:''Also see:

Sports in Evansville Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...

''. The Evansville Agogans were a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team who played in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, in 1951 and were a member of the Western Division of the National Professional Basketball League.

History

The

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball 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 in the United S ...

contracted after the 1949–1950 season, losing six teams: The

Anderson Packers The Anderson Packers, also known as the Anderson Duffey Packers and the Chief Anderson Meat Packers, were a professional basketball team based in Anderson, Indiana, in the 1940s and 1950s. The team was founded and owned by brothers Ike W. and Jo ...

Sheboygan Red Skins The Sheboygan Red Skins (or Redskins) was a professional basketball team based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which was an original National Basketball Association franchise during the 1949–1950 season. History Overview The Redskins played in th ...

and

Waterloo Hawks The Waterloo Hawks were a National Basketball League and National Basketball Association team based in Waterloo, Iowa. The Hawks remain the only sports franchise ever based in Iowa from any of the current Big Four Leagues. Franchise history ...

jumped to the NPBL, while the

Chicago Stags The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago from 1946 to 1950. History 1946–47 season In the BAA's inaugural year, the Chicago Stags were placed in the Western Division, and after 60 games were tied with the ...

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

and

St. Louis Bombers The St. Louis Bombers were a National Basketball Association team based in St. Louis from 1946 to 1950. Franchise history The St. Louis Bombers were originally part of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946. The BAA merged wit ...

folded. The league went from 17 teams to 11 before the 1950–1951 season started. Midway through the 1950–1951 season, the

Washington Capitols The Washington Capitols were a former Basketball Association of America (forerunner of the National Basketball Association) team based in Washington, D.C. from 1946 to 1951. The team was coached from 1946 to 1949 by NBA Hall of Famer Red Auerbach ...

folded as well, bringing the number of teams in the league down to ten. The National Professional Basketball League was formed around the former NBA teams, with teams added in new larger markets. The charter teams were the East Division:

Sheboygan Redskins The Sheboygan Red Skins (or Redskins) was a professional basketball team based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which was an original National Basketball Association franchise during the 1949–1950 season. History Overview The Redskins played in th ...

(Former NBA),

Louisville Alumnites Louisville Alumnites were a team in the National Professional Basketball League (1950-1951), based in Louisville, Kentucky. History The National Basketball Association contracted after the 1949–1950 season, losing six teams: The Anderson Packers ...

and Grand Rapids Hornets. West Division:

Denver Refiners The Denver Refiners were a professional basketball team who played in Denver, Colorado, in 1950–1951 and were a member of the Western Division of the National Professional Basketball League, which lasted one season. History The National Basket ...

/Evansville Agogans,

Saint Paul Lights The St. Paul Lights were a franchise for the one season (1950) of the National Professional Basketball League, based in St. Paul, Minnesota. History The National Basketball Association contracted after the 1949–1950 season, losing six teams: ...

Kansas City Hi-Spots The Kansas City Hi-Spots were a franchise for one season (1950-1951) in the National Professional Basketball League, based in Kansas City, Missouri. History The National Basketball Association contracted after the 1949-1950 season, losing six te ...

and

(Former NBA). The franchise started the season as the

, but they had difficulty in financing the team's long trips to all its eastern and midwestern counterparts. Bill Butterfield, an office supply store manager in Evansville, bought the franchise and moved it to Indiana in January 1951. Butterfield gave the squad the unusual new name of Agogans, apparently derived from the word "agog", meaning "intense interest and excitement." The Agogans (coached by Gene Latham) featured former local high school athletes (including Butterfield's son Bill) and others from the local Evansville Bosse High School state championship team. The team did feature a few players with professional experience (including Blackie Towery, who played for the Ft. Wayne Pistons in the 1940s), but it wasn't enough, as Evansville lost all six of its regular-season contests, by an average of 22 points. (They did manage a 66–59 win over the famed

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

in an exhibition game.) The team and league folded after 1951. Evansville would not be home to another professional basketball team until the

Evansville Thunder The Evansville Thunder were a professional basketball team who played in Evansville, Indiana, from 1984 to 1986. The team was a member of the Continental Basketball Association and played at Roberts Municipal Stadium. Evansville had previous exper ...

of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

was formed in 1984.

The arena

Games were played at the Evansville Central High School gym, now home to the downtown Evansville

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Notable alumni

* Norm McCool * Ollie Shoaf

References

Basketball teams established in 1950 Sports clubs disestablished in 1951 Basketball in Evansville, Indiana Basketball teams in Indiana Defunct basketball teams in the United States National Professional Basketball League (1950–51) 1950 establishments in Indiana 1951 disestablishments in Indiana {{Indiana-basketball-team-stub fr:National Professional Basketball League it:National Professional Basketball League