A New League Arrives
The 1946-47 Basketball Association of America

With the end of World War II, the operators of the country's largest sports arenas realized that pro basketball could be a fine attraction to fill their arenas on dates not taken by pro hockey and college basketball games. As a result, these executives, led by Walter Brown of Boston, founded the Basketball Association of America in the summer of 1946.

Charter members of the new league were Boston, Toronto, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis; all the franchise owners knew each other through the Arena Managers Association of America and through their teams in the National and American Hockey Leagues. For a chief executive, the members chose Maurice Podoloff, the colorful 5'2" president of the A.H.L.

The new league had the advantage of playing in large arenas in large cities, but its players were generally inferior to those in the National Basketball League, the established league operating chiefly in smaller cities in the Midwest. Only a handful of N. B. L. players jumped to the B.A.A., but the new league did pick up the prime talent of the American Basketball League, the primarv circuit in the East till the formation of the B.A.A. To go with these established pros, the teams went all out to sign college stars who had built their reputations in the very arenas the B.A.A. teams were moving into. Although none of the three best graduating centers, George Mikan, Bob Kurland, or Don Otten, signed with the new league, many college stars from the war years joined the new teams.

Once the bell rang for the start of the regular season, the Washington Capitols quickly proved themselves the class of the circuit. Coached by Red Auerbach, a brash 29-year-old high school coach, the Caps ran off a 17-game winning streak early in the season to jump out to a large lead in the East. The leader of this experienced squad was guard Bob Feerick, a superb floor general who jumped over from the N. B. L. joining Feerick in the backcourt was Freddie Scolari, a top shooter. in the forecourt were ex-Rochester center John Mahnken, forward Johnny Norlander, and 27-year-old rookie Bones McKinney, who had just completed his war-interripted career at North Carolina. Able to play both a running and ball-control game, the Caps finished 14 games in front in the East.

Taking second place behind the Caps were the Philadelphia Warriors, coached by Eddie Gottlieb of Sphas fame. Gottlieb had two solid all-around players in Howie Dailmar and Angelo Musi, but his prize possession was the league's first superstar, forward Joe Fulks. A star at tiny Murray State before joining the Marines during the war, Fulks set the league on its ear with a machine gun jump shot that baffled conventional defenses. Gottlieb had the Warriors feed Fulks as much as possible, and the slender gunner led the B.A.A. with an eye-opening 23.2 scoring average, hitting a high game of 41 points against Toronto on January 14. Fulks, more than anyone else, drew the public's attention to the new B.A.A. this season.

The New York Knickerbockers grabbed the third and final playoff spot in the East. Although run by Ned Irish, the Knicks played only six home games in Madison Square Garden; the crowded schedule of hockey and college basketball games in the prestigious Garden forced them into the 69th Regiment Armory. Former A.B.L. players formed the heart of the Knicks, led by guards Sonny Hertzberg and Stan Stutz. Finishing out of the playoffs were the Providence Steamrollers, led by local favorite Ernie Calverly; the Toronto Huskies, who went through a stack of players and four coaches, ending the season under the direction of baseball great Red Rolfe; and the Boston Celtics, coached by old pro Honey Russell.

In the Western Division, the Chicago Stags and St. Louis Bombers wound up in a dead beat for first place, with the Stags winning a one-gaine tie-breaker at the end of the regular season. Chicago coach Ole Olsen built a quick fast break around rebounding center Chick Halbert, feeder Mickey Rottner, and set-shooter Max Zaslofsky. St. Louis coach Ken Loeffler also organized a running team, with all-around guard Johnny Logan the ace of the club.

The Cleveland Rebels captured the third playoff spot despite some personnel changes in midseason; coach Dutch Dehnert was replaced by Roy Clifford, and three veteran players were shipped to Toronto for center Ed Sadowski, whose hook shot was still potent after years of pro plav. The Rebel guards were Frankie Baumholtz, a future major league baseball player, and rookie Kenny Sailors, a fine playmaker with an accurate jump shot. Coming in fourth were the Detroit Falcons, who had a strong center in bulky Stan Miasek. In last place were the Pittsburgh Ironmen, coached by old Celtic Paul Birch.

The playoff system devised by the league fathers pitted the first-place teams, second-place teams, and the third-place teams against each other in the opening round. The basic flaw in this setup was that one of the first-place teams would be knocked off right at the start. But with this fact overlooked, Washington and Chicago squared off in a seven-game series to begin the playoffs. The Stags shocked the heavily-favored Caps by beating them 8165 and 69-53 in the first two games at Washington, where the Caps bad won 29 of 30 games during the season. The Stags finished off the Caps in six games and waited for the other matches to provide them with an opponent for the championship.

Philadelphia bested St. Louis in a three-game showdown of second-place finishers, while New York topped Cleveland in three games in the third bracket. The Warriors than beat the Knicks 82-70 and 72-53 to move into the finals with the Stags.

The championship series opened in Philadelphia before a crowd of 7,918 who saw Joe Fulks score 37 points in leading the Warriors to an 84-71 victory. The Warriors got only 13 points from Fulks in the second game, but center Art Hillhouse sparked a late rally which gave the Warriors an 85--74 win and a commanding 2-0 lead in the series. The Chicago club expected to turn things around on their home floor, but the Warriors took the third game behind Fulks' 26 points, and it was all over but the shouting. The Stags won the fourth game, but the Warriors won the title before 8,221 hometown fans with an 83-80 victory which saw "Jumpin' Joe" Fulks throw in 34 points and Howie Dallmar put in the winning basket to break an 80-80 tie with only one minute left in the game.