1947–48 Chicago American Gears season

Aborted PBLA professional basketball team season Chicago American Gears PBLA 1948 yes 8 0 Northern 1 Maurice WhiteAmerican Gear & Manufacturing Company (owned all 16 PBLA teamsWilk Mike Peach Basket Society: Professional Basketball League of America (PBLA) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2017/02/professional-basketball-league-of.html Peach Basket Society 6 February 2017) Henry A. BourneTriptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 131 Bobby McDermott (player-coach) International Amphitheatre WCFLTriptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 143 Did not happen; league shut down operations (voted out of returning to the NBL) 1 The 1947–48 Chicago American Gears season was the American Gears' fifth and final year of existence as a franchise,Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 2–3JOHN STYLER https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/john-styler/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaJOE STAMPF https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/joe-stampf/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaHERB BALL https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/herb-ball/ Pro Basketball EncyclopediaSWEDE ROOS https://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/swede-roos/ Pro Basketball Encyclopedia as well as their first and only season where they attempted to exist as a franchise under their own league in the Professional Basketball League of America (PBLA), which would rival all three of the major professional basketball leagues of the time in the older American Basketball League (ABL), the newer Basketball Association of America (BAA), and the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which the American Gears originally existed from before defecting from the NBL due to Indianapolis Kautskys co-owner Paul Walk being named the new league president over team owner Maurice White late in the summer.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 179 Originally, White planned to have the PBLA consist of 32 teams (including his American Gears) in the Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western Divisions throughout a 90-game schedule before he and The Commercial Sports Advertisers, Inc. (the PBLA's parent organization) ultimately cut the number of official teams in half to have 16 competing teams in the Northern and Southern Divisions (with White's American Gears in the Northern Division) for what would turn out to be the only season the PBLA would ever have.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 119–120 White also planned to back the PBLA for only the inaugural season, with each team operating at a salary cap of $47,000 this season without a limit on what players could receive and having eleven players on their roster until December 1, 1947, before cutting down to nine players by the end of March, which would have been the PBLA's original end-point for its regular season.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 121 At the time of the new league's implementation, the Chicago American Gears left the majority of their roster intact; Pete Fogo from Pepperdine University, Fritz Nagy from the University of Akron, Charlie Molnor from the Los Angeles City College, and Billy Hassett of the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would be added onto the roster, while a few of the American Gears' players were named head coaches for PBLA teams (Bruce Hale for the St. Paul Saints, Stan Szukala for the Grand Rapids Rangers (who also had future U.S. President Gerald Ford working with the team as a business manager of Szukala'sTriptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 171–172Basketball Management – Ford in Focus https://ford.blogs.archives.gov/2025/03/14/basketball-management/ 14 March 2025), Swede Roos for the Waterloo Pro-Hawks), with Price Brookfield playing for the Waterloo Pro-Hawks, Art Stoefen playing for the Amateur Athletic Union's Los Angeles Carroll Shamrocks, and Max Morris opted to play for the Chicago Rockets in the All-American Football Conference instead.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 120–121 While the PBLA began its season on October 24, the American Gears didn't start playing until a week later on Halloween with a 59–49 victory over the St. Paul Saints under 3,128 attendees.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 122, 134PBLA Scores https://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/PBLA/Scores.html nbahoopsonline.com After three straight days of games that ended in victories for Chicago, the American Gears would have their first (and what would later turn out to be their only) home game occur on November 7 as a doubleheader night involving another PBLA game being played between the Louisville Colonels and Omaha Tomahawks before Chicago's match began; the American Gears would blow out the New Orleans Hurricanes with a 97–65 victory (with Chicago being considered to have scoring records for both the NBL and the PBLA at the timeTriptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 122–123), though despite free parking and considerably good prices for the time (general admission had tickets for $1.20, while reserved seating had tickets going for $1.50, $1.80, and $2.40), only 2,477 people would see that match occur.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 122 After three more road games played (all of which also ended up being victories for Chicago), the American Gears was slated to play their second home game on November 13 (which was suggested to have been against the Atlanta Crackers) before Maurice White informed the team that the PBLA had folded operations due to the league losing $600,000 (including promotional expenses) in less than a month's time of operation, with the American Gears being the best team of the league at the time with a perfect 8–0 record.