1942–43 Philadelphia Sphas season

American basketball team season Philadelphia Sphas American Basketball League (revived original) 1943 9 6 2 Eddie Gottlieb Eddie Gottlieb Eddie Gottlieb Broadwood Hotel ABL Champions (Won 4–3 over Trenton Tigers) yes The Philadelphia Sphas were an early, historical example of an American professional basketball team. The 1942–43 season was the tenth season played in the now-revived American Basketball League by the Sphas, although they did play in the original rendition of the ABL from 1926 to 1928 as the Philadelphia Warriors, which had no relation to the later BAA franchise of the same name that now exists in the present day as the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. As such, when including the past history of the original ABL with the revived version of the ABL in 1933 following historical problems that related to the Great Depression near the end of 1931, this would technically be the sixteenth official season played by the original ABL properly, though this would officially be the 26th season of play for the Sphas franchise when including previous seasons where they played under names like the "Philadelphia YMHA"; the "Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black", the "Philadelphia Warriors"; and the "Philadelphia Hebrews". Background The Sphas played in leagues around Philadelphia since 1917, but game-by-game records before the Sphas rejoined the ABL in 1933 are not (currently) available (at least, not to the general public if official game records did exist for the Sphas) and are therefore likely lost to time itself.The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball's Greatest Jewish Team Stark Douglas Temple University Press 2011 978-1-59213-633-9 Philadelphia Appendix A, 259 Following the previous season's failure in regards to the ABL not having a championship series occur due to the Wilmington Blue Bombers automatically being declared champions of the league by default thanks to them winning both halves of the regular season, the ABL would decide to go back to using the full regular season formatting that the rivaling National Basketball League has done throughout their history alongside what the ABL had previously done in the 1938–39 and 1939–40 seasons (though unlike the NBL for this season, the ABL decided to have its playoffs essentially just be a best-of-seven championship series between the two best teams of the league due to them only having five competing teams at hand throughout this season). Not only that, but due to the trying times of the World War II period at hand, the ABL would agree to terms with both the rivaling NBL and the minor basketball league known as the Connecticut State Basketball League to prohibit the transfer of players between their leagues without due compensation in order to minimize the effects of many players joining the war effort during this period of time.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 2009 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 114 While the ABL had considered shutting down operations during this season similar to what the rivaling NBL had considered doing themselves during its offseason period, its continued operation during this period of time was encouraged by the federal government as a means of boosting morale at home.The 1942-43 NBL Season: A Foreshadowing of Professional Basketball 20 Years Forward https://cdm17103.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17103coll10/id/12453 2026-02-02 cdm17103.contentdm.oclc.org en Due to the combination of the low amount of competitive teams within the ABL this season and the wartime limitations set within the U.S.A. during this period of time (notably the Office of Defense Transportation banning pleasure driving in 1943 in order to minimize civilian gasoline consumption, which made traveling for certain teams challenging during their seasonsFlamm Bradley 2006 Putting the brakes on 'non-essential' travel: 1940s wartime mobility, prosperity and the US Office of Defense. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233547720 The Journal of Transport History 27 1 71–92, 79 10.7227/TJTH.27.1.6 154113012Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 2009 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 119), the ABL was given its shortest set schedule of games in league history, with the Sphas themselves only being able to play in fifteen total games this season (which, weirdly enough, was the most games played out of any team in the ABL this season, likely due to the Sphas' own extensive history of being a traveling franchise that had once been considered a barnstorming team alongside their own prior history of various competitive sports leagues they had taken a part in throughout their years of existence). Nevertheless, with the Sphas trying to reclaim their spot as champions once again in the ABL (while also holding that title for the sixth time in ten overall seasons in the league's history of existence as a revived professional basketball league), the Sphas would end up having an above-average 9–6 record throughout the 15 games they played within the ABL's scheduled games played this season (which included giving the New York Jewels their only victory within the season). While it was a pretty good record, it was only good enough for second place due to them being behind the much better Trenton Tigers, who had an incredibly high 11–2 record in the thirteen games they played for their first place finish (though the Sphas were also the only team to beat the Tigers at all within the ABL this season, weirdly enough). Regardless, while the past season would have had Trenton winning the season outright by default, the