1944–45 Sheboygan Red Skins season

NBL professional basketball team season Sheboygan Red Skins NBL 1945 yes 19 11 Western 1 Dutch Dehnert Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory Lost NBL Championship to Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, 3–2 The 1944–45 Sheboygan Red Skins season was the Red Skins' seventh year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which would also be the eighth year the NBL itself existed. 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 twelfth overall season of play as well. Entering this season, the NBL would see themselves increase the number of teams for the first time since the 1941–42 season (before the U.S.A. entered World War II), with the additions of the Chicago American Gears and the Pittsburgh Raiders (who would turn out to be a rebranded return of the original Pittsburgh Pirates NBL team), as well as the rebranding of the Cleveland Chase Brassmen to the Cleveland Allmen Transfers giving the NBL a total of six teams for the 1944–45 season. As a result of this, the NBL decided to bring back divisions for the first time since the 1940–41 season (despite them having a lower number of teams this season when compared to that season and the following season afterward), with the Red Skins returning to the Western Division and the NBL comprising three teams in each of the Eastern Division and the Western Division (Sheboygan's division). 1944–45 NBL Season Summary basketball-reference.com Sports Reference LLC https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/seasons/1945.html October 12, 2019 The Red Skins played their home games at the Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory. Sheboygan Red Skins → 1944–1945 Pro Basketball Encyclopedia https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/team-standings-by-year/?y=1944-1945&t=Sheboygan%20Red%20Skins October 12, 2019 Sheboygan would start their season with an up and down November and December to get a 6–4 record to end the 1944 year as the second place team in the revived Western Division. However, by January 1945, Sheboygan would overtake Oshkosh and Chicago to gain first place in their division with a 13–6 record, with the Red Skins later ending the season with a first place Western Division championship by getting a 19–11 record to end the regular season in February. For the fourth time ever in franchise history (1941 & 1943–1944) and the third straight year in a row, the Red Skins advanced to the NBL Championship, with Sheboygan beating the newly created Chicago American Gears 2–1 in what would officially be known as the Western Division Playoff once again as opposed to just the NBL Semifinals. They then went on to the 1945 NBL Championship match-up, which was their second straight rematch against the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, with Sheboygan winning their first two matches in that rematch before Fort Wayne completed a reverse sweep (which was the second and final time it happened in the NBL Championship series) on Sheboygan, winning the rematch in a best-of-five series, this time reverse sweeping them 3–2 after Sheboygan first led this championship series 2–0. However, Game 5 of that game would involve some personal tragedy for new head coach Dutch Dehnert, who lost his son, John Dehnert Jr., due to him being killed in action while in Nazi Germany, which led to Dutch being in New York and missing out on the final championship game in the process.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 139Dehnert, Henry John, Jr. - Columbia University Libraries https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/cuarchives/warmemorial/world-war-ii/dehnert-henry-john-jr.html library.columbia.edu 26 March 2026https://www.newspapers.com/image/239957823 Despite their success this season, only Ed Dancker would earn All-NBL honors by the end of this season by being named a member of the All-NBL Second Team. Roster 1944–45 Sheboygan Red Skins #C41E3A #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #C41E3A Ed Dancker C 6 7 200 South Division HS (WI) 1914–03–14 Bill Durkin G 6 1 160 Loyola Chicago 1922–04–22 Bobby Holm G 6 0 200 Seton Hall 1919–01–22 Tony Kelly basketball G 6 1 165 DePaul 1919–02–18 Rube Lautenschlager G/F 6 2 190 UW–Oshkosh 1915–09–07 Al Lucas basketball G/F 6 3 195 Fordham 1922–07–04 Al Moschetti G/F 6 1 180 St. John's 1920–01–01 Mike Novak C/F 6 9 219 Loyola Chicago 1915–04–23 Johnny Posewitz G 6 0 185 Sheboygan HS (WI)? 1906–08–09 Dick Schulz G/F 6 2 192 Wisconsin 1917–01–03 Hal Tidrick G/F 6 1 190 Washington & Jefferson 1915–08–04 Dutch Dehnert https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/SHR/1945.html Note: Bill Durkin, Johnny Posewitz, and Hal Tidrick were not on this season's playoff roster.Peach Basket Society: 1944-45 Sheboygan Redskins (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/01/1944-45-sheboygan-redskins-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 14 January 20161944-45 Sheboygan Red Skins basketball Statistics on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/stats/t-SHE/y-1944 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 seventh season in the NBL. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 30 Pittsburgh 44–41 1–0 2 December 3 Chicago 50–28 2–0 3 December 7 Fort Wayne 49–55 2–1 4 December 12 @ Fort Wayne 45–47 2–2 5 December 17 Cleveland 47–45 (OT) 3–2 6 December 19 @ Cleveland 55–44 4–2 7 December 20 @ Pittsburgh 47–49 4–3 8 December 23 @ Oshkosh 45–53 4–4 9 December 28 Oshkosh 43–37 5–4 10 December 31 Pittsburgh 62–36 6–4 11 January 2 @ Fort Wayne 39–54 6–5 12 January 3 @ Cleveland 76–57 7–5 13 January 4 @ Pittsburgh 48–37 8–5 14 January 7 Fort Wayne 54–55 (OT) 8–6 15 January 10 @ Chicago 46–45 9–6 16 January 11 Chicago 52–48 10–6 17 January 18 Oshkosh 41–36 11–6 18 January 20 @ Oshkosh 44–41 12–6 19 January 25 Cleveland 50–37 13–6 20 February 1 Pittsburgh 49–46 14–6 21 February 4 Cleveland 42–48 14–7 22 February 7 @ Chicago 38–53 14–8 23 February 8 Chicago 53–43 15–8 24 February 15 Fort Wayne 70–53 16–8 25 February 18 @ Fort Wayne 52–64 16–9 26 February 19 @ Cleveland 41–51 16–10 27 February 21 @ Pittsburgh 62–47 17–10 28 February 24 @ Oshkosh 44–48 17–11 29 February 25 Oshkosh 49–42 18–11 30 February 28 @ Chicago 58–39 19–11 NBL Playoffs NBL Western Division Playoff (1W) Sheboygan Red Skins vs. (2W) Chicago American Gears: Sheboygan wins series 2–1 Game 1: March 5, 1945 @ Sheboygan: Chicago 50, Sheboygan 49 Game 2: March 7, 1945 @ Chicago: Sheboygan 49, Chicago 36 Game 3: March 9, 1945 @ Sheboygan: Sheboygan 57, Chicago 27 NBL Championship (1W) Sheboygan Red Skins vs. (1E) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons: Fort Wayne wins series 3–2 Game 1: March 11, 1945 @ Fort Wayne: Sheboygan 65, Fort Wayne 53 Game 2: March 12, 1945 @ Sheboygan: Sheboygan 50, Fort Wayne 47 Game 3: March 15, 1945 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 58, Sheboygan 47 Game 4: March 16, 1945 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 58, Sheboygan 41 Game 5: March 18, 1945 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 59, Sheboygan 49 Awards and honors Second Team All-NBL – Ed Dancker All-Time NBL Team – Ed Dancker and Mike Novakhttp://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 All-Time Stars of Professional Basketball First Team – Dutch Dehnert (did not play with Sheboygan; is the head coach/general manager of the team) All-Time Stars of Professional Basketball Honorable Mention Team – Ed DanckerNelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 137 References Category:Sheboygan Red Skins seasons Sheboygan Sheboygan Red Skins Sheboygan Red Skins