The Sheboygan Red Skins (or Redskins) was a professional basketball team based in

Sheboygan, Wisconsin Sheboygan () is a city in and the county seat of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 49,929 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a populati ...

, which was an original

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 ...

franchise during the 1949–1950 season.

History

Overview

The Redskins played in three professional leagues and as an independent team. The leagues were, in order, the National Basketball League (NBL); the

(charter member), and the National Professional Basketball League (NPBL). The team originated in 1933 from informal clubs which were sponsored by local businesses. They joined the NBL by 1938 as the Red Skins, owned by a

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndicat ...

. The Red Skins played in the NBL from 1938 to 1949, led the league in defense five times, appeared in five championship series and won the 1942–43 title, defeating the league-leading Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (today's

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

) in the finals. They were undone by the 1949 merger of the NBL and the BAA. The other league which merged to form the NBA (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 ...

) had more money, played in larger cities, and generally fielded better teams. The Red Skins were one of seven franchises which quickly left the NBA. The league 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 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, and the Chicago Stags,

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 folded. The NBA shrank from 17 teams to 11 before the 1950–1951 season began. 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 midway through the season, reducing the number of teams in the league to ten. The Red Skins did not fit well, left the league, and joined the short-lived NPBL. When that league folded, the team returned to its independent roots for one more year of play before it also disappeared.

Early years

The team formed in Sheboygan as the Ballhorns in 1933. Sponsors changed every couple of years, and the team changed its name to match its current sponsor. Successful playing regional rivals and distant touring teams, they were invited to join the fledgling NBL in 1938. Now a full-time professional organization with an extensive traveling schedule, it took more than one local business to support the team. A syndicate of Sheboygan community members incorporated the team as the Red Skins, and they gradually became successful.

Barnstorming roots

Before joining the NBL, Sheboygan had developed a reputation in the Midwest during the early 1930s for successful industrial-league and barnstorming teams. The Ballhorns, sponsored by a local furniture store and funeral parlor, began in 1933; local tailor and dry cleaner Art Imig took over in 1935, and gelatin producer Enzo-Pac sponsored the team two years later. Brothers

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varia ...

and Joe "Scoop" Posewitz,

Les Kuplic James Leslie Kuplic (September 23, 1911 – July 22, 1968) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Sheboygan Red Skins in the National Basketball League for two seasons and averaged 1.2 points per game. After playing fo ...

, Slim Lonsdorf, Carl Roth, Pete and Dugan Norris, and John Cinealis were among the better Sheboygan players during the decade. The Jack Mann, one of the first outstanding Black players in the game, starred at center during the 1936–37 season. In 1937–38, they had a 17–3 record against teams such as the

New York Renaissance The New York Renaissance, also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens, were the first black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas. They were named after t ...

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 ...

, New York Celtics and Chicago Duffy Florals. The team had a friendly rivalry with 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, a forerunner to the NBA, from 1937 until 1949. History ...

. The All-Stars' founder and president was Lon Darling, who helped found the NBL in 1937 and became league president the following year.

Transition to professional team

After the successful 1937–38 season, the Enzo Jels were admitted to the NBL on June 11, 1938 at the league meeting 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 ...

with help from Darling. They were soon taken over by a group of local business leaders and renamed the Red Skins. Their first coach was Edwin "Doc" Schutte, a local dentist. After compiling an 11–17 record in his only season, Schutte stepped down to devote more time to his practice. The Red Skins were consistent winners under attorney and coach

Frank Zummach Francis E. Zummach (January 28, 1911 – April 30, 2012) was an American basketball player and coach. He served as the head coach of the Sheboygan Red Skins, a team that played in the National Basketball League (NBL) and later the National Baske ...

from 1939 to 1942, including a spot opposite the Oshkosh All-Stars in the 1941 NBL finals. Zummach (an assistant coach at Marquette University for six seasons) formed his team around Marquette alumni, including All-American Dave Quabius, Glenn R. "Sparky" Adams, George Hesik, Bill McDonald and Paul Sokody. Sandlotter Otto Kolar, from

Cicero, Illinois Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 85,268. making it the 11th largest municipality in Illinois. The town of Ci ...

