Five Super Bowls. Five World Series. Two Stanley Cups. In addition to those championships, our region also was home to the American Basketball Association's first champions -- the Pittsburgh Pipers.

Led by future Hall of Famer Connie "The Hawk" Hawkins, the 1967 Pittsburgh Pipers posted 54 wins in the league's inaugural season and clinched first place in the Eastern Division.

The regular-season attendance was meager, averaging about 1,500 fans per game, but excitement peaked as the playoffs neared.

During a late-season, 12-game winning streak, the team attracted more than 12,000 fans into the Civic Arena to enjoy the dazzling scoop shots and amazing slam dunks with the ABA's famous red-white-and-blue ball.

Cruising through the playoffs, the Pipers swept the Indiana Pacers and beat the Minnesota Muskies in five games before reaching the finals. There, they met their match in a back-and-forth, seven-game series against the New Orleans Buccaneers.

An unexpected influx of fans packed the Civic Arena in Game 7, when the Pipers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

The Pipers followed Hawkins -- the league's leading scorer -- to a 122-113 win and the first American Basketball Association championship.

Despite championship success, team owner Gabe Rubin sold the franchise to Minneapolis the following season.

After a dismal season, Rubin brought the team back to Pittsburgh a year later. Much like the American Basketball League's Pittsburgh Rens before them, the Pipers couldn't make a go of it and folded two years later as the Pittsburgh Condors.

Although pro basketball never caught on in Pittsburgh, our region can lay claim to the first champions of the ABA.

Fans can see the Pittsburgh Pipers' 1968 ABA championship trophy at the "Federated Investors Parade of Champions," a Pittsburgh 250 event at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum June 20-22.

Visit www.pghhistory.org for tickets and more information about the three-day fan festival celebrating Pittsburgh's unrivaled sports history.