |
| 1912-13 | Reading | WS | 5 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 3.2 | ||||
| Major League Totals | 5 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 3.2 | ||||||