The Indianapolis Jets were a

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) team based in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. 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 Indianapolis Olympians were a founding National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded in 1949 and folded in 1953. Their home arena was Butler Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University--now known as H ...

Franchise history

In 1931 Frank Kautsky, an Indianapolis grocer, formed a professional basketball team and named it the Indianapolis Kautskys. After playing in the

Midwest Basketball Conference 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 Basket ...

(1932–33) and the National Basketball League (1935–37), the Kautskys became one of the original members of the newly formed National Basketball League (NBL) in 1937. 1946-47 was the best season for the franchise; led by

Arnie Risen Arnold Denny "Stilts" Risen (October 9, 1924 – August 4, 2012) was an American professional basketball player. A 6'9" (2.06 m) center, he led the Ohio State University Buckeyes to two straight Final Four appearances. Risen had transferred to ...

, they set the franchise mark for most wins (27) and won the

World Professional Basketball Tournament 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 be ...

. With the

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, predating the formation of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Founded in 1947, the Lakers are one of the NBA's most famous and successful franchises. As of summer 2012, th ...

Rochester Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

, and

Fort Wayne Pistons A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, the team moved to the Basketball Association of America (BAA) for the 1948–49 season. At that time the team's name was changed to the Indianapolis Jets because the BAA prevented its teams from having commercial sponsors, similar to how the Fort Wayne Pistons removed the Zollner sponsor from their original name. Following the 1948–49 season, the Jets folded. This coincided with the BAA and the NBL merging to form 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 ...

(NBA). For the 1949–50 season, a new Indianapolis franchise, the

, was created.

Season-by-season records

, - !colspan="6", Indianapolis Kautskys (MBC) , - , 1935–36 , , 9, , 3, , 0.750, , Round Robin Tourney , , , - , 1936–37 , , 2, , 5, , 0.286, , Did not qualify , , , - !colspan="6", Indianapolis Kautskys (NBL) , - , 1937–38 , , 4, , 9, , 0.308, , Did not qualify , , , - , 1938–39 , , 13, , 13, , 0.500, , Did not qualify , , , - , 1939–40 , , 9, , 19, , 0.321, , Did not qualify, , , - , 1941–42 , , 12, , 11, , 0.522, , 0–2 , , , - , 1945–46 , , 10, , 22, , 0.312, , Did not qualify, , , - , 1946–47 , , 27, , 17, , 0.614, , 2–3, , , - , 1947–48 , , 24, , 35, , 0.407, , 1–3, , , - !colspan="6", Indianapolis Jets (BAA) , - , 1948–49 , , 18, , 42, , 0.300, , Did not qualify, , , -

Players

* George Chestnut *

Norman Cottom Norman Cottom (March 12, 1912 – July 1, 1972) was an American professional basketball player for the Indianapolis Kautskys in the National Basketball League for two seasons. A native of Terre Haute, Indiana, Cottom attended Wiley High School ...

* Gene Cramer *

Gus Doerner Wilfred Otto "Gus" Doerner (February 27, 1922 – December 10, 2001) was an American professional basketball player for the Fort Wayne Pistons and Indianapolis Kautskys of the National Basketball League (NBL). He won two championships with ...

* Glynn Downey * Hal Gensichen *

Bruce Hale William Bruce Hale (August 30, 1918 – December 30, 1980) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6'1" guard/forward from Medford, Oregon, Hale played college basketball at Santa Clara University, then played professional ...

* Bob Kessler *

Branch McCracken Emmett B. "Branch" McCracken (June 9, 1908 – June 4, 1970) was an American basketball player and coach. He served as the head basketball coach at Ball State University from 1930 to 1938 and at Indiana University Bloomington from 1938 to 1943 a ...

Charles "Stretch" Murphy Charles Carroll "Stretch" Murphy (April 10, 1907 – August 17, 1992) was an American basketball player. He played competitive basketball at Marion High School (1922–26), located in Marion, Indiana. The All-State player led his school ...

William Perigo William J. Perigo (September 17, 1911 – February 7, 1990) was an American basketball player and coach. He played college basketball for Western Michigan University from 1931 to 1934 and professional basketball for the Indianapolis Kautskys from ...

Cy Proffitt Searle Truman "Cy" Proffitt (October 26, 1911 – February 13, 1996) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Indianapolis Kautskys Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territori ...

Herm Schaefer Herman Henry Schaefer (December 20, 1918 – March 21, 1980) was an American professional basketball player and coach. A 6'0" guard/ forward from Indiana University, Schaefer played in the National Basketball League and National Basketball ...

Dave Strack David H. Strack (March 2, 1923 – January 25, 2014) was an American athletic director for the University of Arizona and head basketball coach of the University of Michigan. He was inducted to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Early life Stra ...

Earl Thomas Earl Winty Thomas III (born May 7, 1989) is an American former football free safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft. During his time with the Sea ...

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as head ...

Jewell Young Jewell Isaac Young (January 18, 1913 – April 16, 2003) was an American basketball player. He was an All-American at Purdue University and an early professional. Young played at Lafayette Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Indiana and played ...

Ash Resnick Irving "Ash" Resnick (March 6, 1916 – January 18, 1989) was an American mob figure, gambler, boxing promoter and manager. Resnick was also a former college and professional basketball player, having played, in college, for the New York Universi ...

Basketball Hall of Famers

References

Defunct National Basketball Association teams Basketball teams in Indianapolis Basketball Association of America teams Basketball teams established in 1931 Basketball teams disestablished in 1949 1931 establishments in Indiana 1949 disestablishments in Indiana {{Indianapolis-stub