1952–53 Indianapolis Olympians season

March 2026 August 2023 Indianapolis Olympians 1953 28 43 Western 4 Herm Schaefer Hinkle Fieldhouse WXLW West Division Semifinals(eliminated 0-2) INO 1 The 1952-53 Indianapolis Olympians season was the Olympians' 4th and final season in the NBA.1952-53 Indianapolis Olympians Leo Barnhorst and Joe Graboski led the team in scoring; while Graborski dominated on the boards. Despite the Olympians struggling with their worst season as a franchise following the aftermath of the 1951 college basketball point-shaving scandal that led to two of their best players (Alex Groza and Ralph Beard) being banned for life by the NBA, the Olympians would still barely qualify for the 1953 NBA playoffs due to them being one game ahead of the Milwaukee Hawks for the last playoff spot in the Western Division. However, they would be quickly swept and eliminated by the eventual two-time (later three-time) defending NBA champion Minneapolis Lakers in the Western Division Semifinals due to Indianapolis' poor 28–43 record being far too reflective of the difference in talent between the Lakers and Olympians franchises by this point in time. Following the conclusion of the playoffs, the Olympians franchise would fold on April 23, 1953, despite their consistent successes as a team due to the financial burdens following the 1951 college basketball point-shaving scandal being far too much for the franchise to overcome in the end. As a result of their folding, the Olympians would be the last NBL-adjacent franchise out of the five currently surviving franchises that started out within the NBL to fold operations entirely within the NBA. Draft picks 1952 NBA draft Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 4 Joe Dean SG USA 1912 LSU 2 14 Zeke Zawoluk PF/C USA 1912 United States St. John's 3 24 Skippy Whitaker PG USA 1912 United States Kentucky 4 34 Gene Rhodes PG USA 1912 United States Western Kentucky 5 44 Jay Handlan SF USA 1912 United States Washington & Lee 6 54 Billy Harrell PG USA 1912 United States St. Bernadine of Siena 7 64 Jim Hoverder PF/C USA 1912 United States Central Missouri State 8 74 Gordon C. Stauffer PG USA 1912 United States Michigan State 9 83 Dale Toft F USA 1912 United States Denver Indianapolis would only utilize nine out of the 17 total rounds of this draft before opting out of using the rest of the available rounds entirely. This draft would later become the Olympians' final draft that they would ever do as a franchise. While they were initially slated to appear in the 1953 NBA draft, the Olympians franchise would end up folding operations the day before the 1953 draft officially began following the aftermath of former Olympians players Ralph Beard and Alex Groza's involvement in the CCNY point-shaving scandal back when they were college players for the University of Kentucky, thus leaving the NBA with only nine operable teams by the start of the following year's draft. Regular season Season standings INO Game log 1952–53 Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 October 31 Boston 83–68 Bob Lavoy (20) 0–1 2 November 1 @ Milwaukee 71–73 Leo Barnhorst (20) 0–2 3 November 7 Rochester 65–63 Leo Barnhorst (22) 0–3 4 November 8 @ Rochester 96–99 (4OT) Leo Barnhorst (22) 0–4 5 November 9 @ Fort Wayne 71–74 Graboski, Walther (16) 0–5 6 November 11 Fort Wayne 63–78 Joe Graboski (23) 1–5 7 November 14 @ Philadelphia 77–71 Bob Lavoy (17) 2–5 8 November 15 N Philadelphia 76–79 Joe Graboski (18) 3–5 9 November 16 @ Syracuse 78–84 Barnhorst, Tosheff (15) 3–6 10 November 18 New York 90–100 Joe Graboski (23) 4–6 11 November 20 N New York 72–67 Joe Graboski (21) 4–7 12 November 22 @ Boston 91–96 (OT) Leo Barnhorst (24) 4–8 13 November 23 @ Baltimore 100–90 Barnhorst, Tosheff (23) 5–8 14 November 25 Milwaukee 78–66 Leo Barnhorst (14) 5–9 15 November 27 @ Minneapolis 69–90 Leo Barnhorst (19) 5–10 16 November 28 Minneapolis 97–82 Joe Graboski (22) 5–11 17 November 29 @ New York 72–94 Bill Tosheff (15) 5–12 18 December 