Alonzo Lewis "Lon" Darling (June 25, 1902 – April 19, 1951) was an early influencer in American 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 ...

, having created the

barnstorming Barnstorming was a form of entertainment in which stunt pilots performed tricks individually or in groups that were called flying circuses. Devised to "impress people with the skill of pilots and the sturdiness of planes," it became popular in t ...

team the

Oshkosh All-Stars The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling, the team was a member of the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League, a forerunner t ...

, is credited with being the organizer of the National Basketball League (NBL), and was a two-time

NBL Coach of the Year The National Basketball League Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) award given since the 1980 NBL season to the best head coach of the regular season. At the season's end, each c ...

. The Oshkosh All-Stars saw great success over their twelve-year tenure in the NBL, winning the Western Division six times and the league championship twice, in 1941 and 1942. The All-Stars also 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 ...

in 1942.

National Basketball League

;Formation At age 20, Darling began work as a seed distributor, first with the Oshkosh Seed Company, then as an Oshkosh-area distributor for the

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

-based firm Hunkel Seed Co. Since the seed work was seasonal, Darling sought work during its off-season. His solution to this was to create a new professional basketball team, the Oshkosh All-Stars, in 1929. According to the Oshkosh Public Museum, "Barring a down period during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, manager/coach Darling's All-Stars met great success and in 1937, he founded the National Basketball League, a precursor to the current-day NBA, in which the All-Stars were included alongside former members of a regional professional league, for formally-structured league play." ;Disbanding Despite the success that Darling established with the Oshkosh All-Stars and the NBL, he is also cited as a key figure in the NBL's disbanding after the 1948–49 season. Bitter that the All-Stars were not invited to join the rival league of the day—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 ...

, whose teams enjoyed bigger arenas and more funding—Darling accused 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 ...

of being "trouble makers" by switching leagues and incited a feud. Darling had been coaching the All-Stars but resigned prior to the conclusion of the 1948–49 season, causing players

Gene Englund Gene Eniar Englund (October 21, 1917 – November 5, 1995) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for one season, , and split the season playing for the Boston Celtics and Tri-Ci ...

and Eddie Riska to become interim head coaches. Due to insufficient funding, the team disbanded after 1948–49, which trickled to the remaining teams and thus caused the whole league to disband shortly thereafter. The Oshkosh All-Stars were one of few teams to not have been absorbed by the BAA upon the NBL's dissolution.

Personal

Darling was born on June 25, 1902 in

Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...

. He attended Ripon College. Lon's brother was Bernard "Boob" Darling, a professional football player for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

who spent his entire five-year career with the organization. Boob is a member of the

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combina ...

. On April 19, 1951, Darling died at age 48 in his lifelong hometown of Oshkosh. The cause of death was a

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

(heart attack).

Head coaching record

The below season records reflect Darling's tenure as head coach when the Oshkosh All-Stars were in the NBL. Their years spent barnstorming are not counted toward official coaching records. , - style="background:#FDE910;" , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1941–42 , 24, , 20, , 4, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 5, , 4, , 1, , , , data-sort-value="1" align="center" , Won NBL Championship , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1942–43 , 23, , 11, , 12, , , , align="center" , 3rd , , 2, , 0, , 2, , , , align="center" , Lost in Semifinals , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1943–44 , 22, , 7, , 15, , , , align="center" , 3rd, , 3, , 1, , 2, , , , align="center" , Lost in Semifinals , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1944–45 , 30, , 12, , 18, , , , align="center" , 3rd in Western , , —, , —, , —, , —, , align="center" , Missed playoffs , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1945–46 , 34, , 19, , 15, , , , align="center" , 2nd in Western, , 5, , 2, , 3, , , , align="center" , Lost in Division Semifinals , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1946–47 , 44, , 28, , 16, , , , align="center" , 1st in Western, , 7, , 3, , 4, , , , align="center" , Lost in Division Semifinals , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1947–48 , 60, , 29, , 31, , , , align="center" , 3rd in Western, , 4, , 1, , 3, , , , align="center" , Lost in Division Semifinals , - , align="left" , Oshkosh , align="left" , 1948–49 , 60, , 34, , 26, , , , align="center" , 1st in Western , , ''N/A'', , ''N/A'', , ''N/A'', , ''N/A'', , align="center" , ''N/A'' , - , -class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan="2", Total , 297, , 160, , 137, , , , , , 26, , 11, , 15, , , ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Lon 1902 births 1951 deaths American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Wisconsin Oshkosh All-Stars coaches Ripon College (Wisconsin) alumni Sportspeople from Oshkosh, Wisconsin