1947–48 Philadelphia Sphas season

American basketball team season Philadelphia Sphas American Basketball League (revived original) 1948 13 19 6 Harry Litwack Eddie GottliebHarry LitwackJerry Rullo Eddie GottliebAbe Radel Broadwood Hotel Did not qualify Atlantic City Tides / Philadelphia Sphas The Philadelphia Sphas were an early, historical example of an American professional basketball team. The 1947–48 season was the fifteenth 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 21st official season played by the original ABL properly, though this would officially be the 31st 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 the "Philadelphia Hebrews". Depending on certain outlets in mind, this season can also be seen as either the first or second season in the ABL's revived history where it would be seen as more of a minor basketball league in terms of scope when compared to both the rivaling National Basketball League and the newer Basketball Association of America.1945-1946 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/seasons/1945-1946/ Pro Basketball Encyclopedia1946-1947 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/seasons/1946-1947/ Pro Basketball Encyclopedia1947-1948 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/seasons/1947-1948/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaAmerican Basketball League II - History https://www.retroseasons.com/leagues/abl RetroSeasons 21 March 2023 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.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, 264–265 After having a significant portion of their coverage being stolen by the newer Basketball Association of America (and to a somewhat lesser extent, the rivaling National Basketball League), the ABL would officially devolve from a major professional basketball league to a minor (professional) basketball league in the eyes of the general public by the start of this season. While the president of the BAA, Maurice Podoloff, would try and establish better working relationships with both the rivaling NBL and the ABL (where the Sphas were playing in), to the point of potentially implementing a championship series of sorts between all three of the (perceived) professional basketball leagues at that point in time, the efforts to have each professional basketball league of the era to work things out well enough with each other in the end would ultimately prove to be futile.The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball's Greatest Jewish Team Stark Douglas Temple University Press 2011 978-1-59213-633-9 Philadelphia 198 Despite losing their key veterans by this point in time alongside Eddie Gottlieb as their long-standing head coach from the previous season, the Sphas entered this season with the intent of still trying to become the champions of the ABL like they always have been ever since they first returned to the league back in 1933. However, the lost veteran presence within the team for this season would prove to be a major detriment for the Sphas this season, as ten of the team's losses throughout the season would be by four points or less.The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball's Greatest Jewish Team Stark Douglas Temple University Press 2011 978-1-59213-633-9 Philadelphia 204–205 Not only that, but the Sphas had their worst start to a season in the ABL yet with a 1–5 start following a debut win over the Lancaster (Red) Roses expansion franchise that eventually folded operations before the season concluded.The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball's Greatest Jewish Team Stark Douglas Temple University Press 2011 978-1-59213-633-9 Philadelphia 204 As such, it made their final record of 13–19 look more deceptive than it was on the surface level since the Sphas still showcased some good talents as a team, but struggled to capitalize when the game was on the line this time around. Nevertheless, due to the record being worse than every other team outside of the Brooklyn Gothams' 8–20 record (and to a lesser extent, the Lancaster Red Roses' 1–5 record), the Sphas were considered an easy elimination from the ABL's restructured playoffs for this season. Not only that, but the Sphas franchise would officially struggle financially (partially due to now co-owner Eddie Gottlieb focusing so much more time on his (defending BAA champion) Philadelphia Warriors franchise) to the point of actually entertaining the idea of moving away from their longtime home of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the following season of play instead of staying intact as is and risk going bankrupt as a franchise going forward there.The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball's Greatest Jewish Team Stark Douglas Temple University Press 2011 978-1-59213-633-9 Philadelphia 205 Roster Due to information on American Basketball League players being generally hard to find (especially by the time the ABL was designated more as a minor league during its later