1943–44 Wilmington Bombers season

Wilmington Bombers American Basketball League (revived original) 1944 17 9 Barney Sedran Barney Sedran Barney Sedran(?) State ArmoryWILMINGTON BLUE BOMBERS - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia en-US Pro Basketball Encyclopedia 2014-05-30 2026-10-07 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/wilmington-blue-bombers-2/ 1st (1st half); 3rd (2nd half) ABL Champions (Won 4–3 over Philadelphia SPHAs) yes 1942 Wilmington Blue Bombers The 1943–44 Wilmington Bombers season was the third season played by this franchise (though they might have existed longer than that through a connection with the Brooklyn Celtics1941-1942 - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia en-US Pro Basketball Encyclopedia 2014-05-30 2026-10-07 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/seasons/1941-1942/) and its first under the Wilmington Bombers name (with some media outlets still referring to them as the Blue Bombers even during the season1943-44 Wilmington Blue Bombers (ABL) en peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com Mike Wilk 2026-10-07 https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2018/03/1943-44-wilmington-blue-bombers-abl.html). The franchise had previously played as the Wilmington Blue Bombers during the 1941–42 season before relocating during the 1942–43 season, when they first played as the Camden Indians before becoming the Brooklyn Indians. The franchise returned to Wilmington, Delaware for the 1943–44 season after the city provided the use of its State Armory as a home venue for their ABL team again when they originally limited its usage for the U.S. military during the height of World War II. While this team would retain head coach Barney Sedran following his season with the Camden / Brooklyn Indians, the Bombers would operate under mostly new ownership with a mostly new roster competing under their name against what they had in their inaugural season as the Blue Bombers (with veteran guard Moe Frankel, guard Charlie Hoefer, and center Ed Sadowski being the only players reacquired by this team). Despite them operating closer to an expansion franchise than a returning franchise with consistency in mind, Wilmington would win their second ABL championship in three seasons by winning the ABL championship series 4–3 over the Philadelphia SPHAs. Season Overview Similar to Wilmington's first season played in the 1941–42 season, this season would once again see the ABL operate under a split season format, though it would be the last season in the league's history that would use said format as a whole. Not only that, but the 1943–44 season was also notable for the ABL's competition and cooperation with the National Basketball League (NBL) during World War II that had first started in the previous season of competition. While the ABL and NBL still operated as rivaling professional basketball leagues for its time, the two leagues would once again agree to prohibit the transfer of players between them without compensation, which was an arrangement intended to address the effects of players leaving professional basketball for military service (though this agreement would exclude the minor Connecticut State Basketball League, which folded operations the previous season1942-1943 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/seasons/1942-1943/ Pro Basketball Encyclopedia1943-1944 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/seasons/1943-1944/ Pro Basketball Encyclopedia).Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 2009 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 114 The ABL also returned to using a longer regular season schedule after the travel restrictions that had limited the number of games played during the previous season were eased up throughout the nation.Flamm 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 began the season with more teams than the NBL for the second consecutive season, though its membership was reduced to four teams after the Brooklyn Indians left the league on January 4, 1944; the former Indians subsequently continued playing as the Brooklyn Eagles for the rest of their season and later appeared in the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament. Wilmington finished the