The Akron Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 teams in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. They were founded in 1918 by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company in Akron, Ohio

Akron, Ohio

Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...

. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote one of the first canvas/rubber based shoes made specifically for athletics, the wingfoot

Wingfoot

Wingfoot may refer to:*Wingfoot Air Express Crash, a Goodyear blimp that crashed in Chicago in 1919*Akron Wingfoots, a basketball team*Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems, a division of Goodyear*Wingfoot Express, a jet-propelled car...

.

In the late 1930s, Goodyear, Firestone

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...

, General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

, and other companies with similar Amateur Athletic Union

Amateur Athletic Union

The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...

 (AAU) Elite teams decided to form the National Basketball League

National Basketball League (United States)

Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League, often abbreviated to NBL, was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later merge with the Basketball Association of America  to form the National Basketball Association  in 1949.- League history :The...

 (NBL) to showcase their teams. The Wingfoots won the first NBL title in 1938. The team was not part of the BAA and NBL merger that created the NBA. Instead, they reconstituted those NBL teams left over into the National Industrial Basketball League

National Industrial Basketball League

The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947, to enable mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded out of the teams that did not join the newly formed NBA...

. The Wingfoots regained national power in the NIBL, which in 1960 was changed to the National Alliance of Basketball Leagues

National Alliance of Basketball Leagues

The National Alliance of Basketball Leagues is the descendant of the industrial-based basketball clubs that formed into the National Basketball League in the early 1930s. The league was the brainchild of Indianapolis grocer Irv Kautsky, who sponsored the Indianapolis Kautskys club team, and...

.

The Akron Wingfoots won the Intercontinental Cup

Intercontinental Cup (basketball)

The World Cup for Champion Clubs, commonly referred to as the Intercontinental Cup, was a basketball competition endorsed by FIBA to gather the best clubs from the federations affiliated to FIBA and to officially decide the best club of the world, contended mainly by the continents of higher...

 3 times (1967

1967 Intercontinental Cup (basketball)

The 1967 Intercontinental basketball Cup took place at Varese, Naples & Rome. From FIBA European Championship participated Simmenthal Milano Ignis Varese, from Liga Sudamericana participated SC Corinthians and from NABL Akron Wingfoots.-Preliminary round:...

, 1968

1968 Intercontinental Cup (basketball)

The 1968 Intercontinental basketball Cup took place at Palestra, Philadelphia. From FIBA European Championship participated Real Madrid and Simmenthal Milano, from Liga Sudamericana participated Botafogo FR and from NABL Akron Wingfoots.-Final round:...

, 1969

1969 Intercontinental Cup (basketball)

The 1969 Intercontinental basketball Cup took place at Macon, Georgia, USA. From FIBA European Championship participated Real Madrid Spartak Brno, from Liga Sudamericana participated EC Sirio and from NABL Akron Wingfoots.-Preliminary round:Oualifying game...

) against S.C. Corinthians

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, commonly just known as Corinthians , is a Brazilian football club based in the city of São Paulo. They play in the São Paulo state league, as well as the Brasileirão, Brazil's top national league...

, Ignis Varese and Real Madrid

Real Madrid Baloncesto

Real Madrid Baloncesto is a Spanish professional basketball team founded in 1932 as a division of the Real Madrid club. They play in the Asociación de Clubes de Baloncesto ....

.