1946–47 Providence Steamrollers season

March 2026 August 2023 Providence Steamrollers BAA 1947 28 32 4 Eastern Louis Pieri Robert Morris Rhode Island Auditorium Joe Fay WPRO Did not qualify 1 The 1946–47 Providence Steamrollers season was the first season of the Providence Steamrollers.https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PRO/1947.html 1946-47 Providence Steamrollers Roster and Stats Pieri would operate the Providence Steamrollers franchise within the Basketball Association of America (BAA) as a last-ditch effort for the city of Providence, Rhode Island to have their own major professional sports franchise following what was considered to be the renaissance of professional sports following the end of World War II after he had operated the Rhode Island Reds in the American Hockey League (AHL), which was a minor league operation to the bigger National Hockey League (NHL).Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, p. 65 Similar to the nearby Boston Celtics, Providence had intended for Frank Keaney to coach the Steamrollers franchise, but they instead opted to give the head coach role to Pawtucket High School head coach and physics teacher Robert Morris, with Morris opting to take a leave of absence on his teaching duties in order to accept his head coaching role with the team.Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, p. 66 Throughout the season, Morris coached a system similar to Keaney's system from Rhode Island State University for what could be considered the modern-day run-and-gun system in track-meet basketball (or as what Morris himself had described it at the time, "Civil War basketball") that caused them to be third in scoring behind only the Washington Capitols and Chicago Stags (utilizing major advantages of the system for its time), but dead last in defense this season (which showcased why it was limited during this era of basketball).Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, pp. 68–71 As such, the Steamrollers would finish the season with a 28–32 record, being five games behind the New York Knickerbockers for the third and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division this season; this later turned out to be the team's best season in the franchise's history, as they would later see woeful production in their following seasons afterward (including a season with the lowest number of wins in BAA/NBA history with only 6 total victories) before the BAA later merged operations with the older National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949 to create the modern-day National Basketball Association (NBA) without the Steamrollers at hand. Greater details on their first season would be explored in Charley Rosen's book called "The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA", with an entire chapter dedicated to the Steamrollers' first season in the BAA alongside the various highs and lows (mostly lows) that would eventually lead them to their eventual downfall.Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, pp. 65–76 Roster Due to this being the first season in the franchise's history, the BAA didn't utilize a draft system like they would in future seasons of the BAA/NBA and instead relied upon some combination of the head coach and the general manager of the team finding and signing players in time to start out their training camp period for the season.Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, p. 40 For the Steamrollers, both head coach Robert Morris and general manager Joe Fay looked at players that team owner Louis Pieri had already sought after within Rhode Island State University (Earl Shannon, George Mearns, Armand Cure, Bob Shea, and Ernie Calverley), with Pop Goodwin from St. John's Preparatory School and Dino Martin from Georgetown University being the only other players to stay on the team for the long-term, while the other guys that were on the original ten-man roster to start out the season before later being replaced at certain points throughout the season once they found better-looking players along the way included Tom Callahan from Rockhurst College, Ken Keller from St. John's University, and Red Dehnert from Columbia University.Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, pp. 66–67 Providence Steamrollers 1946–47 6 Hank Beenders C/F 6 6 185 Long Island University 1916-06-02 7 Tom Callahan G 6 1 180 Rockhurst 1921-06-02 3 Ernie Calverley G 5 10 145 Rhode Island 1924-01-30 14 Armand Cure F 6 0 198 Rhode Island 1919-08-01 8 Red Dehnert F 6 3 175 Columbia 1924-01-24 11 Pop Goodwin F/C 6 2 203 St. John's Prep (NY) 1920-12-22 14 Woody Grimshaw George Grimshaw (basketball) G 6 1 185 Brown 1919-09-24 9 Ken Keller G 6 1 180 St. John's 1922-08-16 4 Dino Martin G 5 8 160 Georgetown 1920-05-25 10 George Mearns F 6 3 175 Rhode Island 1922-04-18 7 Elmore Morgenthaler C 6 9 230 Boston College 1922-08-03 5 George Pastushok G 6 1 195 St. John's 1922-07-13 8 Hank Rosenstein F 6 4 185 CCNY 1920-06-16 12 Earl Shannon G/F 5 11 170 Rhode Island 1921-11-23 15 Bob Shea F 6 2 194 Rhode Island 1924-09-11 5 Lou Spicer F 6 2 195 Syracuse 1922-11-12 9 Jake Weber basketball C 6 6 225 Purdue 1918-03-18 Robert Morris https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PRO/1947.html Regular season Season standings PSR Game log Providence Steamrollers 1947 Total: 28–32 Providence Steamrollers November yes y y |- | 1 | November 2 | Boston | W 59–53 | Dino Martin (18) | | 1–0 |- | 2 | November 7 | Chicago | W 73–65 | Earl Shannon (19) | | 2–0 |- | 3 | November 9 | Pittsburgh | W 76–66 | Ernie Calverley (18) | | 3–0 |- | 4 | November 11 | @ Pittsburgh | L 71–84 | George Mearns (18) | | 3–1 |- | 5 | November 13 | @ Detroit | W 70–68 | Dino Martin (20) | | 4–1 |- | 6 | November 15 | @ Toronto | L 68–85 | Dino Martin (14) | | 4–2 |- | 7 | November 16 | Detroit | L 59–70 | Ernie Calverley (23) | | 4–3 |- | 8 | November 21 | Washington | L 58–66 | George Mearns (16) | | 4–4 |- | 9 | November 23 | St. Louis | L 59–65 | Earl Shannon (19) | | 4–5 |- | 10 | November 25 | @ Boston | W 71–59 | Dino Martin (23) | | 5–5 |- | 11 | November 28 | New York | L 58–60 | Earl Shannon (20) | | 5–6 |- | 12 | November 30 | Toronto | W 79–65 | Earl Shannon (22) | | 6–6 Providence Steamrollers December y y |- | 13 | December 3 | @ Philadelphia | L 68–76 | Earl Shannon (18) | | 6–7 |- | 14 | December 4 | @ Washington | L 62–80 | Hank Beenders (24) | | 6–8 |- | 15 | December 7 | Toronto | L 59–68 | Beenders, Calverley (13) | | 6–9 |- | 16 | December 11 | @ New York | L 68–83 | Dino Martin (22) | | 6–10 |- | 17 | December 14 | Detroit | W 81–66 | Dino Martin (19) | | 7–10 |- | 18 | December 19 | Chicago | W 81–77 | Earl Shannon (21) | | 8–10 |- | 19 | December 21 | New York | W 63–61 | Pop Goodwin (16) | | 9–10 |- | 20 | December 26 | Washington | L 66–78 | Hank Beenders (16) | | 9–11 |- | 21 | December 28 | Boston | W 80–68 | Dino Martin (22) | | 10–11 Providence Steamrollers January y y |- | 22 | January 2 | @ Philadelphia | L 72–84 | Hank Beenders (19) | | 10–12 |- | 23 | January 4 | Philadelphia | W 78–74 | Ernie Calverley (17) | | 11–12 |- | 24 | January 8 | @ Washington | L 69–77 | Beenders, Martin (15) | | 11–13 |- | 25 | January 9 | Cleveland | W 91–68 | Dino Martin (40) | | 12–13 |- | 26 | January 11 | Boston | L 72–73 | Earl Shannon (21) | | 12–14 |- | 27 | January 14 | @ Cleveland | W 78–74 | Ernie Calverley (23) | | 13–14 |- | 28 | January 15 | @ Pittsburgh | L 53–65 | Hank Beenders (15) | | 13–15 |- | 29 | January 19 | @ St. Louis | L 53–69 | Hank Beenders (20) | | 13–16 |- | 30 | January 23 | @ Chicago | L 76–97 | Ernie Calverley (24) | | 13–17 |- | 31 | January 24 | @ Toronto | W 96–93 | Ernie Calverley (29) | | 14–17 |- | 32 | January 27 | @ Pittsburgh | L 63–71 | Earl Shannon (17) | | 14–18 |- | 33 | January 29 | @ Detroit | W 83–73 | Dino Martin (26) | | 15–18 |- | 34 | January 30 | @ St. Louis | W 82–70 | Dino Martin (23) | | 16–18 Providence Steamrollers February y y |- | 35 | February 1 | Pittsburgh | W 89–73 | Earl Shannon (28) | | 17–18 |- | 36 | February 4 | @ Philadelphia | L 68–75 | Hank Rosenstein (25) | | 17–19 |- | 37 | February 6 | St. Louis | L 65–73 | Earl Shannon (18) | | 17–20 |- | 38 | February 8 | Philadelphia | W 67–58 | Ernie Calverley (20) | | 18–20 |- | 39 | February 11 | @ Cleveland | L 76–85 | Beenders, Martin (18) | | 18–21 |- | 40 | February 12 | @ Detroit | L 64–84 | Ernie Calverley (20) | | 18–22 |- | 41 | February 13 | @ Chicago | L 79–81 | Ernie Calverley (20) | | 18–23 |- | 42 | February 15 | Pittsburgh | W 82–72 | Ernie Calverley (31) | | 19–23 |- | 43 | February 19 | @ New York | W 69–62 | Earl Shannon (21) | | 20–23 |- | 44 | February 20 | Washington | L 74–82 | Dino Martin (25) | | 20–24 |- | 45 | February 22 | Cleveland | W 85–77 | Ernie Calverley (21) | | 21–24 |- | 46 | February 23 | @ Boston | W 67–55 | Ernie Calverley (18) | | 22–24 |- | 47 | February 25 | @ Toronto | L 60–83 | Ernie Calverley (10) | | 22–25 |- | 48 | February 27 | New York | L 65–73 | Hank Beenders (16) | | 22–26 Providence Steamrollers March y y |- | 49 | March 1 | Detroit | W 80–74 | Ernie Calverley (26) | | 23–26 |- | 50 | March 3 | @ St. Louis | L 70–71 (OT) | Dino Martin (21) | | 23–27 |- | 51 | March 4 | @ Cleveland | L 76–82 | Hank Beenders (22) | | 23–28 |- | 52 | March 8 | @ Chicago | L 81–107 | Ernie Calverley (18) | | 23–29 |- | 53 | March 10 | @ Boston | W 87–70 | Beenders, Calverley (20) | | 24–29 |- | 54 | March 13 | Toronto | W 71–64 | Calverley, Shannon (17) | | 25–29 |- | 55 | March 15 | St. Louis | W 60–56 | Earl Shannon (18) | | 26–29 |- | 56 | March 19 | @ Washington | L 95–96 (OT) | Dino Martin (22) | | 26–30 |- | 57 | March 20 | Cleveland | W 76–73 | Ernie Calverley (29) | | 27–30 |- | 58 | March 22 | Philadelphia | L 82–103 | Ernie Calverley (22) | | 27–31 |- | 59 | March 26 | @ New York | L 84–91 (2OT) | Dino Martin (24) | | 27–32 |- | 60 | March 29 | Chicago | W 83–79 | Hank Rosenstein (24) | | 28–32 Transactions Purchases PlayerDate boughtPrevious teamJake Weber"1946-47 Providence Steam Rollers Transactions". Basketball Reference. Accessed on July 2, 2017.December 2, 1946New York KnicksRalph KaplowitzJanuary 26, 1947New York Knicks Season losses Throughout this season, the Providence Steamrollers only had an average total of 2,596 paid attendees per game, with net receipts totaling up to $117,740 for the season and estimated losses totaling up to around $140,000 for this season.Rosen Charley The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA 2008 McGraw Hill 9780071487856, p. 76 Despite the high amount of money lost during that period of time, the Steamrollers would be one of six teams to fully confirm their interest in staying on board for another season while playing in the BAA.http://www.apbr.org/baaminutes.html BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA LEAGUE MINUTES 1946-1949 Bradley Robert APBR October 10, 2025 However, despite having lower losses than the Boston Celtics this season, Providence would only continue playing for two more seasons before folding operations in 1949 by the time the BAA merged operations with the older National Basketball League to create the present-day NBA. While the Providence Steamrollers would later try and be revived by the 1970s and 1980s by new ownership, those plans would fail to be materialized entirely for multiple reasons, with the most brazen occurrence happening by 1980.https://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/Xdefunct/ProvidenceSteamrollers/SteamrollersResurrection.html The failed resurrection of the Providence Steamrollers References Providence Category:Providence Steamrollers seasons Providence Steamrollers Providence Steamrollers