October 28, 1956 Ft. Wayne Pistons vs. Minneapolis Lakers Program & Ticket Stub – George Yardley 27 Pts. – Opening Night in Ft. Wayne

From the UPI news report:

PISTONS STOP LAKERS, 94–88; YARDLEY STARS

FORT WAYNE, Ind., Oct. 28 (UP) — Fort Wayne’s Pistons tonight sank four of their first four shots before going on to defeat the Minneapolis Lakers in a National Basketball Association game.

Veteran George Yardley paced the winners with 27 points followed by teammate Larry Foust with 24.

The Pistons easily ran up a 28–16 lead by the end of the first period and at halftime enjoyed a 48–38 margin.

The Lakers rallied in the second half to close the gap to 83–80 before Fort Wayne stemmed the upsurge with 3:15 minutes left. The Pistons scored the next 7 points and coasted to victory.

The loss was the second straight for the Lakers and gave Fort Wayne a record of one win against one defeat.

Box Score

FORT WAYNE
Yardley, f — G 11, F 5, P 27
Hutchins, f — G 1, F 3, P 5
Spears, f — G 0, F 1, P 1
Hannum, f — G 0, F 2, P 2
Rocha, f–c — G 2, F 1, P 5
Foust, c — G 8, F 8, P 24
Kenville, g — G 3, F 0, P 6
Shue, g — G 7, F 4, P 18
Devlin, g — G 3, F 3, P 9

Total: 32 field goals, 30 free throws, 94 points

MINNEAPOLIS
Kalafat, f — G 2, F 2, P 6
Mikkelsen, f — G 4, F 10, P 18
Schnittker, f — G 0, F 1, P 1
Taxson, f — G 2, F 3, P 7
Williams, f — G 1, F 0, P 2
Lovellette, c — G 5, F 5, P 19
Dukes, c — G 1, F 0, P 2
Mencel, g — G 2, F 1, P 5
Leonard, g — G 3, F 3, P 9
Skoog, g — G 2, F 1, P 5
Garmaker, g — G 5, F 3, P 13

Total: 29 field goals, 30 free throws, 88 points

Offered is an original program and ticket stube from Opening Night in Ft. Wayne from this game.  The Pistons would go 2-0 on the season (their first game was on the road); while the Lakers fell to 0-2. There were 4136 fans in the building that night.

Program is in EX-MT condition.  All pages intact and neatly scored in pencil. The ticket stub is well preserved, though it was once stapled to the program cover and has been carefully detached.

Historic!!!