1946–47 Tri-Cities Blackhawks season

NBL professional basketball team season August 2023 March 2026 Buffalo Bisons / Tri-Cities Blackhawks Tri-Cities Blackhawks NBL 1947 19 25 Eastern 5 Nat Hickey Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (Buffalo Bisons)Wharton Field House (Tri-Cities Blackhawks) Did not qualify https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/TCB/1947.html 1 Tri-Cities Blackhawks The 1946–47 season was the only season under the Buffalo Bisons name, as well as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks' inaugural season in the National Basketball League (NBL). The inaugural season of the franchise was also the NBL's first official season where they actually implemented a drafting system similar to what the future rivaling Basketball Association of America (and later merging partner to become the National Basketball Association) had for the eventual NBA draft system a year later following the conclusion of their inaugural league season for the purpose of controlled player salaries and limiting the idea of outbidding other players outside of their own 12-player teams at hand (with the NBL having a budget of $6,000 this season), as well as implementing key players to signing binding contracts as soon as they could and the NBL looking to have full-time referees on display.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, pp. 158–159 The team originally began play as the Buffalo Bisons, based in Buffalo, New York, but moved during the middle of the season (after only 13 games played in 1946Buffalo Bisons HISTORY) to Moline, Illinois on Christmas Day, becoming the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (though the Blackhawks name wouldn't be considered official for them until January 1, 1947 due to their new "Name That Team" contest being multiple weeks long).1946–47 NBL season Due to the sudden nature of their move from Buffalo to Moline, the Blackhawks (now known as the Atlanta Hawks) inherited the original 5–8 record of the Bisons, as well as their brief history of existence there. In addition to debuting in the 1946–47 NBL season, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks also participated in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, which was an annual event that saw both independent teams and professional teams (primarily from the National Basketball League, but also includes a team from both the rivaling American Basketball League and the short-lived Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. Despite them not being a playoff team when they entered this event, the Blackhawks would get their first win of the event by beating the ABL's champion team (and future Basketball Association of America/National Basketball Association team that they would meet from 1949 until 1954, with later years being met under the Milwaukee Hawks name instead of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks name) known as the Baltimore Bullets before losing in the semifinal round to the team that eventually would win the entire 1947 tournament in question, the Indianapolis Kautskys (a team who had earned a bye this year alongside the three-time defending champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons despite never actually winning a game in the WPBT before this year's event with the Blackhawks being their first ever victory there and despite not having the best record in their division that year, nor not even holding the actual MVP of the entire tournament in the process of it all). Despite the early exit from the event, Billy Hassett was named a member of the All-Tournament Second Team there. 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 Buffalo Bisons (as they were known to be called at that point in time) 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 Bisons' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up (assuming Buffalo would have even be ready for entry by the time the 1946 NBL draft began), with any information on who those selections might have been for the Bisons (especially since the Buffalo Bisons later turned into the Tri-Cities Blackhawks franchise would be considered an expansion franchise for the NBL this season) most likely being lost to time in the process. Roster Source:Tri-Cities Blackhawks - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia 1946–47 Buffalo Bisons / Tri-Cities Blackhawks #B62B35 #FFFFFF #F3BC4C #000000 – Paul Anthony basketball C/F 6 5 195 Washington & Jefferson 1924-01-23 – Pop Gates G/F 6 2 205 Franklin HS (NY) 1917-08-30 – Bob Gauchat G 6 0 180 Canisius 1921-03-05 – Al Grenert F/G 6 0 190 NYU 1919-07-08 – Nick Grunzweig F/C 6 5 215 Niagara 1918-07-21 – Billy Hassett G 5 11 185 Notre Dame 1921-10-21 – Nat Hickey G/F 5 11 180 Hoboken HS (NJ) 1902-01-30 – Ed Lewinski F/C 6 4 210 Bowen HS (IL) 1918-09-10 – Ed Moeller G 6 0 175 Ohio State 1919-01-08 – Don Otten C 6 10 240 Bowling Green 1921-04-18 – Howie Rader G/F 6 1 190 Long Island 1921-03-29 – Len Rader G/F 6 1 185 Long Island 1921-03-29 – Pat Rooney basketball F/G 6 3 190 Erasmus Hall HS (NY) 1925 – Wilbur Schu F/G 6 3 190 Kentucky 1922-12-18 – Vic Siegel G 5 10 160 Iowa 1920-08-24 – Bob Sims basketball, born 1915 C/F 6 6 220 Western Michigan 1915-07-03 – Dick Starzyk G 5 10 180 Marquette 1921-03-21 – Mel Thurston G 6 0 175 Canisius 1919-01-16 – Stan Waxman G 5 11 180 Long Island 1922-05-20 Nat Hickey https://www.basketball-reference.com/nbl/teams/TCB/1947.html