1948–49 Sheboygan Red Skins season

NBL professional basketball team season April 2026 Sheboygan Red Skins NBL 1949 35 29 Western 3 Ken Suesens (player-coach) Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory Lost Western Division opening round (Blackhawks), 2–0 The 1948–49 Sheboygan Red Skins season was the Red Skins' eleventh and final year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which would also be the twelfth and final year the NBL itself existed before it ended up being merged with the younger, yet equally rivaling Basketball Association of America professional basketball league. NBL Season Index basketball-reference.com Sports Reference LLC https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/seasons/ October 12, 2019 However, if one were to include their few seasons they played as an independent team under a few various team names involving local businesses like the The Ballhorns (being sponsored by a local florist and funeral parlor), the Art Imigs (being sponsored by a local dry cleaning shop owned and operated by a man named Art Imig with team jerseys saying Art Imig's), and the Enzo Jels (being sponsored by a local gelatin manufacturer known as Enzo-Pac) at various points before becoming the Sheboygan Red Skins due to their promotion up into the NBL, this would officially be their sixteenth overall season of play as well. For the 1948–49 season, the NBL would have only nine total teams playing there due to the defection of the previous NBL champions in the Minneapolis Lakers alongside the Rochester Royals, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who rebranded themselves to just the Fort Wayne Pistons this season), and the Indianapolis Kautskys (who rebranded themselves to the Indianapolis Jets) into the newer rivaling Basketball Association of America; the closure of both the Toledo Jeeps and the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s due to financial issues; and the additions of the Amateur Athletic Union promoted Denver Nuggets (not related to the present-day Denver Nuggets that previously went by the Denver Rockets), the Detroit Vagabond Kings (who folded operations during this season, but were replaced by the Dayton Rens (who were the all-black New York Renaissance team that held Detroit's previous record and standings for this season) for the rest of the season after December 17, 1948), the Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, and the Waterloo Hawks. As such, the Red Skins represented the Western Division for the fifth and final time in the NBL (seventh and final overall time), with the NBL having four teams in the Eastern Division (which includes the merged records of the Detroit Vagabond Kings and the Dayton Rens) and five teams in the Western Division (Sheboygan's division) this season. 1948–49 NBL Season Summary basketball-reference.com Sports Reference LLC https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/seasons/1949.html October 12, 2019 Due to the previous resignation of NBL commissioner Ward Lambert for Sheboygan's head coach in their previous two seasons of play, Doxie Moore (despite him being seen as a disliked figure in certain areas in the NBL, including within Sheboygan), the team's head coaching position would be replaced by Ken Suesens through a player-coach position for this season instead. The Red Skins played their home games at the Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory. Sheboygan Red Skins → 1948–1949 Pro Basketball Encyclopedia https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/team-standings-by-year/?y=1948-1949&t=Sheboygan%20Red%20Skins October 12, 2019 Early on in their season, it looked like Sheboygan would struggle to keep up with the rest of the competition once again, similar to how they had fallen apart by the end of the previous season after letting go of their previous player-coach, Bobby McDermott. However, unlike the previous season, where they faltered their early success to finish with a fifth-place performance in their division, the Red Skins would end up providing various pushes throughout the season (including a notable one near the end of the season, starting with a doubleheader victory they had at home against the newly implemented Dayton Rens on March 13 after previously having multiple games of theirs delayed due to an awful winter snowstorm period during this season and a