1949–50 Indianapolis Olympians season

March 2026 August 2023 Indianapolis Olympians 1950 yes 39 25 1 Western Cliff Barker Hinkle Fieldhouse WXLW Division finals (eliminated 1-2) INO 1 The 1949–50 Indianapolis Olympians season was the first season for the Indianapolis Olympians in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Originally, the Olympians franchise was created as a response by the older National Basketball League (NBL) to the younger Basketball Association of America (BAA) losing the Indianapolis Jets team by bankruptcy (though that team ironically had its greatest history within the NBL as the Indianapolis Kautskys under grocer Frank Kautsky's ownership) months before the NBL and BAA merged operations to become the present-day NBA (though with the BAA's history holding a greater presence there). As a result of this situation at hand, the Olympians franchise would enter the NBA not as a continuation of the Indianapolis Jets franchise, but as an expansion franchise for the newly merged league instead. Despite them being an expansion franchise, the Olympians would end up being the champions of the Central Division, though they would be eliminated from the playoffs by the Anderson Packers, who previously were the final champions held in the NBL's history. By the end of the season, the Olympians would join the Tri-Cities Blackhawks as the only other Central Division team to play in the NBA beyond this current season, as the other four Central Division teams would defect from the NBA to create a short-lived rivaling professional basketball league to compete against the NBA called the National Professional Basketball League. BAA/NBA draft 1949 BAA draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club team 1 2 Alex Groza C United States 1912 Kentucky 2 – Leo Barnhorst F/G United States 1912 Notre Dame 3 – Mac Otten F/C United States 1912 Bowling Green 4 – Bob Evans G United States 1912 Butler 6 – Don Boven F/G United States 1912 Western Michigan The following selections above would actually be draft selections made by the Indianapolis Jets, a team that originally was operating within the Basketball Association of America at the time, who are primarily here for completion's sake since the Olympians would not take on the Jets' history as a franchise. The Indianapolis Olympians would actually participate in the 1949 NBL draft, which occurred months before the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America would merge operations to become the present-day National Basketball Association, with the Olympians making their selections as an expansion franchise some time after the Jets franchise went into bankruptcy. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Olympians' draft picks were for the NBL have properly come up outside of the top selection still being Alex Groza and the Olympians' second selection after Groza being teammate Ralph Beard from the University of Kentucky, with any information on who those final selections for the NBL and what the expansion draft picks for the Olympians franchise might have been currently being lost to time in the process. Roster Indianapolis Olympians 1949–50 |- 10 Cliff Barker G 6 2 185 Kentucky 12 Ralph Beard G 5 10 175 Kentucky 9 Bob Evans basketball G 6 2 175 Butler 15 Alex Groza C 6 7 218 Kentucky 7 Bruce Hale F/G 6 1 170 Santa Clara 19 Marshall Hawkins basketball F 6 3 205 Tennessee 14 Joe Holland basketball F 6 4 185 Kentucky 17 Wallace Jones F 6 4 225 Kentucky 16 Mal McMullen F/C 6 5 210 Xavier 5 Jack Parkinson basketball G 6 0 174 Kentucky Carl Shaeffer F/G 6 3 185 Alabama 20 Floyd Volker F/C 6 4 205 Wyoming 5 Paul Walther F/G 6 2 160 Tennessee Cliff Barker Regular season Season standings INO Game log 1949–50 game log # Date Opponent Score High points Venue Record 1 November 1 Denver W 71–64 Alex Groza (19) 1–0 2 November 8 New York L 64–79 Alex Groza (18) 1–1 3 November 9 at Syracuse L 73–103 Alex Groza (24) 1–2 4 November 10 at New York W 83–79 Alex Groza (41) 2–2 5 November 11 at Philadelphia W 91–84 Ralph Beard (20) 3–2 6 November 12 St. Louis W 94–71 Alex Groza (26) 4–2 7 November 