, was rated one of the Midwest's best guards and ran the Red Skins offense.

Arenas

The Red Skins left the 1,500-seat Eagles Auditorium in downtown Sheboygan in late 1942 and moved into the 3,500-seat

Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory (commonly known as The Armory) was a 52,000 sq. ft indoor arena located on the lakefront in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It was built in Streamline Moderne style in 1941 as a Works Progress Administration pro ...

, five blocks away near

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. The Eagles Auditorium, part of the Playdium building, was destroyed by fire in 1977. Known as "the Armory," the armory was a WPA project and contained the NBL's largest floor at the time: . It was added to Wisconsin's register of historic places in 2019.

Middle years

NBL title

The Red Skins reached their zenith in 1942–43 under coach Carl Roth, who had played for Sheboygan's industrial-league powerhouses during the 1930s and on the first Red Skins team in 1938–39. The late-season acquisition of Hall of Fame guard

Buddy Jeannette Harry Edward "Buddy" Jeannette (September 15, 1917 – March 11, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. Jeannette was widely regarded as the premier backcourt player between 1938 and 1948. He was named to the First T ...

, who joined Sheboygan for their last four regular-season games and the playoffs and commuted from his home in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, was a significant factor in the team's 1943 NBL title. Jeannette, who worked at a Rochester defense plant and traveled to Sheboygan games primarily on weekends, averaged 15.5 points per game when final scores hovered in the 30s and 40s. Other major contributors to Sheboygan's championship team were NBL rookie of the year Ken Buehler, all-league players Ed Dancker and Ken Suesens, and shooter Rube Lautenschlager. The team received the inaugural Naismith Memorial Trophy.

Continued success

After winning their only NBL title, the Red Skins continued to be one of the strongest teams in professional basketball and appeared in the next three championship series (1944, 1945 and 1946) behind

Mike Novak Michael Donald Novak (April 23, 1915 – August 15, 1978) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the NBL, BAA, and NBA from 1939 to 1954. A 6'9" center from Loyola University Chicago, he was one of the first prominent "big m ...

a former All-American from Loyolaand Dancker: a player who honed his skills in the Milwaukee recreational leagues. Suesens, Lautenschlager, Dick Schulz, Tony Kelly, Al Lucas, Al Moschetti and Bobby Holm were other key Red Skins during this period. The signing of Lucas, Moschetti and Holm by Basketball Hall of Famer Dutch Dehnert in 1944 was the team's first acquisition of a group of name players from the East Coast. Sheboygan lost in the finals to Fort Wayne in 1944 and 1945, the latter after a 2–0 lead in the best-of-five series. They lost in 1946 to the powerhouse Rochester Royals, who had Hall of Famers

Al Cervi Alfred Nicholas Cervi (February 12, 1917 – November 9, 2009) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball League (NBL) and National Basketball Association (NBA). One of the strongest backcourt players of ...

Bob Davies Robert Edris Davies (January 15, 1920 – April 22, 1990) was an American professional basketball player. Alongside Bobby Wanzer he formed one of the best backcourt duos in the National Basketball Association's early years. Davies and Wanzer led ...

and

Red Holzman William "Red" Holzman (August 10, 1920 – November 13, 1998) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to ...

. Dehnert coached the Red Skins to consecutive divisional titles, leaving after the 1945–46 season to coach the Cleveland Rebels of the

. Sheboygan remained among the NBL's elite teams, securing playoff berths in 1947 and 1949. Before the 1946–47 season, the Red Skins were the first NBL team to fly to the West Coast. They played at Los Angeles'

Grand Olympic Auditorium The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditorium ...

and lost two close games to the Los Angeles Red Devils, whose best player was UCLA alumnus

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 ...

; the following spring, Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Sheboygan finished the season with a 26–18 record (two games behind first-place Oshkosh in the Western Division), but the Red Skins lost to the All-Stars 49–47 in the fifthand decidinggame of their first-round playoff.

