1947–48 Rochester Royals season

NBL professional basketball team season March 2026 Rochester Royals 1948 NBL yes 44 16 Eastern 1 Les Harrison &Eddie Malanowicz Jack HarrisonLes Harrison Edgerton Park Arena WHAM Lost NBL Championship (1-3) to the Minneapolis Lakers ROC The 1947–48 Rochester Royals season was the franchise's third professional season of play while under the Rochester Royals name and their final season in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team finished with a 44–16 record, which became the best record in the NBL by one game over the upstart Minneapolis Lakers. Rochester would end up beating their league rivaling Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 3–1 in the quarterfinal round and then beat the Anderson Duffey Packers 2–1 before returning to the NBL Finals for the third and final time in their history. Once again, they saw themselves go up against the towering star center George Mikan (who had been picked up by what was considered to be the newly-established Lakers squad despite them picking up their past history from an awful Detroit Gems squad after the Chicago American Gears left the NBL for the short-lived Professional Basketball League of America and folded after that league went down a lot earlier than they expected it to and the American Gears weren't allowed back into the NBL), and once again, Mikan's presence as a player proved to be too much for the Royals to overcome, as they ended up losing the NBL Championship 3–1 for the second straight year in a row, this time to the newly-established Lakers (who would soon grow to be a powerhouse force in basketball history) instead. Following this season's conclusion, both the Royals (who only had one objection from the BAA's side from Ned Irish in terms of allowing them to join in) and defending NBL champion Lakers, alongside the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and Indianapolis Kautskys would end up leaving the NBL to play for the Basketball Association of America (now known as the National Basketball Association), though the Zollner Pistons would drop the Zollner part of their name and the Kautskys would rename themselves to the Indianapolis Jets due to that league not allowing teams to have sponsorships to also be a part of their team names. Since then, the Jets folded operations entirely, while the other surviving NBL teams that switched teams moved elsewhere, with the Pistons moving to Detroit, Michigan to become the Detroit Pistons, the Lakers moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to become the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Royals rebranding themselves multiple times and going from their original Rochester, New York location to Sacramento to become the Sacramento Kings. Draft picks The Rochester Royals would participate in the 1947 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1947 BAA draft due to a joint agreement the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America had with each other during the offseason period. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Royals' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process. Roster 1947–48 Rochester Royals #1E3D92 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #1E3D92 Bill Calhoun basketball F-G 6 3 180 CCSF 1927-11-04 Al Cervi G-F 5 11 170 East HS (NY) 1917-02-12 Bob Davies G-F 6 1 175 Seton Hall 1920-01-15 Andy Duncan basketball F-C 6 6 188 William & Mary 1922-04-17 Red Holzman G 5 10 175 CCNY 1920-08-10 Arnie Johnson F-C 6 5 236 Bemidji State 1920-05-17 Leroy King C 6 7 200 Monmouth 1921-12-24 Andrew Levane F-G 6 2 190 St. John's 1920-04-11 Joe Lord G 6 1 175 Villanova 1922-12-28 John Mandic F-C 6 4 195 Oregon State 1919-10-03 George Ratkovicz C-F 6 6 220 Lindblom (IL) 1922-11-13 Ocie Richie F 6 3 195 Northwestern State 1921-11-16 Arnie Risen C-F 6 9 200 Ohio State 1924-10-09 Bobby Wanzer G 6 0 170 Seton Hall 1921-06-04 Eddie Malanowicz &Les Harrison https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/RCR/1948.html Note: Leroy King, Joe Lord, and Ocie Richie were not a part of the playoff roster this season for one reason or another.ROCHESTER ROYALS https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/rochester-royals/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaPeach Basket Society: 1947-48 Rochester Royals (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/04/1947-48-rochester-royals-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 25 April 20161947-48 Rochester Royals basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-ROC/y-1947 StatsCrew.com 26 March 2026 Season standings NBL Schedule Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Rochester's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Rochester Royals during their third and final season in the NBL before moving on to play in the BAA (now NBA) for their following season of play. