The 1947 BAA draft was the 1st draft of the

Basketball Association of America 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 Ba ...

(BAA), which later became the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA). The fledgling BAA held a joint draft with the established National Basketball League (NBL). Both leagues wanted to control salaries by stamping out competitive bidding by assigning exclusive rights to the team selecting a player. The NBL had already signed 11 players, whom they did not feel should be exposed to the draft. The players included college stars Jack Smiley, Ralph Hamilton,

Harry Boykoff Harry J. Boykoff (July 24, 1922 – February 20, 2001) was a professional American basketball player. During his career he was often referred to as "Heshie", Big Hesh", and "Big Boy". He stood at tall. Early life Boykoff was born on the Lower ...

, John Hargis, Frank Brian, and

Charlie Black Charles Frank Black (November 23, 1949 – April 23, 2021) was an American country music songwriter and record producer. Biography Black graduated from University of Maryland in 1970 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee the same year. His first ...

. As a trade-off, the BAA teams were allowed to select players before the NBL. The draft was held on July 1, 1947, before the 1947–48 season. The nine remaining BAA teams along with the Baltimore Bullets who joined from the American Basketball League, took turns selecting amateur U.S.

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

players. In the first round of the draft, the teams selected in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season, while the Bullets were assigned the tenth pick, the last pick of the first round. Both the

Pittsburgh Ironmen The Pittsburgh Ironmen were a charter member of the Basketball Association of America (a forerunner of the National Basketball Association). The team was based in Pittsburgh and played at Duquesne Gardens. They ended their only season in the BAA i ...

and Toronto Huskies participated in this draft, but they folded before the season opened.

Draft selections and draftee career notes

The first selection of the draft,

Clifton McNeely Clifton McNeely (June 22, 1919 – December 26, 2003) was an American basketball player and coach.

from

Texas Wesleyan University Texas Wesleyan University is a private Methodist university in Fort Worth, Texas. It was founded in 1890 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The main campus is located in the Polytechnic Heights neighborhood of Fort Worth. Its mascot is ...

, did not play in the BAA. Instead, McNeely opted for a high school coaching career in Texas. The fourth pick, Walt Dropo, also did not play in the BAA and opted for a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

career instead, eventually playing 13 seasons in the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

(MLB). The 7th and 10th picks,

Jack Underman John O. Underman (August 17, 1925 – October 23, 1969) was an American basketball player. Underman was selected in the 1947 BAA draft by the St. Louis Bombers after a collegiate career at Ohio State (OSU), although he never played professionall ...

and

Larry Killick Lawrence Findley Killick (May 31, 1922 – January 31, 2013) was an American basketball player. Killick was drafted in the first round of the 1947 BAA draft as the 10th overall pick by the Baltimore Bullets, although he never ended up playing in ...

, also never played in the BAA. Three players from this draft,

Harry Gallatin Harry Junior "The Horse" Gallatin (April 26, 1927 – October 7, 2015) was an American professional basketball player and coach. Gallatin played nine seasons for the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1948 to 1957, ...

Andy Phillip Andrew Michael "Handy Andy" Phillip (March 7, 1922 – April 29, 2001) was an American professional basketball player.

and

Jim Pollard James Clifford Pollard (July 9, 1922 – January 22, 1993) was an American professional basketball player and coach. As a player in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Pollard was considered one of the best forwards in the 1950s and was k ...

, have been inducted to the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

Wataru Misaka Wataru Misaka (December 21, 1923 – November 20, 2019) was an American professional basketball player. A point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball by being the first non-white player and the first p ...

, selected by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, made the team's final roster and became the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, just months after the

color line had been broken by the Brooklyn Dodgers'

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

. Misaka was cut after playing only three games with the team.

Key

Draft

Other picks

The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one BAA/NBA game.

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1947 draft, but played at least one game in the NBA.

Notes

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

NBA.com
{{1947–48 BAA season by team Draft Basketball Association of America draft BAA draft BAA draft BAA draft Basketball in Detroit Events in Detroit