Rebuilding

For about a month in December 1947, Hall of Fame player Bobby McDermott was a player-coach for the Red Skins. He was obtained from the Chicago American Gears after the Professional Basketball League of America folded the previous month. McDermott played in 16 games for Sheboygan, scoring 138 points. As coach, he took the reins from Doxie Moore and had a 4–5 record. Moore resumed coaching Sheboygan after McDermott left to join the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in January 1948. The season was one of the Red Skins' most disappointing; the team was aging and in disarray, with a 23–37 record. In 1948–49 (the NBL's last season) the Red Skins unveiled a fresh group of stars, including

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

All-American Bob Brannum, Valparaiso star Milt Schoon,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

guard Danny Wagner,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

guard Merlin "Boody" Gilbertson,

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

center Noble Jorgensen and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

guard Bobby Cook. With holdovers Mike Todorovich (a first-team NBL pick in 1947–48), Wisconsin forward Paul Cloyd, University of Toledo guard Bob Bolyard, Northwestern football and basketball All-American Max Morris and player-coach Suesens (who had starred at Iowa, where he roomed with Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick), the Red Skins finished their 11th season in the NBL with a 35–29 record. Only the Oshkosh All-Stars appeared in more NBL championship series (six) than Sheboygan, or played more seasons in the league (12). The Red Skins made the NBL playoffs eight times and were invited to appear in nearly every prestigious World Pro Tournament held in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Their best finish in Chicago was in 1939, when they lost the consolation championship to the

Final years

After the 1948–1949 season, the team went into decline due to changes in professional basketball. Although the rival BAA had formed a few years earlier and the leagues saw an opportunity to expand the game's appeal through a merger, many NBL teams could not compete at the BAA level; they did not have corporate money or a big-city fan base. The mismatch drove many former NBL teams to leave after one season, including the Red Skins. Those teams attempted to recover by forming a new league, but it also only lasted one season. The Red Skins tried to continue, but failed to form another new league and closed after an independent run during the 1951–1952 season.

NBA charter member

On August 3, 1949, Sheboygan and six other NBL teams merged with the 10-team BAA to become the

. The Red Skins, who played in the NBA's smallest arena (and market), competed in the 1949–50 season with Suesens as coach and finished with a 22–40 record: fourth place in the six-team Western Division. When Oshkosh folded soon after the merger, Sheboygan became the country's oldest professional basketball franchise. The Red Skins had a 7–2 start with home victories against the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

. The most spectacular win of the 1949–50 season was on January 5, 1950, when they defeated

George Mikan George Lawrence Mikan Jr. (; June 18, 1924 – June 1, 2005), nicknamed "Mr. Basketball", was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of ...

and the Minneapolis Lakers 85–82 in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 3,800 fans at the Armory. Four future Hall of Famers were on the floor for Minneapolis that Thursday night: Mikan (who scored 42 points),

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 ...

, Vern Mikkelsen and

Slater Martin Slater Nelson "Dugie" Martin Jr. (October 22, 1925 – October 18, 2012) was an American professional basketball player and coach who was a playmaking guard for 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born in Elmina, ...

. The Lakers' coach was Hall of Famer

John Kundla John Albert Kundla (July 3, 1916 – July 23, 2017) was an American college and professional basketball coach. He was the first head coach for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its predecessors, the Basketbal ...

. The victory against that season's eventual NBA champion gave the Red Skins a 13–13 record, after which injuries took their toll and the team faded. They qualified for the playoffs, however, where they nearly upset the Western Division champion

in a best-of-three series.

National Professional Basketball League

The team was unwelcome in the NBA during their first season. Ned Irish, president of the

, refused to participate in the same league as the "bush leagues": small-city charter NBA teams from the NBL, such as the Red Skins,

and

. Sheboygan withdrew from the NBA on April 24, 1950, and joined the new National Professional Basketball League with several other NBA teams. The NPBL formed around the former NBL/NBA teams, with larger-market teams added. The charter teams were the East Division Red Skins, Anderson Packers, Louisville Alumnites and Grand Rapids Hornets, and the West Division Denver Refiners/ Evansville Agogans, Saint Paul Lights, Kansas City Hi-Spots and Waterloo Hawks. Sheboygan posted the NPBL's best record (29–16) in 1950–51. Sheboygan and Waterloo finished first in their respective divisions, but the league did not conduct a playoff and dissolved at the end of the regular season. Both teams claimed the championship, based on division play.

