 |
| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1961 |
| Ceased | 1973 |
| Country |  United States |
The National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL) (founded 1961) is the descendant of the industrial-based basketball clubs that formed into the National Basketball League (NBL) in the early 1930s.
The league was the brainchild of Indianapolis grocer Irv Kautsky, who sponsored the Indianapolis Kautskys club team, and Goodyear Tire Company, who originally sponsored the Akron Wingfoots. After a false start in the early 1930s, the league was restarted in 1938, with the Wingfoots winning the initial NBL title. By World War II, both the Wingfoots and the Firestone Tire Company's Non-Skids had suspended play, but other seminal pro teams such as the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons), Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers), Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings), Minneapolis Lakers (now the Los Angeles Lakers), and Tri-Cities BlackHawks (now the Atlanta Hawks), all of whom are currently playing in the NBA, had joined.
After World War II, the fledgling Basketball Association of America was established by arena owners in large cities to try to capture the popularity of the NBL teams from the smaller communities. This attempt failed miserably as 13 of the 16 BAA teams folded. Undaunted, the remaining BAA teams, the Philadelphia Warriors, Boston Celtics, and New York Knicks convinced the top NBL teams to join with them and they formed the NBA. Thus, the early NBA was composed mostly of teams brought over from the NBL and three BAA teams.
The remaining NBL teams reformed and changed the name to the National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL) where teams such as the Denver Truckers, Chicago Jamaco Saints, Akron Wingfoots, Phillips 66ers, Peoria Cats, Philadelphia Tapers, Lexington Marathon Oilers and Cleveland Pipers thrived as club teams. In the 1960s the league recognized the changing sponsorship of the teams away from the large industrial companies and renamed it the National AAU Basketball League (NABL).
1948 Milwaukee Harnischfegers
1949 Phillips 66ers
1950 Phillips 66ers
1951 Phillips 66ers
1952 Phillips 66ers
1953 Phillips 66ers
1954 Phillips 66ers and Peoria Caterpillars
1955 Phillips 66ers
1956 Phillips 66ers
1957 Phillips 66ers
1958 Phillips 66ers and Wichita Vickers
1959 Denver-Chicago Truckers
1960 Phillips 66ers
1961 Cleveland Pipers
During the early 1960s, the Pipers and the Tapers left to join the Hawaii Chiefs, Kansas City Steers, Los Angeles Jets and other teams to form the American Basketball League; when this venture folded, some of these teams returned to the NABL.
By the end of the 1970s, the NABL teams elected to adapt touring schedules rather than league schedules and the NABL format was mothballed until it was brought back in the 1990s when many of the legendary teams had been restarted under a new wave of sponsors. Today, the NABL teams are focused on preparing post-college players for the opportunity to play pro basketball overseas.
In 1966, the NABL organized the National Amateur Athletic Union Basketball League, with the league's champions playing at FIBA's Intercontinental Cup, as the North American Champions. The Akron Wingfoots won the title on the three occasions that they represented the country at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
1967: Akron Wingfoots
1968: Akron Wingfoots
1969: Akron Wingfoots
1970:
1971: Lexington Marathon Oil
1972: Dayton Sanders Stone
1973: Dayton Utopians
The following leagues were members of the NABL in the 90s and noughties.
The National Basketball League (NBL) was a professional basketball league in the United States, established in 1937. After the 1948–49 season, its twelfth, it merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to create the National Basketball Association (NBA). Five current NBA teams trace their history back to the NBL: the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Sacramento Kings.
The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961–1962, and approximately one-third of the next season until the league folded on December 31, 1962. The ABL was the first basketball league to have a three-point field goal for shots attempted from longer distance. Other rules that set the league apart from the National Basketball Association (NBA) were a 30-second shooting clock, as opposed to 24, and a wider free throw lane of 18 feet instead of the NBA's then-standard 12.
The Indianapolis Jets were a Basketball Association of America (BAA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded as the Indianapolis Kautskys and used that name until the team joined the BAA. They played for one year in the BAA and then ceased operations due to the formation of the Indianapolis Olympians.
The Philadelphia Tapers were an American professional basketball team that played a partial 1962–1963 season in the American Basketball League (1961–1962). It traces its history to the 1950s AAU New York Tapers.