13 at Sheboygan L 101–104 Alex Groza (30) 4–3 8 November 15 Anderson L 72–83 Alex Groza (22) 4–4 9 November 17 at Boston L 68–90 Alex Groza (21) 4–5 10 November 19 Waterloo W 106–74 Ralph Beard (27) 5–5 11 November 20 at Minneapolis L 95–121 Ralph Beard (24) 5–6 12 November 22 Rochester W 80–74 Alex Groza (43) 6–6 13 November 23 at Chicago L 72–92 Wallace Jones (22) 6–7 14 November 26 Sheboygan W 85–59 Alex Groza (20) 7–7 15 November 27 at Tri-Cities L 88–104 Alex Groza (21) 7–8 16 November 29 Tri-Cities W 92–76 Alex Groza (28) 8–8 17 December 1 Minnesota W 86–68 Alex Groza (38) 9–8 18 December 3 at Rochester L 77–99 Alex Groza (21) 9–9 19 December 4 at Syracuse L 61–67 Alex Groza (26) 9–10 20 December 6 Boston W 93–82 Alex Groza (22) 10–10 21 December 8 at Anderson W 72–69 Alex Groza (30) 11–10 22 December 9 Denver W 78–75 Alex Groza (18) 12–10 23 December 11 at Fort Wayne L 74–90 Alex Groza (22) 12–11 24 December 13 Tri-Cities W 84–63 Alex Groza (21) 13–11 25 December 16 at Denver W 81–79 Alex Groza (29) 14–11 26 December 18 at Denver W 83–79 Alex Groza (22) 15–11 27 December 20 Baltimore L 79–88 Alex Groza (27) 15–12 28 December 22 Chicago W 104–92 Alex Groza (42) 16–12 29 December 25 at Waterloo L 93–97 Alex Groza (28) 16–13 30 December 27 Anderson W 89–82 Bruce Hale (17) 17–13 31 January 1 at Sheboygan W 89–75 Alex Groza (27) 18–13 32 January 3 Tri-Cities W 78–76 Wallace Jones (24) 19–13 33 January 7 at Baltimore W 85–61 Alex Groza (22) 20–13 34 January 10 Sheboygan W 107–77 Alex Groza (25) 21–13 35 January 13 Waterloo W 80–64 Alex Groza (28) 22–13 36 January 15 at Syracuse L 69–82 Alex Groza (24) 22–14 37 January 17 Denver W 101–81 Bruce Hale (23) 23–14 38 January 19 vs. Waterloo W 104–87 Alex Groza (30) 24–14 39 January 21 Fort Wayne W 112–94 Ralph Beard (31) 25–14 40 January 24 Waterloo W 107–69 Alex Groza (28) 26–14 41 January 27 at Anderson W 91–78 Groza, Jones (23) 27–14 42 January 28 at Tri-Cities L 81–97 Alex Groza (20) 27–15 43 January 30 vs. Syracuse L 75–91 Alex Groza (19) 27–16 44 February 2 Syracuse L 67–73 Alex Groza (20) 27–17 45 February 5 at St. Louis L 64–76 Wallace Jones (18) 27–18 46 February 7 Washington W 88–81 Wallace Jones (18) 28–18 47 February 10 Anderson L 76–107 Alex Groza (25) 28–19 48 February 12 at Tri-Cities W 95–89 Alex Groza (25) 29–19 49 February 14 Philadelphia W 86–67 Alex Groza (22) 30–19 50 February 15 at Waterloo L 74–76 Ralph Beard (21) 30–20 51 February 18 at Washington L 79–81 Alex Groza (26) 30–21 52 February 19 at Syracuse L 78–82 Alex Groza (22) 30–22 53 February 21 Sheboygan L 78–83 Groza, Jones (17) 30–23 54 February 24 vs Syracuse L 67–72 Ralph Beard (18) 30–24 55 February 26 at Sheboygan W 107–86 Ralph Beard (34) 31–24 56 February 28 Syracuse W 110–72 Alex Groza (29) 32–24 57 March 3 Tri-Cities L 83–96 Wallace Jones (32) 32–25 58 March 5 at Sheboygan W 92–87 Alex Groza (31) 33–25 59 March 7 Anderson W 107–93 Ralph Beard (30) 34–25 60 March 9 at Anderson W 97–90 Barker, Groza (19) 35–25 61 March 12 Waterloo W 90–89 Alex Groza (29) 36–25 62 March 14 Syracuse W 68–65 Alex Groza (28) 37–25 63 March 16 vs. Denver W 111–99 Alex Groza (36) 38–25 64 March 18 vs. Denver W 110–73 Ralph Beard (23) 39–25 Playoffs Western Division Semifinals (1) Indianapolis Olympians vs. (4) Sheboygan Red Skins: Olympians win series 2-1 Game 1 @ Indianapolis (March 21): Indianapolis 86, Sheboygan 85 Game 2 @ Sheboygan (March 23): Sheboygan 95, Indianapolis 85 Game 3 @ Indianapolis (March 25): Indianapolis 91, Sheboygan 84 This was the first and only playoff meeting between the Olympians and Red Skins. Western Division Finals (1) Indianapolis Olympians vs. (2) Anderson Packers: Packers win series 2-1 Game 1 @ Indianapolis (March 28): Indianapolis 77, Anderson 74 Game 2 @ Anderson (March 30): Anderson 84, Indianapolis 67 Game 3 @ Indianapolis (April 1): Anderson 67, Indianapolis 65 This was the first and only playoff meeting between the Olympians and Packers. References 1949-50 Indianapolis Olympians Roster and Stats | Basketball-Reference.com Category:Indianapolis Olympians seasons Indianapolis Indianapolis Olympians Indianapolis Olympians