1949–50 St. Louis Bombers season

March 2026 August 2023 St. Louis Bombers 1950 26 42 5 Central Grady Lewis Kiel AuditoriumSt. Louis Arena WIL and WTMV Did not qualify STB 1 The 1949–50 St. Louis Bombers season was the fourth and final season for the Bombers in the National Basketball Association. This season would technically be considered the only season in the Bombers' history where they would officially play in the NBA properly after previously playing their first three seasons in the precursor league known as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) before it officially merged with the older, rivaling National Basketball League (NBL) to become the present-day NBA (though they would still only participate in the 1949 BAA draft while failing to participate in the subsequent 1950 NBA draft soon afterward due to a failed $50,000 bond payment made to enter the 1950–51 NBA season following the completion of the 1950 NBA playoffs). While Grady Lewis would retire as a professional basketball player to try and become a full-time head coach for St. Louis, the Bombers would end up having their worst season in their entire history when they got realigned into the shortly-formed Central Division (which was a division that would not be created again until the 1970–71 NBA season when the NBA would return to the size that it would be under its first season under the NBA name properly) alongside the Chicago Stags and the original three NBL-turned-BAA-turned-NBA franchises in the Fort Wayne Pistons, Rochester Royals, and the two-time defending champion Minneapolis Lakers. This would result in the Bombers having the worst record in the temporarily short-lived division's history with a 26–42 losing record, which not only gave St. Louis their worst record in franchise history, but also ended with them having their only season where they failed to qualify for the NBA Playoffs and being the only team in that division to have a losing record there altogether. The franchise ceased operations after the season, and the St. Louis market would be left without an NBA team until 1955. BAA/NBA draft 1949 BAA draft Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College/Club Team T (1) – (5) Ed Macauley PF/C USA 1912 Saint Louis 2 15 Johnny Orr SF USA 1912 United States Beloit College 3 27 Marv Schatzman SF USA 1912 United States Saint Louis 4 38 Preston Ward SG/SF USA 1912 United States Missouri State 5 47 Earl Dodd SF USA 1912 United States Northeast Missouri State 6 54 Dave "Jack" Davidson SG USA 1912 United States Stanford 7 60 John Pritchard PF/C USA 1912 United States Drake 8 66 Claude "Bob" Retherford SG USA 1912 United States Nebraska 9 69 Cliff "Joe" Crandall SG/SF USA 1912 United States Oregon State 10 71 Eddie Van Zant – USA 1912 United States Northwestern State College This ultimately became the last draft the St. Louis Bombers would ever participate in. They were initially slated to be a part of the 1950 NBA draft, which would be the debut NBA draft to utilize the proper NBA name following the merger of the Basketball Association of America that the Bombers were in with the National Basketball League, but the Bombers would ultimately fold operations the day before the 1950 NBA draft began, with four other teams also leaving the NBA around this time to create a short-lived rivaling basketball league of their own. Roster {| class="toccolours" style="font-size: 95%; width: 100%;"|} |- ! colspan="2" style="background-color: #D0103A; color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" | St. Louis Bombers 1949–50 roster |- style="background-color: #FFFFFF; color: #D0103A; text-align: center;" ! Players !! Coaches |- | valign="top" | {| class="sortable" style="background:transparent; margin:0px; width:100%;"|} ! Pos. !! # !! Name !! Ht. !! Wt. !! From |- 7 Johnny Logan basketball G 6 2 175 Indiana 50 Ed Macauley F/C 6 8 185 Saint Louis 11 Ariel Maughan F 6 4 190 Utah State 14 Mike McCarron G 5 11 180 Seton Hall 9 Dermie O'Connell G 6 0 174 Holy Cross 12 Johnny Orr basketball, born 1927 F 6 3 195 Beloit College 14 Mac Otten F/C 6 7 220 Bowling Green 6 Easy Parham F/G 6 3 200 Texas Wesleyan 8 Don Putman G 6 1 170 Denver 3 Bill Roberts (basketball) Roberts, Bill C 6 9 210 Wyoming 4 Red Rocha F/C 6 9 185 Oregon State 10 Belus Smawley F/G 6 1 195 Appalachian State 9 Mike Todorovich F/C 6 5 220 Wyoming 5 D. C. Wilcutt G 6 2 165 Saint Louis Grady Lewis Regular season Season standings STB Game log 1949–50 Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 1 vs Tri-Cities 72–51 Johnny Logan (21) 1–0 2 November 3 at Baltimore 81–65 Mike Todorovich (19) 2–0 3 November 4 at Philadelphia 58–79 Ed Macauley (15) 2–1 4 November 5 at Washington 69–81 Ed Macauley (19) 2–2 5 November 8 at Anderson 62–70 Johnny Logan (18) 2–3 6 November 10 Syracuse 73–67 Logan, Macauley (23) 3–3 7 November 12 at Indianapolis 71–94 Red Rocha (20) 3–4 8 November 13 Chicago 65–91 Belus Smawley (12) 3–5 9 November 16 at Minneapolis 