1945 World Professional Basketball Tournament

August 2023 World Professional Basketball Tournament 1945 Chicago, Illinois 19 March 24 March 14 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons Dayton Acmes Chicago American Gears Buddy Jeannette 1944 1946 The 1945 World Professional Basketball Tournament was the seventh edition of the World Professional Basketball Tournament. It was held in Chicago, Illinois, during the days of 19–24 March 1945 and featured 14 teams, with the teams being a mixture of independently run teams and teams from the National Basketball League, with this year's tournament primarily holding independent teams. Entering this year's tournament, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons were seen as the heavy favorites of the tournament by looking to repeat as champions of both the NBL and the WPBT, with fans also looking to cheer on the Chicago American Gears as a local team in the event as well. However, while the American Gears were able to upset the Harlem Globetrotters 53–49, Chicago itself was upset by the independently run Dayton Acmes (which was composed of servicemen players stationed at Wright Field) with an 80–51 blowout win by Dayton. Despite the upsets, however, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would end up being repeat champions for both the WPBT and the NBL (being one of only three professional teams to win multiple championships during the same season throughout the 1940s and the only team to become repeat champions in both the NBL and WPBT) by beating the Dayton Acmes 78–52 in the championship game. The Chicago American Gears came in third after beating the New York Renaissance 64–55 in the third-place game.Maurice Shevlin Zollners beat Dayton, 78-52, for Pro Crown https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99148536/ 5 April 2022 Chicago Tribune 25 March 1945 27 Newspapers.com Buddy Jeannette of the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, being the first player in the tournament's history to have multiple MVP honors in the tournament after previously being named the MVP of the 1941 tournament while with the Detroit Eagles and the third straight player from the Zollner Pistons to be named the MVP of the WPBT.Zollners seek cage opponents https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99147043/ 5 April 2022 The Spokesman-Review 26 March 1945 3 Newspapers.com Results Bracket y y no 1/1/1/1 Round 1 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Third place Oshkosh All-Stars 60 Detroit Mansfields 56 New York Renaissance 67 Indianapolis Oilers 59 Pittsburgh Raiders 53 Newark C-O Twos 50 Dayton Acmes 27 Long Island Grumman Hellcats 43 Chicago American Gears 58 Hartford Nutmegs 47 Midland Dow Chemicals 61 Cleveland Allmen Transfers 46 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 63 Oshkosh All-Stars 52 New York Renaissance 61 Pittsburgh Raiders 52 Harlem Globetrotters 49 Chicago American Gears 53 Dayton Acmes 52 Midland Dow Chemicals 50 Fort Wayne Zollner PistonsZollners to meet Acmes for Crown https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99146765/ 5 April 2022 The Sheboygan Press 24 March 1945 11 Newspapers.com 68 New York Renaissance 45 Chicago American Gears 51 Dayton Acmes 80 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 78 Dayton Acmes 52 New York Renaissance 55 Chicago American Gears 64 Third place game #e3e3e3 24 March 1945 Box score Chicago American Gears 64 New York Renaissance 55 14–21 16–12 16–11 18–11Gears defeat Rens, 64-55 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99148048/ 5 April 2022 The Daily Oklahoman 25 March 1945 21 Newspapers.com P. Brookfield – 15 P. Bell, Z. Clayton – 17 Chicago Stadium Dutch Kriznecky, Steve Barak Championship game #e3e3e3 24 March 1945 Box score Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 78 Dayton Acmes 52 40–26 38–26 B. Jeannette – 18 J. Mahnken – 16 Chicago Stadium 15,119 Nat Messenger, Art Mansfield Individual awards Bruce Hale of the independently ran Dayton Acmes led this tournament in scoring with 77 points scored in four games played.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 217 All-Tournament First Team F - Bruce Hale, Dayton Acmes F - Buddy Jeannette, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (MVP) C - John Mahnken, Dayton Acmes G - Bobby McDermott, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons G - Dick Triptow, Chicago American Gears All-Tournament Second Team F - Chick Reiser, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons F - Ray Patterson, Midland Dow Chemicals C - Jake Pelkington, Midland Dow Chemicals G - Jerry Bush, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons G - Mel Riebe, Cleveland Allmen Transfers G - Puggy Bell, New York Renaissance See also 1944–45 National Basketball League (United States) season, a professional basketball season featuring five out of six teams there, including the two-time NBL (and eventual WPBT) champions in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons References External links WPBT 1939-48 on apbr.org 1944-45 WPBT Tournament Overview on retroseasons.com WORLD BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: 1944-1945 on Pro Basketball Encyclopedia Category:World Professional Basketball Tournament