1933–34 Philadelphia Sphas season

American basketball team season January 2025 Philadelphia Sphas / Hebrews Philadelphia Sphas American Basketball League(revived original) 1934 29 12 3rd (1st half), 1st (2nd half) Eddie Gottlieb Eddie Gottlieb Eddie Gottlieb Broadwood Hotel ABL Champions (Won 4–2 over Trenton Moose) yes Philadelphia Sphas Philadelphia Sphas / Hebrews The Philadelphia Sphas were an early, historical example of an American professional basketball team. The 1933–34 season was the very first season played in the now-revived American Basketball League by the Sphas, although they did play in the original rendition of the ABL from 1926 to 1928 as the Philadelphia Warriors, which had no relation to the later BAA franchise of the same name that now exists in the present day as the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. As such, when including the past history of the original ABL with the revived version of the ABL in 1933 following historical problems that related to the Great Depression near the end of 1931, this would technically be the seventh official season played by the original ABL properly, though this would officially be the 17th season of play for the Sphas franchise when including previous seasons where they played under names like the "Philadelphia YMHA"; the "Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black", the "Philadelphia Warriors"; and most recently, the "Philadelphia Hebrews". Background The Sphas played in leagues around Philadelphia since 1917, but game-by-game records before the Sphas rejoined the ABL in 1933 are not (currently) available (at least, not to the general public if official game records did exist for the Sphas) and are therefore likely lost to time itself (though it's likely games involving the original Philadelphia Warriors in the original rendition of the ABL might be found for the general public to view someday).The 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, 247–248 Starting with this season until their final season played in the revived version of the ABL, the Sphas would compete in a league where instead of two halves of 20 minutes or four quarters of around 10-12 (maybe going up to 15?) minutes played (excluding overtime matches), matches would be held under three 15-minute periods (excluding overtime matches) in a manner somewhat similar to what the National Hockey League would operate their league under. After finishing the second half of the season with a perfect 14–0 record (which would unofficially add onto their previous 15–12 record in the first half of the season), the Sphas later won the revived ABL's first ever championship under its new revival with a 4–2 series victory over the Trenton Moose (who previously won the first place tiebreaker for the first half of the season over the Brooklyn Jewels). The Sphas' championship series victory over Trenton in the ABL would technically end up avenging the previous season's championship series loss to the Trenton Moose back when they both originally competed in the Eastern Basketball League during that prior season of play (with the Trenton Moose later folding operations following this season's conclusion). The Sphas were also referred to as the Philadelphia Hebrews in league records during this period of time, with the Hebrews name continuing to be utilized until 1937 due in part to the concerning rise of antisemitism within the U.S.A., if not certain parts of the world as well at the time. Roster 1933–34 Philadelphia Sphas / Hebrews #4070C0 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #CC0000 Ed Beron 1 F/C 6 2 180 Temple 1910–12–14 Gil Fitch 1 G/F 6 0 175 Temple 1909–12–24 Lou Forman 1 F/C 6 2 160 Dickinson 1906–08–05 Moe Goldman 1 F/C 6 3 175 CCNY 1913–05–30 Shikey Gotthoffer 1 G/F 6 0 195 NYU 1911–01–01 Cy Kaselman 1 G 5 10 165 Temple 1909–05–01 Inky Lautman 1 F/C 6 2 205 Central HS (PA) 1914–05–22 Harry Litwack