1946–47 Oshkosh All-Stars season

NBL professional basketball team season April 2026 Oshkosh All-Stars NBL 1947 yes 28 16 Western 1 Lon Darling Lon Darling Lon Darling South Park School Gymnasium Lost Western Division Semifinals to Chicago American Gears, 2–0Lost WPBT third place match 86–67 to Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons The 1946–47 Oshkosh All-Stars season was the All-Stars' tenth year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which was also the tenth year the league existed. NBL Season Index basketball-reference.com Sports Reference LLC https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/seasons/ October 1, 2019 However, if one were to include the independent seasons they played starting all the way back in 1929 before beginning their NBL tenure in 1937, this would officially be their seventeenth season of play. This season saw the NBL hold the most teams in league history since the NBL's inaugural season of existence, with twelve total teams being held through five additional teams being added (the Anderson Duffey Packers, the Buffalo Bisons later turned Tri-Cities Blackhawks, the Detroit Gems, the Syracuse Nationals, and the Toledo Jeeps) in exchange for the Cleveland Allmen Transfers leaving the NBL entirely for good, with three of these five new teams still existing (albeit under different team names) to this very day in a different professional basketball league altogether. As such, Oshkosh would compete in the Western Division once again, with six teams representing the Eastern Division and six teams (including Oshkosh) representing the Western Division. 1946–47 NBL Season Summary basketball-reference.com Sports Reference LLC https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/seasons/1947.html October 1, 2019 The All-Stars played their home games at the South Park School Gymnasium in the South Park Middle School within the Oshkosh Area School District, which would be the first known season where it would become an immediate problem for the team since this season was also the first season where they hosted multiple neutral-area games within the state of Wisconsin via places like Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Rapids, and De Pere, with more Wisconsin cities being added for them to play in by later seasons. Oshkosh All-Stars → 1946–1947 Pro Basketball Encyclopedia https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/oshkosh-all-stars-10 October 1, 2019 At the start of the season, Oshkosh was not considered a frontrunner in the Western Division. The Anderson Duffey Packers and Indianapolis Kautskys were seen as contenders for the top spot. However, the performance of both Indiana-based teams allowed Oshkosh to have a realistic shot at winning the Western Division. While the All-Stars performance did not demonstrate consistent leadership throughout the season (notably around the middle of the season when they were 12–8 and then at 17–13), a late season push where they finished the season with an 11–3 conclusion gave Oshkosh just enough of a lead in their season to finish first in the Western Division with 28–16. This was the first time they became division champions since 1942 when the NBL technically abandoned the divisional formatting entirely for regular season championships and the sixth overall time the All-Stars were named divisional/regular season champions. This would lead to Oshkosh having yet another opening round playoff series against their cityside rivals in the Sheboygan Red Skins (who were also close to them in the playoff competition, but not quite close enough to take first place from them due to them tying the Chicago American Gears instead) one last time, with the All-Stars still technically not obtaining home court advantage due to some tiebreaker rules that went down. Luckily for Oshkosh, the home court advantage led to a reverse sweep through the Red Skins winning the two games played in Oshkosh and the All-Stars winning the three games played in Sheboygan. However, their playoff luck could not continue when they met up with the now-clicking Chicago American Gears (who got star players George Mikan and player-coach Bobby McDermott to finally click together after dealing with early issues in their season from within the team), as Oshkosh would be swept by the eventual champions 2–0 in the Western Division Semifinals. Despite not being able to get the championship for the NBL Playoffs this season (which was the only championship they would have been considered for this season by the NBL's commissioner, Ward Lambert, since he only considered the regular season champions (the Rochester Royals) to be the official champions that season, which was the only time such a ruling happened in the NBLNelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, pp. 174–175), Lon Darling would be named the NBL Coach of the Year once again for his work on getting the All-Stars back to being Western Division champions, with Bob Carpenter being named a member of the All-NBL Second Team to go with it. In addition to the NBL Playoffs, the Oshkosh All-Stars also competed in the 1947 World Professional Basketball Tournament, which later became the last time they would ever participate in the WPBT during its entire history. For some odd reason, despite them having very good history in the WPBT as well having a better record in the Western Division for the NBL this season than the Indianapolis