For the players that were on this roster, only Bob Sims and Dick Starzyk would end up playing for the team during their thirteen games under their original Buffalo Bisons name (while there were also two other players named Bob Daughtery from Virginia Union University (a second African American player) and presumably Mark Marlaire from the University of Illinois that were once a part of the Buffalo Bisons' roster properly, they ultimately failed to play a single proper NBL scheduled game before being waived from the team themselves), while Don Otten, African-American star player Pop Gates, Nick Grunzweig, Billy Hassett, elderly player-coach Nat Hickey, twin brothers Len Rader and Howie Rader, and Stan Waxman played for both the Buffalo Bisons and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks throughout this season, and Paul Anthony, Bob Gauchat, Al Grenert, Ed Lewinski, Ed Moeller, Pat Rooney, Wilbur Schu, Vic Siegel, and Mel Thurston were the only players to play for the team while they were known as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for the rest of this season.Buffalo Bisons https://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/AtlantaHawks/History/Buffalo/index.html nbahoopsonline.comPeach Basket Society: 1946-47 Buffalo Bisons / Tri-Cities Blackhawks (NBL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2016/03/1946-47-tri-cities-blackhawks-nbl.html Peach Basket Society 26 March 2026 5 March 20161946-47 Tri-Cities Blackhawks basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-TRI/y-1946 StatsCrew.com 26 March 2026 Regular season The Buffalo Bisons won its first game 50–39 over the Syracuse Nationals on November 8, 1946.Team that's now Atlanta Hawks bailed on Buffalo 70 years ago The team's last Buffalo appearance was a 50–38 loss to the Sheboygan Red Skins on December 16. The Bisons left town for a December road trip with their future in doubt; the team struggled to draw crowds in Buffalo, and two of their scheduled home games were canceled. On December 25, it was announced that the franchise was moving to Moline, where they finished the season as the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. The Blackhawks missed the postseason with a 19–25 record (5–8 in Buffalo and 14–17 in Moline).1946-47 Buffalo Bisons / Tri-Cities Blackhawks The inaugural season they had with the combined losing records of the Bisons and Blackhawks together would still leave the franchise two games shy of a playoff spot over both the Syracuse Nationals and Toledo Jeeps. Eastern Division standings Buffalo Bisons Schedule 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 newer Buffalo Bisons NBL team in their only season in the NBL before moving to Moline, Illinois for the rest of this season, as well as the known cancelled home games they had originally scheduled for their period of time before the initial move. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 10 Syracuse 50–39 1–0 2 November 16 Toledo 39–50 1–1 3 November 21 @ Syracuse 45–43 2–1 4 November 23 Detroit 45–35 3–1 5 November 26 @ Rochester 57–78 3–2 6 December 5 Rochester 44–54 3–3 7 December 6 @ Youngstown 41–50 3–4 8 December 8 @ Fort Wayne 41–62 3–5 9 December 9 N Oshkosh 57–67 3–6 10 December 11 Anderson 52–50 (OT) 4–6 11 December 16 Sheboygan 38–50 4–7 12 December 19 @ Anderson 46–61 4–8 13 December 23 @ Toledo 43–39 5–8 — December 25 Chicago Cancelled — December 30 Indianapolis Cancelled — January 6 Detroit Cancelled — January 8 Syracuse Cancelled — January 13 Oshkosh Cancelled — January 16 Youngstown Cancelled — January 20 Fort Wayne Cancelled — February 3 Indianapolis Cancelled — February 6 Fort Wayne Cancelled — February 12 Oshkosh Cancelled — February 17 Rochester Cancelled — February 20 Toledo Cancelled — February 24 Chicago Cancelled — March 3 Sheboygan Cancelled — March 6 Anderson Cancelled — March 10 Youngstown Cancelled It's unknown if the road games that were originally scheduled for the Buffalo Bisons were still played while the team was going under the new Tri-Cities Blackhawks name or if they were also cancelled (outside of a couple of somewhat unrelated matches that the Syracuse Nationals had at their home venue against both the Anderson Duffey Packers and the Indianapolis Kautskys), with the NBL doing some last-minute schedule tweaking for the entire league in order to accommodate for the sudden change the new Buffalo Bisons team made in moving to Moline, Illinois to become the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for the rest of the season. Tri-Cities Blackhawks Schedule 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 Tri-Cities Blackhawks in their first season in the NBL following the new Buffalo Bisons team moving from Buffalo, New York to Moline, Illinois near the end of 1946, with the Blackhawks officially playing their games at the start of 1947. Please note that game above still count as games won or lost by the Tri-Cities Blackhawks before this point in the season, retroactively speaking. # Date Opponent Score Record 14 (1) January 3 Fort Wayne 47–52 5–9(0–1) 15 (2) January 7 Youngstown 41–49 5–10(0–2) 16 (3) January 9 @ Detroit 57–42 6–10(1–2) 17 (4) January 11 Chicago 48–43 7–10(2–2) 18 (5) January 14 @ Indianapolis 57–70 7–11(2–3) 19 (6) January 15 Detroit 47–39 8–11(3–3) 20 (7) January 17 @ Chicago 30–53 8–12(3–4) 21 (8) January 20 Anderson 56–58 8–13(3–5) 22 (9) January 21 Anderson 