71–94 Belus Smawley (16) 3–6 10 November 17 Minneapolis 78–65 Red Rocha (24) 4–6 11 November 20 Rochester 95–74 Johnny Logan (22) 5–6 12 November 24 Baltimore 63–65 Belus Smawley (16) 5–7 13 November 26 at Anderson 63–73 Ed Macauley (18) 5–8 14 November 27 Philadelphia 80–67 Belus Smawley (20) 6–8 15 November 30 at Tri-Cities 89–82 Ed Macauley (19) 7–8 16 December 1 New York 68–85 Belus Smawley (20) 7–9 17 December 3 at Sheboygan 75–72 Maughan, Rocha (18) 8–9 18 December 4 Boston 85–76 Logan, Smawley (17) 9–9 19 December 7 at Denver 76–72 Belus Smawley (27) 10–9 20 December 10 at Baltimore 66–69 Ed Macauley (25) 10–10 21 December 14 at Washington 61–79 Johnny Orr (12) 10–11 22 December 15 at Boston 81–83 Rocha, Smawley (18) 10–12 23 December 16 at Philadelphia 68–54 Belus Smawley (17) 11–12 24 December 17 at New York 76–81 (2OT) Belus Smawley (20) 11–13 25 December 21 New York 75–52 Red Rocha (19) 12–13 26 December 22 at Fort Wayne 75–87 Belus Smawley (22) 12–14 27 December 25 Washington 68–81 Johnny Logan (24) 12–15 28 December 29 Baltimore 90–63 Belus Smawley (15) 13–15 29 December 31 at Rochester 68–87 Ed Macauley (21) 13–16 30 January 1 Waterloo 91–79 Johnny Logan (24) 14–16 31 January 4 Boston 72–68 Johnny Logan (20) 15–16 32 January 5 at Fort Wayne 83–87 Red Rocha (20) 15–17 33 January 8 Rochester 73–75 (2OT) Johnny Logan (18) 15–18 34 January 12 Minneapolis 73–89 Ed Macauley (22) 15–19 35 January 15 Denver 89–83 Ed Macauley (25) 16–19 36 January 16 at Chicago 69–78 Ed Macauley (23) 16–20 37 January 18 at Waterloo 69–80 Ed Macauley (14) 16–21 38 January 19 Fort Wayne 74–64 Red Rocha (19) 17–21 39 January 22 Boston 71–47 Logan, Rocha, Smawley (14) 18–21 40 January 24 vs Washington 67–75 Johnny Logan (23) 18–22 41 January 25 at Minneapolis 78–85 Red Rocha (16) 18–23 42 January 26 Washington 71–82 Red Rocha (18) 18–24 43 January 29 Chicago 51–66 Belus Smawley (14) 18–25 44 February 2 New York 73–87 Maughan, Smawley (13) 18–26 45 February 5 Indianapolis 76–64 Ed Macauley (29) 19–26 46 February 7 at Rochester 84–90 Ed Macauley (34) 19–27 47 February 8 at New York 84–82 (2OT) Macauley, Smawley (17) 20–27 48 February 9 at Baltimore 67–79 Belus Smawley (12) 20–28 49 February 10 at Boston 79–89 Macauley, Rocha (20) 20–29 50 February 12 Philadelphia 86–70 Belus Smawley (23) 21–29 51 February 16 Minneapolis 71–72 Belus Smawley (17) 21–30 52 February 19 Sheboygan 72–65 Logan, Macauley (19) 22–30 53 February 22 at Minneapolis 57–100 Logan, Macauley (11) 22–31 54 February 23 Fort Wayne 72–74 Ed Macauley (20) 22–32 55 February 24 at Chicago 62–77 Red Rocha (20) 22–33 56 February 26 Rochester 79–81 Ed Macauley (31) 22–34 57 March 1 Fort Wayne 70–75 Ed Macauley (23) 22–35 58 March 2 at Fort Wayne 61–91 Red Rocha (19) 22–36 59 March 5 Philadelphia 71–67 Ed Macauley (18) 23–36 60 March 8 at New York 78–80 (OT) Ed Macauley (24) 23–37 61 March 9 at Syracuse 74–85 Ed Macauley (20) 23–38 62 March 10 at Philadelphia 73–78 Belus Smawley (25) 23–39 63 March 11 at Washington 90–92 Ed Macauley (21) 23–40 64 March 12 at Rochester 72–99 Ed Macauley (20) 23–41 65 March 14 at Boston 86–76 Ed Macauley (31) 24–41 66 March 16 Baltimore 71–63 Ed Macauley (22) 25–41 67 March 17 vs Chicago 85–69 Ed Macauley (35) 26–41 68 March 19 Chicago 64–80 Ed Macauley (24) 26–42 Dispersal Draft After the Bombers folded their franchise officially the day before the 1950 NBA draft began on April 24, 1950 (the same day the likes of the original Denver Nuggets, Sheboygan Red Skins, and Waterloo Hawks all withdrew from the NBA in order to join up with the Anderson Packers (who previously withdrew from the NBA themselves on April 10, 1950 following pressure from bigger marketplace teams like the Knicks, Celtics, and Warriors) to create the short-lived rivaling National Professional Basketball League as a means for them to all try and survive together), the St. Louis franchise would join the Packers players (who had previously withdrawn from the NBA before creating the NPBL with the other three teams that withdrew on the same day the Bombers folded) in a dispersal draft that the NBA held on August 25, 1950 as the first of three different dispersal drafts held during the 1950–51 NBA season period. In the Bombers' case, they were the only team from the initial April 24, 1950 deadline to not post a $50,000 bond to the NBA by the newly-established league's deadline and not defect themselves into the newer, rivaling National Professional Basketball League soon afterward.Meyer Roger Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, p. 425 The following teams acquired these players from the Bombers during the dispersal draft period. Baltimore Bullets: Bill Roberts & Red Rocha Boston Celtics: Ed Macauley Minneapolis Lakers: Mac Otten Philadelphia Warriors: Easy Parham Tri-Cities Blackhawks: Johnny Logan Washington Capitols: Ariel Maughan & Don Putman References Category:St. Louis Bombers (NBA) seasons St. Louis St. Louis Bombers St. Louis Bombers