The Dayton Rens were a member of the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1948-49 season and were the only all-black team to play in a white league. This milestone came just one year after Jackie Robinson, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. For the Rens, however, this milestone would be the only highlight of a season in which they finished in last place with a record of 16-43.
The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote one of the first canvas/rubber based shoes made specifically for athletics, the wingfoot.
The Cleveland Pipers were an American industrial basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950s and early 1960s. The Pipers are mostly known for having played in the short-lived American Basketball League from 1961–62. They were also a power in the day's Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball and the National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL) which peaked in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The World Professional Basketball Tournament was an annual invitational tournament held in Chicago from 1939 to 1948 and sponsored by the Chicago Herald American. Many teams came from the National Basketball League, but it also included the best teams from other leagues and the best independent barnstorming teams such as the New York Rens and Harlem Globetrotters. Games were played at various sites including Chicago Coliseum, International Amphitheater and Chicago Stadium.
The 1968 FIBA Intercontinental Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup for men's basketball clubs. It took place at Palestra and Spectrum, Philadelphia. From the FIBA European Champions Cup participated Real Madrid and Simmenthal Milano, from the South American Club Championship participated Botafogo, and from the NABL participated the Akron Wingfoots.
The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA absorbed most of National Basketball League (NBL) and rebranded as the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Akron Firestone Non–Skids were an American professional basketball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team was one of the thirteen founding members of the National Basketball League (NBL), which formed in 1937. The team was named for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, which was headquartered in Akron, Ohio.
The 1937–38 NBL season was the inaugural season of the National Basketball League (NBL). The league was the evolution of the Midwest Basketball Conference, a league that had a duration of two years before becoming the NBL. The league launched with nine franchises, it was irregular because the teams were the ones that had to choose the day and the hour of the match, even the duration was chosen by the local team before the match. The season ended with the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots becoming the NBL's first championship team.
The 1947–48 Minneapolis Lakers season was the inaugural season for the Lakers. The Lakers won the National Basketball League championship against the Rochester Royals. George Mikan led the team with 21.3 points per game and was the league's MVP. After the season, both the Lakers and Royals would leave the NBL to join the Basketball Association of America (BAA) along with two other NBL clubs, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and the Indianapolis Kautskys.
The Caterpillar Diesels was an amateur basketball team located in Peoria, Illinois and sponsored and run by the Caterpillar Inc. company. The Caterpillars were one of the most successful teams of the Amateur Athletic Union League in the 1950s and they became world-wide known in 1952 when five of their players represented the USA team in the Olympics, winning the gold medal.
The Buchan Bakers was an amateur basketball team located in Seattle, Washington and competed in the National Industrial Basketball League. The Bakers were one of the most popular teams of the Amateur Athletic Union, rising to fame in 1957 when the beat the Phillips 66ers in the AAU Tournament final. The team was sponsored by the Buchan Baking company, thus they adopted their name. During the 1955-56 season, the Buchan Bakers traveled to Asia, playing teams from Japan, China and they were the first AAU basketball team to play against Eastern European teams during the Cold War.
The Fort Wayne General Electrics was an amateur basketball team located in Fort Wayne, Indiana and competed in the National Basketball League and the National Industrial Basketball League. They joined the NBL in 1937 but they stayed there for 1 year, returning to their amateur status. In 1947 they were one of the founding members of the NIBL competing there for one season.
The National Basketball League Rookie of the Year Award was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season in each of the twelve years the league existed. The Rookie of the Year was selected by sports writers, broadcasters, coaches, and managers. Despite the dozens of teams that played in the NBL through its history, three of them collectively dominated the award's recipients. The Indianapolis Kautskys and Sheboygan Red Skins had three winners each, while the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots had two, for a combined eight of the twelve awards bestowed (66.7%).
Frank Henry "Fronzo" Kautsky Sr. was an American farmer, grocery store owner, and team owner, general manager, and former head coach of the Indianapolis Kautskys/Pure Oils/Oilers/Jets basketball franchise. He also was a semi-pro baseball player at one point and even sponsored a local semi-pro baseball team up until World War II. Kautsky was also a co-founding member of the National Basketball League (NBL), which became a predecessor to the National Basketball Association (NBA).