...were a very successful basketball team, winning numerous league championships in the American Basketball League (a respectable league in the first half of the 20th century). Some people attributed the South PHilidelphia Hebrew Association's winning tradition to an intrinsic advantage the Jewish boys possessed (sort of like the old age of RMs for BYU). After WWII, the precursor of the NBA was organized, and to the great disappointment of the SPHAs, the newcomer Philadelphia Warriors were selected to represent the city (although they ultimately moved to the Golden State). With a few of the better ABL teams leaving for the NBA, the SPHAs decided to go it alone-as independents. Over time, the non-NBA leagues disbanded and the SPHAs were left with very few teams to play, relying largely on games against the Harlem team. The SPHAs wound up playing multiple games a year against Harlem, just changing their name and origin city so fans wouldn't know it was a repeat exhibition. Eventually, the SPHAs permanently adopted one of their aliases, the Washington Generals.