Kautskys, it would be Indianapolis that would be given a first round bye alongside the three-time defending WPBT champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons instead of Oshkosh for some odd reason. With that being said, regardless of why the Kautskys got the first round bye over the All-Stars this time around, Oshkosh would still end up doing well early on against both the Herkimer Mohawk Redskins (who would not be related to the Sheboygan Red Skins whatsoever) and the Sheboygan Red Skins during the first two rounds of the event. However, when the All-Stars finally got to compete against the Indianapolis Kautskys in the semifinal round, it would be Indianapolis (a team that had never won in the WPBT before this particular event began) that would end up blowing out Oshkosh instead of it being the other way around for what would later become the Kautskys' Cinderella championship run in that tournament. Not only that, but the All-Stars would end up losing their third place consolation prize match to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (the team that previously beat them in the 1946 WPBT championship series round) in a similar blowout manner, thus ending Oshkosh's WPBT history with a whimper. Draft picks Entering this season, the National Basketball League would utilize their own draft system that would be considered similar to what the NFL has done for the NFL draft. As such, the 1946 NBL draft would be considered the first ever professional basketball draft ever done, even before the 1947 BAA draft that was done by the soon to be rivaling Basketball Association of America. Because of that fact, the Oshkosh All-Stars would participate in the inaugural 1946 NBL draft, which had occurred sometime during the 1946–47 season's offseason period before that season officially began for the NBL. However, as of 2026, no records of what the All-Stars' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been for Oshkosh being lost to time in the process. Roster 1946–47 Oshkosh All-Stars #CC0000 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #CC0000 Bob Carpenter basketball F/C 6 5 200 Texas A&M-Commerce 1917–11–06 Leroy Edwards C 6 5 210 Kentucky 1914–04–11 Gene Englund F/C 6 5 205 Wisconsin 1917–10–21 Ken Exel G 6 1 178 Minnesota 1920–09–12 Ted Fritsch G 5 10 210 UW–Stevens Point 1920–10–31 Bob Kramer basketball G/F 6 3 185 Hammond Tech HS (IN) 1922–04–23 Jack Maddox F 6 3 185 West Texas State 1919–12–10 Bill McDonald basketball G/F 6 3 190 Marquette 1916–11–05 Billy Reed baseball G/F 5 11 185 Shawano HS (WI) 1922–11–12 Eddie Riska G/F 6 0 175 Notre Dame 1919–10–04 Don Smith basketball, born 1920 G/F 6 2 190 Minnesota 1920–07–27 Bob Sullivan basketball G/F 6 0 180 Wisconsin 1921–07–01 Ralph Vaughn G/F 6 1 175 USC 1918–02–12 Clint Wager C 6 6 210 St. Mary's (MN) 1920–01–20 Lon Darling https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/OAS/1947.html Note: Ken Exel, Bob Kramer, Billy Reed, and Don Smith were not a part of the playoff roster for this season.OSHKOSH All-STARS https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/oshkosh-all-stars-10 Pro Basketball EncyclopediaPeach Basket Society: 1946-47 Oshkosh All-Stars (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/03/1946-47-oshkosh-all-stars-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 5 March 20161946-47 Oshkosh All-Stars basketball Statistics on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/stats/t-OSH/y-1946 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 Oshkosh All-Stars during their tenth season in the NBL. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 9 Chicago 66–61 1–0 2 November 12 @ Indianapolis 47–51 1–1 3 November 16 Sheboygan 55–49 2–1 4 November 23 Anderson 64–66 2–2 5 November 30 Detroit 63–53 3–2 6 December 7 Syracuse 74–43 4–2 7 December 9 N Buffalo 67–57 5–2 8 December 10 N Toledo 71–48 6–2 9 December 11 @ Chicago 44–41 7–2 10 December 14 Fort Wayne 71–50 8–2 11 December 15 @ Fort Wayne 60–77 8–3 12 December 16 @ Anderson 64–66 8–4 13 December 21 Rochester 63–58 9–4 14 December 28 Toledo 61–59 10–4 15 January 2 @ Youngstown 48–54 (OT) 10–5 16 January 4 Indianapolis 45–38 11–5 17 January 9 @ Sheboygan 52–54 11–6 18 January 11 Youngstown 62–55 12–6 — January 13 @ BuffaloBuffalo Bisons https://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/AtlantaHawks/History/Buffalo/index.html nbahoopsonline.com Cancelled 19 January 14 @ Rochester 58–73 12–7 20 January 16 @ Syracuse 49–67 12–8 21 January 18 Chicago 55–38 13–8 22 January 22 @ Fort Wayne 57–50 14–8 23 January 24 @ Indianapolis 33–59 14–9 24 January 25 Detroit 69–55 15–9 25 January 27 N Detroit 71–58 16–9 26 February 1 Syracuse 46–50 16–10 27 February 2 @ Sheboygan 58–67 16–11 28 February 6 @ Syracuse 53–54 16–12 29 February 8 Sheboygan 53–51 (OT) 17–12 30 February 11 @ Tri-Cities 47–53 17–13 — February 12 @ Buffalo Cancelled 31 February 13 @ Youngstown 54–50 18–13 32 February 15 Toledo 59–50 19–13 33 February 19 Rochester 60–53 20–13 34 February 20 @ Anderson 61–60 21–13 35 February 22 @ Indianapolis 54–59 21–14 36 February 23 @ Chicago 54–52 22–14 37 February 26 Fort Wayne 57–55 23–14 38 March 1 Youngstown 71–55 24–14 39 March 3 @ Tri-Cities 46–41 25–14 40 March 5 N Detroit 70–49 26–14 41 March 8 Tri-Cities 54–40 27–14 42 March 11 @ Rochester 68–76 27–15 43 March 13 @ Toledo 65–85 27–16 44 March 15 Anderson 55–52 28–16 NBL Playoffs NBL Western Division Opening Round (1W) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (3/4W) Sheboygan Red Skins: Oshkosh wins series 3–2 Game 1: March 18, 1947 @ Oshkosh: Sheboygan 54, Oshkosh 48Bradley Grasso Robert John Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia 2003 SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. 