years of existence), there are bound to be more gaps and/or inaccuracies found in certain areas on the team's roster spots than usual.1947-48 Philadelphia SPHAs basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com https://www.statscrew.com/basketball/roster/t-ABLSPH/y-1947 StatsCrew.comWilk Mike Peach Basket Society: 1947-48 Philadelphia SPHA's (ABL) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2018/07/1947-48-philadelphia-sphas-abl.html Peach Basket Society 10 July 2018 1947–48 Philadelphia Sphas #4070C0 #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #CC0000 Oscar Baldwin 1 Muhlenberg College 1925–01–07 Cy Boardman 1 F 6 2 185 NYU 1915–08–24 Stan Brown basketball F 6 3 200 South Philadelphia HS (PA) 1929–06–27 Joe Della Monica 1 G Pennsylvania 1927–09–28 George Feigenbaum G 6 1 185 Kentucky 1929–07–02 Red Klotz G 5 7 150 Villanova 1920–10–21 Eddie Lyons basketball 1 G Temple 1926–07–01 Jack McGaffney 1 Atlantic City Trade School (NJ) 1924–04–01 Elmore Morgenthaler C 6 9 230 Boston College 1922–08–03 John Murphy basketball F 6 2 175 Simon Gratz HS (PA) 1924–09–13 Jack Rocker F/C 6 5 210 California 1922–08–12 Jerry Rullo G 5 10 165 Temple 1923–06–23 Butch Schwartz 1 G/F 6 2 190 Long Island University 1919–02–14 Mendy Snyder 1 Temple 1915–01–31 Aaron Tanitsky 1 Pennsylvania 1926–01–14 Leonard Weiner 1 G/F 6 1 180 Unknown 1923–10–26 Bill Zeiss 1 G/F Saint Joseph's 1925–06–07 Harry Litwack ABL Standings Due to the decreased number of teams this season, the ABL would remove divisions from their league this season going forward after previously using them for their previous season of play. Pos. Team Wins Losses Win % 1 Wilkes-Barre Barons 26 8 .765 2 Paterson Crescents 19 16 .543 3 Trenton Tigers 17 15 .531 4 Jersey City Atoms / Scranton MinersNote1 a a 16 16 .500 5 Elizabeth Braves / Hartford HurricanesNote1 b b 11 12 .478 6 Philadelphia SPHAs 13 19 .406 7 Brooklyn Gothams 8 20 .286 8 Lancaster (Red) RosesNote1 c c 1 5 .167 ABL Schedule For the rest of the ABL's entire existence going forward, the ABL would utilize a proper, full regular season instead of two half-seasons for its regular season formatting. # Date Opponent Score Record1November 9@ Lancaster Red RosesNote1 c c59–571–02November 13Trenton Tigers60–711–13November 16@ Brooklyn Gothams73–741–24November 20Wilkes-Barre Barons59–611–35November 23@ Trenton Tigers74–771–46November 26@ Jersey City AtomsNote1 a a67–711–57December 2Jersey City AtomsNote1 a a88–772–58December 3Lancaster RosesNote1 c c56–503–59December 6@ Paterson Crescents73–753–610December 7@ Trenton Tigers71–694–611December 16Brooklyn Gothams81–715–612December 17@ Wilkes-Barre Barons57–655–713December 26Paterson Crescents43–475–814January 3@ Paterson Crescents65–765–915January 9@ Hartford HurricanesNote1 b b87–856–916January 11@ Brooklyn Gothams68–617–917January 16Wilkes-Barre Barons74–708–918January 18@ Trenton Tigers76–808–1019January 20Trenton Tigers75–619–1020January 21@ Wilkes-Barre Barons53–739–1121January 31@ Paterson Crescents65–729–1222February 11@ Wilkes-Barre Barons47–649–1323February 12Hartford HurricanesNote1 b b74–6410–1324February 15@ Brooklyn Gothams71–7310–1425March 5@ Hartford HurricanesNote1 b b80–7311–1426March 10@ Scranton MinersNote1 a a76–8311–1527March 11Paterson Crescents65–5912–1528March 13@ Paterson Crescents80–8612–1629March 14@ Trenton Tigers84–8712–1730March 17@ Wilkes-Barre Barons58–6212–1831March 18Brooklyn Gothams61–5213–1832March 21@ Scranton MinersNote1 a a69–7413–19 Notes Note1 a a Originally, the Jersey City Atoms would move from Jersey City, New Jersey to nearby Union City, New Jersey on January 16, 1948 (though it doesn't appear that the Jersey City Atoms rebranded their team by this point in time) before moving again to nearby Scranton, Pennsylvania to become the Scranton Miners twelve days later on January 28, 1948 for the rest of the season going forward. Note1 b b The Elizabeth Braves (which the Sphas did not play against this time around during this season, though they would compete against them during their previous season of play) would move from Elizabeth, New Jersey to Hartford, Connecticut on December 19, 1947 to become the Hartford Hurricanes for the rest of the season. Note1 c c The Lancaster Roses (sometimes referred to as the Lancaster Red Roses instead) would end up withdrawing their operations from the ABL early in the season on December 4, 1947 to return to the Eastern Professional Basketball League not long afterward.AMERICAN BASKETBALL LEAGUE https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/league/american-basketball-league-26/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaEASTERN (PENNSYLVANIA) BASKETBALL LEAGUE - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia en-US Pro Basketball Encyclopedia 2014-06-06 2026-09-21 https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/league/eastern-pennsylvania-basketball-league-2/ References Category:Philadelphia Sphas seasons Philadelphia Philadelphia Sphas Philadelphia Sphas