G 5 7 170 Temple 1907–09–20 Red Wolfe basketball G 5 11 165 St. John's 1905–07–18 Eddie Gottlieb Note: The official championship series roster for the Philadelphia Sphas (alternatively known as the Philadelphia Hebrews during this period of time) would not include Ed Beron or Harry Litwack for this season.1933 Philadelphia SPHAs basketball Statistics en StatsCrew 2026-10-14 2026-10-14 https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-ABLSPH/y-1933PHILADELPHIA SPHAS - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia en-US Pro Basketball Encyclopedia 2014-05-29 2026-10-14 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/season/philadelphia-sphas-18/1933-34 Philadelphia SPHA's (ABL) en peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com Mike Wilk 2026-10-14 https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2018/01/1933-34-philadelphia-sphas-abl.html ABL Standings +First HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Trenton Moose226.786Brooklyn Jewels226.786Philadelphia SPHAs / Hebrews1512.556Brooklyn Visitations1212.500Bronx Americans1015.400Union City Reds1018.357Newark Bears917.346Hoboken Thourots/Camden Brewers/New Britain PalacesNote1 a a519.208 +Second HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Philadelphia SPHAs / Hebrews1401.000New Britain PalacesNote1 a a75.583Brooklyn Jewels44.500Trenton Moose67.462Newark Bears45.444Union City Reds47.364Bronx Americans26.250Brooklyn Visitations18.111 ABL Schedule +First Half#DateOpponentScoreRecord 1ANovember 18Hoboken ThourotsNote1 a a34–201–02ANovember 25Union City Reds38–411–13ANovember 26@ Bronx Americans34–232–14ADecember 2Brooklyn Jewels26–362–25ADecember 3@ Brooklyn Visitations30–153–26ADecember 9Trenton Moose22–283–37ADecember 10(Game 1)@ Union City Reds36–334–38ADecember 10(Game 2)@ Brooklyn Jewels25–274–49ADecember 16Brooklyn Visitations31–265–410ADecember 19@ Newark Bears 29–345–511ADecember 23Newark Bears38–296–512ADecember 25@ Trenton Moose32–386–613ADecember 30Bronx Americans42–217–614ADecember 31@ Camden BrewersNote1 a a42–328–615AJanuary 6Camden BrewersNote1 a a26–229–616AJanuary 7@ Brooklyn Jewels34–2010–617AJanuary 13Union City Reds50–4311–618AJanuary 14@ Brooklyn Visitations21–2611–719AJanuary 20Newark Bears40–2812–720AJanuary 21@ Union City Reds30–3312–821AJanuary 27Trenton Moose36–2513–822AJanuary 28@ Bronx Americans30–3113–923AFebruary 3Brooklyn Visitations30–2814–924AFebruary 10Brooklyn Jewels23–2914–1025AFebruary 17Bronx Americans45–4115–1026AFebruary 18@ Newark Bears31–4915–1127AFebruary 19@ Trenton Moose26–3615–12 +Second Half#DateOpponentScoreRecord1BFebruary 24Newark Bears49–421–02BMarch 3Bronx Americans69–352–03BMarch 4@ Brooklyn Jewels30–243–04BMarch 10Brooklyn Visitations41–364–05BMarch 11@ Newark Bears 38–265–06BMarch 17Trenton Moose39–336–07BMarch 18@ Brooklyn Visitations21–177–08BMarch 20New Britain PalacesNote1 a a39–258–09BMarch 23@ Trenton Moose38–359–010BMarch 24Union City Reds47–3810–011BMarch 25@ Bronx Americans40–2411–012BMarch 31Brooklyn Jewels42–1912–013BApril 1@ Union City Reds48–4113–014BApril 4@ New Britain PalacesNote1 a a27–2514–0 +ABL Championship SeriesGameDateOpponentScoreRecordGame 1April 6@ Trenton Moose28–211–0Game 2April 7Trenton Moose21–351–1Game 3April 13@ Trenton Moose32–202–1Game 4April 14Trenton Moose29–322–2Game 5April 15Trenton MooseNote2 b b32–223–2Game 6April 21Trenton Moose40–344–2 Notes Note1 a a The Hoboken Thourots became the Camden Brewers after losing their first 4 games of the season by November 23, 1933, then became the New Britain Palaces by January 10, 1934 after Camden won only two out of their next eight games, with New Britain entering the first half of the season with a 2–12 record afterward. Note2 b b Game was played in Brooklyn. References Philadelphia Sphas Philadelphia Sphas Philadelphia Category:American Basketball League (1925–1955) championship seasons Category:Philadelphia Sphas seasons