John “Jake” Ahearn was a Brooklyn prep basketball star. Ahearn was a standout freshman basketball player St John’s University in Brooklyn, but a combination of academic and personal issues limited him to just one season of varsity basketball.  Ahearn played professional basketball for the Detroit Eagles for two seasons,   The Eagles won the 1941 World Basketball Tournament in Chicago,  and returned  to the finals in 1942, but lost championship game to Oshkosh All-Stars.  Ahearn served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. during World War II. In 1945, he returned to pro basketball with the Baltimore in the American Basketball League.  Ahearn was key performer as the Bullets won the 1946 ABL championship and followed up with a 31-3 record during the following season.

Jackie Adams finished among the top-ten on scorers nine of the eleven years of his pro career. Adams was a diminutive man and not very athletic looking in appearance. In the rough and tumble atmosphere of early pro basketball, Adams seemed out of place. Adams survived the combat and excelled at scoring with a combination of speed and court intelligence. Adams was considered one of the best on-the-court leaders of his era in directing and executing team play. Adams first came to prominence in the pro game while playing for his hometown team, the Homestead Young Americans in the Central Basketball League. During the 1908-09 season, he led Homestead to the CBL championship.. He served as the team’s designated free throw shooter and was the team’s primary offensive threat from the floor. In 1914-15, Adams was the leading scorer on the Eastern League champion Camden team. Adams died of tuberculosis in 1920, at the age of 37.