1-894963-01-6, p. 423 Game 2: March 19, 1947 @ Oshkosh: Sheboygan 40, Oshkosh 35 Game 3: March 20, 1947 @ Sheboygan: Oshkosh 53, Sheboygan 44 Game 4: March 21, 1947 @ Sheboygan: Oshkosh 53, Sheboygan 45 Game 5: March 22, 1947 @ Sheboygan: Oshkosh 49, Sheboygan 47 NBL Western Division Semifinals (1W) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (3/4W) Chicago American Gears: Chicago wins series 2–0 Game 1: March 27, 1947 @ Chicago: Chicago 60, Oshkosh 54 Game 2: March 29, 1947 @ Oshkosh: Chicago 61, Oshkosh 60 Awards and honors NBL Coach of the Year – Lon Darling Second Team All-NBL – Bob Carpenter NBL All-Time Team – Bob Carpenter, Leroy Edwards, and Gene Englundhttp://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html https://web.archive.org/web/20050818001517/http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Arena/6925/nbl.html 2005-08-18 Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site World Professional Basketball Tournament For the ninth straight year in a row (and what later turned out to be their final year ever), the Oshkosh All-Stars would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which the 1947 event was held on April 7–11, 1947 and was mostly held by a mixture of NBL and independently ran teams alongside the defending champions from the rivaling American Basketball League in the Baltimore Bullets and the Portland Indians from the short-lived Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. In the first round, Oshkosh would have a close match with the Herkimer Mohawk Redskins (who would not be related in any way with the Sheboygan Red Skins) before ultimately winning with a 60–54 final score. In the quarterfinal round, the All-Stars would have a Western Division opening round rematch with their cityside rivals in the Sheboygan Red Skins, with this being their second match against each other in the WPBT's history after previously competing against each other in the semifinal round of the inaugural WPBT held back in 1939. Unlike the previous WPBT match Oshkosh had played against Sheboygan, which had been a blowout, the two teams would manage to be competitive against each other throughout most of the match, though the All-Stars would eliminate the Red Skins once again in a competitive tournament setting, this time defeating them with a 53–44 victory. After that match, Oshkosh would go up against the Indianapolis Kautskys, a team that had previously never won a game in the WPBT before this particular event occurred when they beat the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in the quarterfinal round after weirdly being given a first round bye alongside the three-time defending WPBT champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons over the Oshkosh All-Stars for some odd reason despite neither having great history there nor having a better NBL record this season. While the All-Stars had looked to live up to their name and showcase why they should have earned the first round bye over Indianapolis, it would be the Kautskys that would be more experienced and prepared this time around instead of Oshkosh, as they would end up being blown out in an upsetting 38–59 defeat to have Indianapolis qualify for the championship round while the All-Stars had to manage with a potential consolation third-place finish. Finally, with the third place consolation prize game, Oshkosh would see an interesting surprise occur when they got to see the three-time defending WPBT champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who they had likely hoped to have meet up again in the championship round for a rematch of 1946's series) get showcased as their opponent after the Zollner Pistons were surprisingly eliminated by another Cinderella team of sorts in this event in the Toledo Jeeps (who ultimately ended up losing to the Indianapolis Kautskys in the championship round, though they weirdly got the WPBT MVP this time around in player-coach Jule Rivlin). While this rematch would return to a single game elimination format this time around after previously using a best-of-three series the previous year (which likely robbed the All-Stars of getting their second WPBT championship), they would end up being blown out by Fort Wayne in what would turn out to be their final game played in the WPBT's history with a massive 67–86 defeat spelling an official end to their tenure in the WPBT.https://www.newspapers.com/clip/99117085/ Despite Oshkosh going as far as the third place consolation prize round this time around, none of the All-Stars' players would surprisingly be named a member of the All-Tournament Team this time around.World Professional Basketball Tournament - 1946-47 WPBT Tournament Overview https://www.retroseasons.com/leagues/wpbt/1947/overview RetroSeasons 21 March 2023 Games Won first round (60–54) over Herkimer Mohawk Redskins Won quarterfinal round (53–44) over Sheboygan Red Skins Lost semifinal round (38–59) to Indianapolis Kautskys Lost third place consolation prize game (67–86) to Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons References Category:Oshkosh All-Stars seasons Oshkosh Oshkosh All-Stars Oshkosh All-Stars