first half of the season with a 12–4 record, placing first in the entire league, but finished the second half with an average 5–5 record in third place behind the Trenton Tigers and Philadelphia SPHAs. Under the league's split season format, the winners of each half-season qualified for the ABL's best-of-seven championship series. Therefore, despite the Trenton Tigers having the second-best overall record for the season, Wilmington advanced to the championship series by having the best record for the first half of the season, while the defending champion Philadelphia SPHAs qualified by winning the second half of the season.Bradley Grasso Robert John Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, pp. 416–417 After taking the opening game on the road, the Bombers fell behind 3–1 in the championship series. However, Wilmington then won the next three games in convincing fashion to defeat the SPHAs 4–3 and win the ABL championship, which would be the second straight championship won by Wilmington in terms of seasons that the team actually played in Wilmington, Delaware properly, regardless of whether the Blue color is added to the Bombers name or not. 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.1943 Wilmington Bombers basketball Statistics en StatsCrew 2026-10-07 2026-10-07 https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-ABLWBO/y-1943 1943–44 Wilmington (Blue) Bombers #003399 #FFFFFF #E00000 #FFFFFF Jake Ahearn G/F 6 3 190 St. John's 1918-01-06 Ben Auerbach G/F 6 1 190 NYU 1919-03-01 Eddie Boyle basketball 1 F/C 6 3 180 Temple 1917-06-15 Paul Chadick 1 G/F 5 11 175 St. Joseph's 1918-05-25 Dan Christie 1 F 6 2 200 Manhattan 1920-11-19 Bobby Dorn 1 C 6 5 200 Temple 1920-06-21 Bob Fitzgerald basketball F/C 6 5 190 Seton Hall 1923-03-14 Moe Frankel 1 G/F 5 10 190 No college 1913-01-25 Ben Goldfaden F 6 1 185 George Washington 1913-09-06 Charley Harris 1 C/F 6 7 210 No college Unknown Charlie Hoefer G 5 9 158 Queens College 1921-09-16 Steve Juenger 1 F/C 6 3 195 Temple 1915-02-10 Ben Kramer F 6 1 195 Long Island University 1913-05-03 Bill McCahan G/F 5 11 200 Duke 1921-06-07 Roger Michaels 1 C/F 6 4 190 No college Unknown Sam Milanovich 1 F/C 6 4 190 Pittsburgh 1918-09-21 Angelo Musi G 5 9 145 Temple 1918-07-25 Porky Rosenthal 1 G/F 6 1 180 No college 1917-10-22 Ed Sadowski basketball C 6 5 240 Seton Hall 1917-07-11 Johnny Salata 1 G/F 6 0 200 No college 1919-10-25 Ben Scharnus F 6 2 173 Seton Hall 1917-12-11 Irv Schneider 1 F/C 6 3 200 Abraham Lincoln HS (NY) 1916-01-11 Barney Sedran Note: The team's official roster for the ABL Championship Series this season would consist of Jake Ahearn, Ben Auerbach, Paul Chadick, Bobby Dorn, Bob Fitzgerald, Moe Frankel, Ben Goldfaden, Charley Harris, Charlie Hoefer, Steve Juenger, Ben Kramer, Angelo Musi, and Ed Sadowski, with Jake Ahearn, Bobby Dorn, and Bob Fitzgerald only being able to be with the team during their championship series run since they didn't play a single game during the regular season period. American Basketball League Standings +First HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Wilmington Bombers124.750New York Americans96.600Trenton Tigers86.571Philadelphia SPHAs410.286Brooklyn IndiansNote1 a a29.182 +Second HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Philadelphia SPHAs84.667Trenton Tigers75.583Wilmington Bombers55.500New York Americans28.200 American Basketball League Championship Series +Championship SeriesThe 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, 260GameDateOpponentScoreRecordGame 1March 4@ Philadelphia Sphas44–311–0Game 2March 5Philadelphia Sphas35–421–1Game 3March 12Philadelphia Sphas44–501–2Game 4March 18@ Philadelphia Sphas51–561–3Game 5March 19Philadelphia Sphas45–383–2Game 6March 25@ Philadelphia Sphas57–363–3Game 7March 26Philadelphia Sphas57–334–3 Notes Note1 a a The Brooklyn Indians would drop out of the ABL by the end of the first half of the season, later rebranding themselves as the Brooklyn Eagles for independent play before the second half of the season officially began (notably playing under that name by the time the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament happened). References Wilmington Bombers Wilmington Bombers Wilmington Category:American Basketball League (1925–1955) championship seasons