ABL's shortened out playoff format for a simple best-of-seven championship series between the two best teams of the league would have the Tigers and the Sphas competing against each other to see who the better team truly was this season, with Philadelphia looking to win it all once again in Trenton, New Jersey after they had previously defeated the Trenton Moose for their inaugural ABL championship in 1934. Initially, the Tigers and Sphas traded games back and forth with each other, similar to how the Sphas traded games back and forth with the Brooklyn Visitations in the 1936 ABL Championship Series, but unlike with the 1936 series where the odd-numbered team for the series won every game outright, it would be Philadelphia (who had won the even-numbered games this time around) that would win Game 7 with a close 44–42 victory to steal the 1943 ABL Championship Series away from Trenton once again (this time from the Tigers franchise) to have the Sphas be named the ABL's champions once again for the sixth time in ten straight seasons in the revived ABL. Roster Due to information on American Basketball League players being generally hard to find, there are bound to be more gaps and/or inaccuracies found in certain areas on the team's roster spots than usual.1942-43 Philadelphia SPHAs basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-ABLSPH/y-1942 StatsCrew.comWilk Mike Peach Basket Society: 1942-43 Philadelphia SPHA's (ABL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2018/03/1942-43-philadelphia-sphas-abl.html Peach Basket Society 20 March 2018 1942–43 Philadelphia Sphas #4070C0 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #CC0000 Irv Davis 1 F/C 6 2 195 NYU 1915–01–10 Ben Goldfaden F 6 1 185 George Washington 1913–09–06 Shikey Gotthoffer 1 G/F 6 0 195 NYU 1911–01–01 Red Klotz G 5 7 150 Villanova 1920–10–21 Inky Lautman 1 F/C 6 2 205 Central HS (PA) 1914–05–22 Chink Morganstine 1 G 6 0 200 Temple 1918–05–09 Dutch Newman 1 F 6 2 180 Long Island University 1917–04–18 Red Rosan F/C 6 2 195 Temple 1911–05–22 Petey Rosenberg G 5 10 165 Saint Joseph's 1918–04–07 Ossie Schectman G/F 6 0 175 Long Island University 1919–03–30 Butch Schwartz 1 G/F 6 2 190 Long Island University 1919–02–14 Irv Torgoff F 6 2 192 Long Island University 1917–03–06 Red Wolfe basketball G 5 11 165 St. John's 1905–07–18 Eddie Gottlieb Note: Shikey Gotthoffer, Dutch Newman, Petey Rosenberg, and Ossie Schectman would not compete in the 1943 ABL Championship Series.PHILADELPHIA SPHAS https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/philadelphia-sphas-14/ Pro Basketball Encyclopedia ABL Standings Pos. League Standings Wins Losses Win %1 Trenton Tigers 11 2 .8462 Philadelphia SPHAs 9 6 .6003 Camden Indians / Brooklyn IndiansNote1 a a 3 5 .3754 Harrisburg Senators 4 8 .3335 New York Jewels 1 7 .125 AMERICAN BASKETBALL LEAGUE - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia en-US Pro Basketball Encyclopedia 2014-05-30 2026-09-26 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/league/american-basketball-league-20/ https://web.archive.org/web/20260923113142/https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/league/american-basketball-league-20/ 2026-09-23American Basketball League II - 1942-43 ABL Standings en RetroSeasons 2023-03-21 2026-09-26 https://www.retroseasons.com/leagues/abl/1943/standings/ ABL Schedule This season would mark the third time in four straight seasons within the revived version of the ABL's history that the ABL would have a regular, full regular season instead of two half seasons merged together into one whole season of play. However, due to the number of teams competing in the league this season, the ABL decided to have its playoff format for this season only utilize the two best teams competing against each other in a best-of-seven championship series instead of a regular playoff format involving a semifinal round and a championship round similar to what the rivaling National Basketball League would be doing this season or even utilizing a round-robin tournament like they ABL had done in a previous season of theirs. ABL Regular Season # Date Opponent Score Record1December 19Harrisburg Senators40–361–02December 25@ Trenton Tigers34–401–13December 26New York Jewels50–452–14January 1@ Harrisburg Senators36–442–25January 2Camden IndiansNote1 a a35–482–36January 9Trenton Tigers40–373–37January 22@ New York Jewels38–374–38January 23New York Jewels42–295–39January 30Harrisburg Senators32–335–410February 4@ Harrisburg Senators45–386–411February 6Brooklyn IndiansNote1 a a43–397–412February 13Trenton Tigers34–507–513February 20New York Jewels32–377–614February 21@ Trenton Tigers36–258–615February 27Brooklyn IndiansNote1 a a43–349–6 ABL Championship Series Game Date Opponent Score RecordGame 1March 6Trenton Tigers27–360–1Game 2March 7@ Trenton Tigers42–351–1Game 3March 13Trenton Tigers30–371–2Game 4March 14@ Trenton Tigers42–392–2Game 5March 27Trenton Tigers38–482–3Game 6March 28@ Trenton Tigers34–333–3Game 7April 3Trenton Tigers44–424–3 The delay in-between Games 4 and 5 in this championship series between the Philadelphia Sphas and the Trenton Tigers involved team owners Eddie Gottlieb and Girard Naples agreeing to delay the series for almost two weeks due to both teams needing to rest up several of their key players that were affected by injuries at the time.Bradley Grasso Robert John Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, p. 416 Notes Note1 a aThe Camden Indians moved from Camden, New Jersey to nearby Brooklyn, New York on January 18, 1943. References Philadelphia Sphas Philadelphia Sphas Philadelphia Category:American Basketball League (1925–1955) championship seasons Category:Philadelphia Sphas seasons