2 Rochester 76–85 Barnhorst, Graboski (19) 6–12 19 December 5 Fort Wayne 74–84 Barnhorst, Walther (17) 7–12 20 December 6 @ Rochester 79–82 Bill Tosheff (18) 7–13 21 December 8 N Minneapolis 76–81 Joe Graboski (20) 8–13 22 December 9 Syracuse 87–70 Leo Barnhorst (20) 8–14 23 December 12 Milwaukee 49–63 Paul Walther (19) 9–14 24 December 14 @ Fort Wayne 71–86 Barnhorst, Graboski (14) 9–15 25 December 16 Rochester 84–71 Graboski, Lavoy (15) 9–16 26 December 19 Minneapolis 87–69 Bob Lavoy (14) 9–17 27 December 21 N Rochester 83–65 Mel Payton (16) 9–18 28 December 23 Fort Wayne 59–72 Bill Tosheff (19) 10–18 29 December 25 @ Minneapolis 73–90 Mel Payton (16) 10–19 30 December 26 Boston 74–85 Joe Graboski (25) 11–19 31 December 27 @ Rochester 73–94 Bill Tosheff (22) 11–20 32 December 28 @ Syracuse 73–84 Joe Graboski (12) 11–21 33 December 30 Minneapolis 69–74 Joe Graboski (19) 12–21 34 December 31 @ Fort Wayne 85–91 Mel Payton (22) 12–22 35 January 2 Baltimore 66–73 Joe Graboski (24) 13–22 36 January 3 N Boston 63–78 Joe Graboski (17) 13–23 37 January 6 Philadelphia 76–71 Joe Graboski (15) 13–24 38 January 9 New York 58–54 Gene Rhodes (15) 13–25 39 January 11 @ Fort Wayne 68–72 Gene Rhodes (16) 13–26 40 January 15 N Milwaukee 68–75 Leo Barnhorst (22) 14–26 41 January 16 N Fort Wayne 68–75 Joe Graboski (15) 14–27 42 January 17 @ Baltimore 66–82 Mel Payton (17) 14–28 43 January 18 N Philadelphia 74–76 (OT) Paul Walther (16) 15–28 44 January 20 Rochester 59–70 Joe Graboski (15) 16–28 45 January 23 Boston 85–90 Joe Graboski (20) 17–28 46 January 24 @ Milwaukee 64–72 Leo Barnhorst (22) 17–29 47 January 27 Syracuse 72–76 Bob Lavoy (18) 18–29 48 January 31 @ Baltimore 90–97 Leo Barnhorst (24) 18–30 49 February 3 Minneapolis 93–96 (3OT) Leo Barnhorst (27) 19–30 50 February 5 @ Fort Wayne 63–68 Bill Tosheff (21) 19–31 51 February 6 New York 84–73 Leo Barnhorst (14) 19–32 52 February 8 @ Minneapolis 67–71 Paul Walther (20) 19–33 53 February 10 Baltimore 83–88 Leo Barnhorst (19) 20–33 54 February 11 N Milwaukee 67–65 (OT) Lavoy, Tosheff (10) 20–34 55 February 13 Syracuse 89–86 (2OT) Leo Barnhorst (19) 20–35 56 February 14 @ New York 79–91 Zeke Zawoluk (22) 20–36 57 February 15 @ Boston 76–89 Leo Barnhorst (26) 20–37 58 February 17 Philadelphia 77–80 Leo Barnhorst (23) 21–37 59 February 20 Baltimore 58–59 Mel Payton (17) 22–37 60 February 21 N Milwaukee 61–60 Leo Barnhorst (22) 22–38 61 February 22 @ Milwaukee 64–71 Gene Rhodes (18) 22–39 62 February 24 Milwaukee 69–71 (OT) Zeke Zawoluk (16) 23–39 63 March 3 Philadelphia 73–90 Leo Barnhorst (26) 24–39 64 March 6 Fort Wayne 73–64 Leo Barnhorst (20) 24–40 65 March 9 N Minneapolis 83–95 Mel Payton (19) 25–40 66 March 10 Rochester 61–59 Joe Graboski (16) 25–41 67 March 13 Milwaukee 50–52 (OT) Leo Barnhorst (12) 26–41 68 March 14 @ Rochester 90–82 Joe Graboski (25) 27–41 69 March 15 @ Syracuse 68–84 Joe Graboski (19) 27–42 70 March 17 Minneapolis 73–71 Joe Graboski (23) 27–43 71 March 18 @ Milwaukee 74–69 Bill Tosheff (18) 28–43 Playoffs West Division Semifinals (1) Minneapolis Lakers vs. (4) Indianapolis Olympians: Lakers win series 2-0 Game 1 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 85, Indianapolis 69 Game 2 @ Indianapolis: Minneapolis 81, Indianapolis 79 Last Playoff Meeting: 1952 Western Division Semifinals (Minneapolis won 2–0) This was the third and final playoff meeting between the Lakers and the Olympians. Player statistics Dispersal Draft After the Olympians franchise folded operations on April 23, 1953 (one day before the 1953 NBA draft began), a few of their players were dispersed to other teams throughout the 1953 free agency period. Joe Graboski and Paul Walther were sent off to the Philadelphia Warriors during the month of May 1953, while Bob Lavoy and Bill Tosheff went to the Milwaukee Hawks on August 22 that year and Leo Barnhorst went to the Baltimore Bullets on September 2, 1953. References Category:Indianapolis Olympians seasons Indianapolis Indianapolis Olympians Indianapolis Olympians