45–67 8–14(3–6) 23 (10) January 26 Sheboygan 47–52 8–15(3–7) 24 (11) January 27 @ Toledo 61–63 8–16(3–8) 25 (12) January 28 Syracuse 41–46 8–17(3–9) 26 (13) January 30 @ Youngstown 56–43 9–17(4–9) 27 (14) February 5 Chicago 57–61 (OT) 9–18(4–10) 28 (15) February 9 @ Fort Wayne 45–56 9–19(4–11) 29 (16) February 11 Oshkosh 53–47 10–19(5–11) 30 (17) February 12 Sheboygan 54–48 11–19(6–11) 31 (18) February 14 @ Indianapolis 55–52 12–19(7–11) 32 (19) February 15 Indianapolis 43–40 13–19(8–11) 33 (20) February 17 Rochester 60–50 14–19(9–11) 34 (21) February 20 Toledo 64–52 15–19(10–11) 35 (22) February 23 @ Rochester 48–41 16–19(11–11) 36 (23) February 24 @ Syracuse 47–53 16–20(11–12) 37 (24) February 26 @ Detroit 51–43 17–20(12–12) 38 (25) February 27 Youngstown 47–39 19–20(13–12) 39 (26) March 3 Oshkosh 41–46 19–22(13–13) 40 (27) March 6 Indianapolis 72–55 20–22(14–13) 41 (28) March 7 @ Chicago 52–72 20–23(14–14) 42 (29) March 8 @ Oshkosh 40–54 20–24(14–15) 43 (30) March 9 Sheboygan 50–60 20–25(14–16) 44 (31) March 15 Fort Wayne 50–55 20–26(14–17) Interestingly, two home games that were cancelled due to the Buffalo Bisons moving to Moline, Illinois to become the Tri-Cities Blackhawks ended up getting rescheduled to their original planned game dates for the Tri-Cities Blackhawks to play at home instead, with the Blackhawks being at home on February 17 against the Rochester Royals and on February 20 against the Toledo Jeeps. With that being said, the Blackhawks would still not qualify for the NBL Playoffs in their inaugural season of play despite moving from Buffalo to Moline and rebranding themselves in their debut season of play. Awards and records Don Otten – NBL All-Rookie TeamNelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 169 Pop Gates – NBL All-Time Team http://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 first time in franchise history, the Tri-Cities Blackhawks (only months after moving from Buffalo to Moline and rebranding themselves from the Buffalo Bisons) would participate in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which saw the 1947 event being held on April 7–11, 1947 and consisted of 14 teams, most of which was an even mixture of independently ran teams and teams from the National Basketball League alongside the rivaling American Basketball League's defending champion Baltimore Bullets and the Portland Indians from the ultimately short-lived Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. In the first round, the Blackhawks saw themselves go up against the American Basketball League's defending champions (and future Basketball Association of America/National Basketball Association team) in the Baltimore Bullets. Despite them feeling like they'd be outmatched and overwhelmed by Baltimore's status as a team (especially considering they had finished their season with a 31–3 record), the Blackhawks would end up upsetting the ABL's defending champions with a 57–46 victory in their first ever WPBT game played thanks to the play of Billy Hassett in particular. While this was their first match the two teams would play against each other under such circumstances, they would meet with each other many times afterward years later in the NBA from 1949 until 1954 (which ironically happened due to the Bullets' early defeat in the WPBT that year since they wanted to compete in that year's event, but felt that the ABL was taking too long with setting up their championship series, and by the time the championship series was set to begin for the ABL, the ABL had already considered the Baltimore Bullets forfeited losers of the 1947 ABL championship to the Trenton Tigers (though the Bullets would dispute that and later claim they were the true champions of the ABL that season instead), which later led to the Bullets defecting from the ABL to the newly created BAA in protest of the ABL's results there), though in later years, the Blackhawks would change their names to the Milwaukee Hawks instead. For the quarterfinal round, the Blackhawks saw themselves go up against the Indianapolis Kautskys, who had oddly earned themselves a bye despite not being considered the best team in the Western Division this year nor having prestige in the WPBT like the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (to the point where the Kautskys had never won a single game in the WPBT up until this point in time). Despite Billy Hassett and the Blackhawks appearing to have the upper hand following their upset victory over the ABL's Bullets in the first round, the Kautskys would end up finally getting their first victory in WPBT history with the Blackhawks losing 65–56 thanks to the leadership and effort of All-Tournament First Team members Leo Klier, Arnie Risen, and Herm Schaefer eliminating the Tri-Cities franchise from the tournament. This victory by the Kautskys later led to them winning the entire event by beating the Oshkosh All-Stars in the semifinal round and the Toledo Jeeps in the championship round (though Julie Rivlin of the Jeeps won the tournament's MVP award this time around), though Billy Hassett was later named a member of the All-Tournament Second Team. Games Played Won first round (57–46) over the Baltimore Bullets Lost quarterfinal round (56–65) to the Indianapolis Kautskys Awards and honors Billy Hassett, All-Tournament Second Team References Category:Atlanta Hawks seasons Tri-Cities Tri-Cities Blackhawks Tri-Cities Blackhawks