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 11 Oshkosh 78–68 1–0 2 November 13 @ Anderson 63–74 1–1 3 November 15 Oshkosh 79–52 2–1 4 November 18 @ Indianapolis 56–53 3–1 5 November 20 Flint 65–50 4–1 6 November 21 @ Syracuse 75–72 5–1 7 November 22 Syracuse 64–60 6–1 8 November 24 @ Anderson 58–75 6–2 9 November 25 @ Flint 76–54 7–2 10 November 26 @ Oshkosh 43–47 7–3 11 November 27 @ Toledo 41–50 7–4 12 November 29 Minneapolis 56–53 8–4 13 December 2 Anderson 78–54 9–4 14 December 3 N Sheboygan 72–54 10–4 15 December 6 Toledo 56–55 11–4 16 December 9 Sheboygan 73–58 12–4 17 December 10 @ Fort Wayne 62–58 13–4 18 December 13 Sheboygan 62–65 (OT) 14–4 19 December 14 @ Flint 78–63 15–4 20 December 18 Indianapolis 80–47 16–4 21 December 20 @ Fort Wayne 65–62 (OT) 17–4 22 December 21 N Oshkosh 65–50 18–4 23 December 23 @ Tri-Cities 59–58 19–4 24 December 25 @ Syracuse 61–60 20–4 25 December 27 Anderson 59–64 20–5 26 January 3 Tri-Cities 68–60 21–5 27 January 10 Toledo 65–74 21–6 28 January 13 Fort Wayne 75–48 22–6 29 January 14 @ Fort Wayne 70–56 22–7 30 January 18 Minneapolis 73–75 22–8 31 January 20 @ Indianapolis 58–56 23–8 32 January 22 N Minneapolis 64–69 23–9 33 January 24 Indianapolis 80–58 24–9 34 January 26 @ Minneapolis 58–76 24–10 35 January 28 @ Minneapolis 53–50 25–10 36 January 29 @ Toledo 52–51 26–10 37 January 31 Flint 89–72 27–10 38 February 5 @ Sheboygan 60–53 28–10 39 February 7 Oshkosh 63–54 29–10 40 February 8 @ Sheboygan 67–66 (2OT) 30–10 41 February 10 N Oshkosh 40–51 30–11 42 February 11 @ Fort Wayne 69–70 30–12 43 February 12 @ Anderson 56–57 30–13 44 February 14 Tri-Cities 55–60 30–14 45 February 17 Tri-Cities 78–64 31–14 46 February 19 @ Flint 56–51 32–14 47 February 20 @ Toledo 49–41 33–14 48 February 21 Flint 68–57 34–14 49 February 24 Syracuse 78–54 35–14 50 February 28 Syracuse 64–52 36–14 51 March 2 Toledo 66–50 37–14 52 March 4 @ Tri-Cities 64–53 38–14 53 March 6 Fort Wayne 64–61 39–14 54 March 7 N Indianapolis 61–46 40–14 55 March 9 @ Tri-Cities 50–67 40–15 56 March 11 @ Indianapolis 68–74 40–16 57 March 13 Anderson 57–50 41–16 58 March 16 Minneapolis 66–63 42–16 59 March 18 @ Syracuse 76–48 43–16 60 March 20 Sheboygan 83–44 44–16 Eastern standings NBL Playoffs NBL Eastern Division Opening Round (1E) Rochester Royals vs. (3E) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons: Rochester wins series 3–1 Game 1: March 23, 1948 @ Fort Wayne: Rochester 65, Fort Wayne 56Bradley Grasso Robert John Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, p. 423 Game 2: March 24, 1948 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 68, Rochester 65 Game 3: March 25, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 64, Fort Wayne 47 Game 4: March 27, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 71, Fort Wayne 62National Basketball League III - 1947-48 NBL Playoffs https://www.retroseasons.com/leagues/NBL/1948/playoffs/ RetroSeasons 21 March 2023 NBL Eastern Division Semifinals (1E) Rochester Royals vs. (2E) Anderson Duffey Packers: Rochester wins series 2–1 Game 1: March 30, 1948 @ Anderson: Rochester 71, Anderson 66 Game 2: April 2, 1948 @ Rochester: Anderson 76, Rochester 69 Game 3: April 3, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 74, Anderson 48 NBL Championship (1E) Rochester Royals vs. (1W) Minneapolis Lakers: Minneapolis wins series 3–1 Game 1: April 13, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 80, Rochester 72 Game 2: April 14, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 82, Rochester 67 Game 3: April 15, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 74, Minneapolis 60 Game 4: April 18, 1948 @ Rochester: Minneapolis 75, Rochester 65 Team statistics Regular season RankPlayerPositionGames playedField goalsFree throws madeFree throws attemptedPoints per game1Al CerviG-F494.83.84.913.42Red HolzmanG604.12.03.010.23Andy DuncanF-C603.32.03.38.74Bob DaviesG-F483.72.53.39.85Arnie RisenC-F285.24.25.814.56Andrew LevaneF-G542.70.81.16.37Arnie JohnsonF-C571.81.72.65.28George RatkoviczC-F2341.51.42.24.49Bobby WanzerG401.41.41.74.210Bill CalhounF-G420.70.40.81.911John MandicF-C331.00.40.72.312Leroy KingC120.30.50.71.013Joseph LordG40.80.00.31.514Ocie RichieF10.01.01.01.0 NBL Playoffs RankPlayerPositionGames playedField goalsFree throws madeFree throws attemptedPoints per game1Bob DaviesG-F115.14.55.814.62Andy DuncanF-C113.52.13.19.23Arnie RisenC-F75.04.36.314.34Red HolzmanG103.51.01.58.05Bobby WanzerG111.92.22.56.06Arnie JohnsonF-C112.11.82.26.07George RatkoviczC-F602.01.52.55.58 Al CerviG-F63.02.33.28.39Andrew LevaneF-G92.20.20.34.710Bill CalhounF-G81.40.30.43.011John MandicF-C50.40.40.81.21947-48 Rochester Royals Stats | Basketball-Reference.com Awards and honors All-NBL First Team – Al Cervi and Red Holzman All-NBL Second Team – Bob Davies1947-48 NBL Season Summary | Basketball-Reference.com All-Time NBL Team – Al Cervi, Bob Davies, and Arnie Risenhttp://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site www.geocities.com October 25, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20050311095835/http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html March 11, 2005 dead References Category:Sacramento Kings seasons Rochester Rochester Royals Rochester Royals