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 123–125 The day after that, the NBL met up to decide upon whether they would allow the American Gears to return into their league again (despite already beginning their season earlier on) or have them fold operations for good; while the American Gears had seen some promise in their return at first through the idea of the Minneapolis Lakers rescinding their nay vote and some teams being willing to allow the team to return to the NBL so long as Maurice White (who NBL owners hated due to his propensity to spend a lot of money on players like George Mikan for competition's sake alongside his problems with alcoholism combined with being a loud and boorish personalityNelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 181) was no longer operating the team and replaced with John McNulty, the NBL ultimately unanimously voted 11–0 to deny the American Gears readmission into the NBL, thus officially ending their season early and disbanding their franchise for good following a dispersal draft by the NBL.Nelson Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949 2009 McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers 978-0-7864-4006-1, p. 180Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 125–128 The PBLA would be seen upon retrospect as a league far ahead of its time in some aspects, but would also be seen as folly for one man to try to make succeed on its own accord, as well as was later seen as an instigator to create the modern-day National Basketball Association that helped end what can be considered the wild west era of professional basketball's early history.The Crash of the PBLA and end of minor league basketball https://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/PBLA/Articles/Crash.html nbahoopsonline.comPeach Basket Society: Professional Basketball League of America (PBLA) https://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2017/02/professional-basketball-league-of.html Peach Basket Society 6 February 2017 An entire chapter from former player Dick Triptow's book, "The Dynasty That Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears", would be dedicated to this season, with it also showcasing greater details on the existence of the Professional Basketball League of America as well. It also showcased comments from past players that were on the American Gears at the time, commenting on the team's all-time greatness at the time and how they could have been a true dynasty had they not defected from the NBL this season,Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, pp. 128–130 with former WGN-TV broadcaster Jack Brickhouse (who had intended to be the radio broadcaster for Chicago's games this season) also noting that the only two Chicago professional sports franchises with championships won that were completely mismanaged in their histories were the NFL's Chicago Cardinals and the Chicago American Gears.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 142 (Potential) Draft picks The Chicago American Gears might have participated in the 1947 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1947 BAA draft due to a joint agreement the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America had with each other during the offseason period. However, it's entirely possible they might not have entered that draft due to Maurice White's shrewd move to leave the NBL when he did so. However, if the American Gears did leave the NBL before that league's draft happened, it's likely that, as of 2026, no records of what the final draft picks for the American Gears might have been when they were still in the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process. Roster 1947–48 Chicago American Gears #c41e3a #FFFFFF #FFFFFF #c41e3a Bob Calihan G/F 6 3 200 Detroit 1918–08–02 Pete Fogo F/C 6 5 180 Pepperdine 1921–10–14 Billy Hassett G 5 10 185 Notre Dame 1921–10–21 Bobby McDermott G 5 11 180 Flushing HS (NY) 1914–01–07 George Mikan C 6 10 245 DePaul 1924–06–18 Charlie Molnor G 6 0 168 Los Angeles City College 1925–12–06 Max Morris F/C 6 2 195 Northwestern 1925–03–13 Fritz Nagy G/F 6 2 170 Akron 1924–01–03 Stan Patrick F/G 6 2 185 Illinois 1922–05–05 Dick Triptow F/G 6 0 170 DePaul 1922–11–03 Bobby McDermott Note: Max Morris was considered to be a part of the roster, but did not play for them this season due to an injury he sustained while playing football for the Chicago Rockets in the All-American Football Conference.Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 131 Regular season PBLA Schedule Reference: Dick Triptow's The Dynasty That Never Was, pg. 134Triptow Richard F. The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears 1997 self-published Lake Bluff, Illinois 0-9659280-0-4, p. 134 # Date Opponent Score Record 1 October 31 @ St. Paul Saints 59–49 1–0 2 November 1 @ Waterloo Pro-Hawks 82–56 2–0 3 November 2 @ St. Joseph Outlaws 80–66 3–0 4 November 3 @ Omaha Tomahawks 74–52 4–0 5 November 7 New Orleans Hurricanes 97–65 5–0 6 November 9 @ Tulsa Ranchers 51–48 6–0 7 November 10 @ Springfield Squires 75–61 7–0 8 November 12 @ Louisville Colonels 65–56 8–0 The Professional Basketball League of America was scheduled to have a grand total of 90 regular season games, with 45 road games and 45 home games involving each team playing each other both at home and on the road three different times with each other. Season standings All results would be based on an incomplete season by November 13, 1947. Northern Division Pos. Team Wins Losses Win % 1 Chicago American Gears 8 0 1.000 2 St. Paul Saints 6 3 .667 3 Grand Rapids Rangers 3 3 .500 T–4 Louisville Colonels 2 4 .333 Omaha Tomahawks 2 4 .333 T–6 Kansas City Blues 1 5 .167 Waterloo Pro-Hawks 1 5 .167 8 St. Joseph Outlaws 1 6 .143 Southern Division Pos. Team Wins Losses Win % 1 Houston Mavericks 2 0 1.000 2 Atlanta Crackers 7 1 .875 3 Birmingham Skyhawks 5 2 .714 4 Tulsa Ranchers 7 3 .700 5 Chattanooga Majors 3 3 .500 6 Oklahoma City Drillers 2 3 .400 7 New Orleans Hurricanes 3 5 .375 8 Springfield Squires 1 7 .125 References Category:Chicago American Gears seasons Chicago American Gears Category:1947 in Chicago