split finish against the Rens on March 31 to end the season with a 8–2 push) to get them exactly what they needed to qualify for the last NBL Playoffs ever held over the Waterloo Hawks. (While they had a shot at tying with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks during that final night, their loss on that final regular season game they played would ultimately give them a third-place finish for the season instead of a second-place finish.) Because of their failure to overtake first place from their cityside rivals in the Oshkosh All-Stars, the Red Skins would be forced to compete in the Western Division opening round one last time for the final NBL Playoffs ever held, which later led to Sheboygan being swept by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks 2–0 in a best-of-three series, meaning the Red Skins would miss out on having one last chance to compete against the Oshkosh All-Stars in the Western Division Semifinals this season. Following the season's conclusion, former NBL Rookie of the Year winner Mike Todorovich would be named a member of the All-NBL Second Team since he would be a key contributor in helping the Red Skins return to the NBL Playoffs one last time. On August 3, 1949, a merger between the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League (which Sheboygan first played for) was completed to have them become the modern-day National Basketball Association, which saw the Red Skins join the final NBL champion Anderson Duffey Packers (who since rebranded themselves to the Anderson Packers due to the new league not allowing for sponsorships to be a part of any team names), the original Denver Nuggets, the Syracuse Nationals, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and the Waterloo Hawks expansion team as the six NBL teams from that final season joining the newly established league alongside the planned Indianapolis Olympians NBL expansion team. (Interestingly enough, another NBL team in the cityside rivaling Oshkosh All-Stars was intended to join those other teams in being a part of the NBL-BAA merger for the NBA, but due to concerns and second-guessing on that team's intended move to Milwaukee, the All-Stars withdrew their chance to join the NBA alongside Sheboygan and the rest of the surviving teams.) After completing their only season in the NBA, the Sheboygan Red Skins soon joined the Waterloo Hawks, the original Denver Nuggets (who would later rebrand themselves as the Denver Frontier Refiners at first), and the previously withdrawn Anderson Packers (who left the NBA weeks before the other three teams did due to pressure involving other big market teams in places like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia alongside the higher costs involved with the newly-formed NBA being too much for them to bare) the day before the 1950 NBA draft was set to begin on April 24, 1950, to create the short-lived rivaling National Professional Basketball League as a failed effort to survive beyond the NBA (as well as failing in their attempt to revive the Oshkosh All-Stars and their personal rivalry with them by extension). Unlike the other teams that helped create the short-lived NPBL, Sheboygan would end up lasting for one more season afterward as an independent team before folding operations entirely for good. Incidentally, the state of Wisconsin would later have the Tri-Cities Blackhawks move to Milwaukee and then shorten their Blackhawks team name down to just the Hawks in order to play as the Milwaukee Hawks from 1951 until 1955 before later having the Milwaukee Bucks join the NBA in 1968 alongside the Phoenix Suns as expansion teams. Draft picks The Sheboygan Red Skins would participate in the 1948 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1948 BAA draft when plans for a joint draft between the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America ultimately fell out when the defending NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, and Indianapolis Kautskys turned Jets all defected from the NBL to the BAA. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Red Skins' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process. Roster 1948–49 Sheboygan Red Skins #C41E3A #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #C41E3A Bob Bolyard G/F 6 0 182 Toledo 1920–12–04 Bob Brannum F/C 6 5 215 Michigan State 1925–05–28 Paul Cloyd G/F 6 2 180 Wisconsin 1920–06–13 Bobby Cook basketball G/F 5 10 155 Wisconsin 1923–04–01 Ted Cook basketball G 6 0 160 Tennessee 1921–04–15 Les Deaton F/C 6 4 210 Simpson College 1923–09–23 Boody Gilbertson G/F 6 3 205 Washington 1922–07–03 Noble Jorgensen C 6 9 228 Iowa 1925–05–18 Max Morris F/C 6 2 195 Northwestern 1925–03–13 Milt Schoon C 6 7 230 Valparaiso 1922–02–25 Ken Suesens G 6 1 175 Iowa 1916–10–23 Mike Todorovich F/C 6 5 220 Wyoming 1923–06–11 Danny Wagner G 6 0 170 Texas 1922–08–01 Jack Watkins basketball G 6 2 180 Oklahoma 1923–10–27 Ken Suesens https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/SHR/1949.html Note: Ted Cook, Les Deaton, Ken Suesens, Mike Todorovich, and Jack Watkins were not on the playoff roster for this season.Peach Basket Society: 1948-49 Sheboygan Redskins (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/06/1948-49-sheboygan-redskins-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 22 June 20161948-49 Sheboygan Red Skins basketball Statistics on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/stats/t-SHE/y-1948 StatsCrew.com 26 March 2026 Regular season Season standings NBL Schedule Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Fort Wayne's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Sheboygan Red Skins during their eleventh and final season in the NBL before moving on into the NBA for their following season of play. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 4 Denver 67–52 1–0 2 November 6 @ Tri-Cities 64–63 2–0 3 November 7 @ Waterloo 61–64 2–1 4 November 10 Hammond 57–63 2–2 5 November 11 Tri-Cities 48–56 2–3 6 November 12 N Oshkosh 61–59 3–3 7 November 14 @ Syracuse 45–53 3–4 8 November 16 @ Detroit 64–57 4–4 9 November 18 Hammond 51–57 4–5 10 November 20 @ Oshkosh 41–67 4–6 11 November 21 @ Hammond 50–49 5–6 12 November 22 @ Anderson 69–67 6–6 13 November 25 Syracuse 63–65 6–7 14 November 28 @ Denver 53–58 6–8 15 November 29 @ Denver 62–58 7–8 16 December 2 Hammond 63–47 8–8 17 December 9 Denver 52–45 9–8 18 December 11 @ Detroit 80–65 10–8 19 December 12 @ Syracuse 65–77 10–9 20 December 13 @ Anderson 59–68 10–10 21 December 16 Syracuse 67–46 11–10 22 December 19 @ Hammond 75–73 12–10 23 December 23 Waterloo 77–56 13–10 24 December 26 Oshkosh 60–42 14–10 25 December 27 @ Anderson 53–72 14–11 26 January 1 Tri-Cities 64–51 15–11 27 January 2 @ Tri-Cities 54–68 15–12 28 January 5 Waterloo 43–52 15–13 29 January 6 Waterloo 54–51 16–13 30 January 9 @ Syracuse 57–65 16–14 31 January 10 @ Anderson 51–66 16–15 32 January 13 Anderson 54–69 16–16 33 January 16 Oshkosh 67–63 17–16 34 January 17 N Syracuse 66–75 17–17 35 January 20 Hammond 64–54 18–17 36 January 23 Tri-Cities 66–60 19–17 37 January 27 Anderson 63–57 20–17 38 January 29 @ Oshkosh 63–68 20–18 39 January 30 @ Waterloo 46–60 21–19 40 February 3 Oshkosh 61–73 21–20 41 February 6 Anderson 72–71 21–20 42 February 10 Waterloo 78–63 22–20 43 February 13 @ Waterloo 55–54 23–20 44 February 16 @ Hammond 72–69 (OT) 24–20 45 February 17 Hammond 75–73 25–20 46 February 20 Dayton 59–61 25–21 47 February 22 @ Denver 80–82 (2OT) 25–22 48 February 24 @ Denver 62–69 25–23 49 February 27 Oshkosh 70–64 26–23 50 March 3 Waterloo 63–57 27–23 51 March 5 @ Oshkosh 53–64 27–24 52 March 6 @ Tri-Cities 63–80 27–25 53 March 10 Anderson 72–76 27–26 54 March 12 @ Tri-Cities 66–68 27–27 55 March 13(Game 1) Dayton 67–52 28–27 56 March 13(Game 2) Dayton 52–50 29–27 57 March 17 Tri-Cities 69–61 30–27 58 March 20 Denver 55–40 31–27 59 March 23 N Dayton 60–55 32–27 60 March 24 @ Syracuse 73–79 32–28 61 March 27 Denver 60–53 33–28 62 March 30 Syracuse 91–66 34–28 63 March 31(Game 1) Dayton 68–62 35–28 64 March 31(Game 2) Dayton 54–61 35–29 NBL Playoffs NBL Western Division Opening Round (3W) Sheboygan Red Skins vs. (2W) Tri-Cities Blackhawks: Tri-Cities win series 2–0 Game 1: April 2, 1949 @ Moline, Illinois (Tri-Cities): Tri-Cities 75, Sheboygan 60 Game 2: April 3, 1949 @ Sheboygan: Tri-Cities 59, Sheboygan 51 Awards and honors Second Team All-NBL – Mike Todorovich All-Time NBL Team – Mike Todorovichhttp://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site www.geocities.com October 25, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20050311095835/http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html March 11, 2005 dead References Category:Sheboygan Red Skins seasons Sheboygan Sheboygan Red Skins Sheboygan Red Skins