Attempt to survive

In summer 1951, longtime Red Skins president Magnus Brinkman led a drive to form a league which would have been called the Western Basketball Association, consisting of eight to 10 teams and seeking two other NBA castoffs: the Waterloo Hawks and the Anderson Packers. Competition from the NBA became too great, however, and the effort failed. The Red Skins played one season of independent basketball, in 1951–52, before dissolving. Bobby Cook, who had scored an NBA-record 44 points in a Red Skins home game against the Denver Nuggets in January 1950, coached the team. The final Sheboygan Red Skins team consisted of several former University of Wisconsin players and compiled a winning record, primarily playing other independent Midwest teams. Attendance was low, however, and the team discontinued operations after losing its final game to the College All-Stars at the Armory.

Notable alumni

* Bob Bolyard *

Bob Brannum Robert Warren Brannum (May 28, 1925 – February 5, 2005) was an American basketball player. A 6'5" center from Winfield, Kansas, Brannum attended the University of Kentucky and Michigan State before playing professional basketball. Brannum wa ...

* Ken Buehler *

Jack Burmaster John Hagelou "Jack" Burmaster (December 23, 1926 – September 28, 2005) was an American basketball player and coach. He played collegiately for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While at Illinois, Burmaster played the 1945 season ...

Paul Cloyd Paul V. Cloyd (June 13, 1920 – December 28, 2005) was an American basketball player. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, he played college basketball for the University of Wisconsin. He was selected by the Washington Capitols in the 1947 BAA draft, b ...

* Bobby Cook * Ed Dancker * Merlin "Boody" Gilbertson * John Givens * Luther Harris * George Hesik * Bobby Holm *

Noble Jorgensen Noble Gordon "Jorgy" Jorgensen (May 18, 1925 – November 2, 1982) was an American professional basketball player. He was a center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and other leagues. His brother was Basketball Association of America ...

* Tony Kelly * Otto Kolar * John Kotz *

* Walt Lautenbach * Rube Lautenschlager * Fred B. Lewis * Slim Lonsdorf * Al Lucas * Bill McDonald *

Max Morris Glen Max Morris (March 13, 1925 – January 8, 1998) was an American professional basketball and American football player. He was a consensus All-American in both sports for Northwestern University and later played professional football for the ...

* Al Moschetti *

* Wally Osterkorn * Jack Phelan * Joe "Scoop" Posewitz * Johnny Posewitz *

Dave Quabius David Quabius (March 16, 1916 – June 19, 1983) was an American basketball player who played in the National Basketball League (NBL). From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Quabius played for North Division High School and Marquette University. Followi ...

* Carl Roth *

Milt Schoon Milton W. Schoon (February 25, 1922 – January 18, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. A 6-foot-7, 230-pound center, Schoon began his college career at Tri-State College (now Trine University) during the 1941–42 season before ...

* Paul Sokody * Kenny Suesens * Mike Todorovich *

Danny Wagner Daniel Earnest Wagner Jr. (August 1, 1922 – December 27, 1997) was an American professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Sheboygan Red Skins during the 1949–50 NBA season. Wagner also play ...

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

Head coaches

* Edwin "Doc" Schutte, 1938–39 *

, 1939–1942 * Carl Roth, 1942–1944 * Henry "Dutch" Dehnert, 1944–1946 * Doxie Moore, 1946–1948 * Bobby McDermott, 1947–48 (player-coach) * Ken Suesens, 1948–1951 (player-coach in 1948–49) * Bobby Cook, 1951–52 (player-coach)

Season-by-season records

, - !colspan="6", Sheboygan Red Skins (NBL) , - , 1938–39 , , 11, , 17, , 0.393, , , , , - , 1939–40 , , 15, , 13, , 0.536, , 1–2, , Lost Western Division finals , - , 1940–41 , , 13, , 11, , 0.542, , 2–4, , Lost NBL finals , - , 1941–42 , , 10, , 14, , 0.417, , , , , - , 1942–43 , , 12, , 11, , 0.522, , 4–1, , NBL champions , - , 1943–44 , , 14, , 8, , 0.636, , 2–4, , Lost NBL finals , - , 1944–45 , , 19, , 11, , 0.633, , 4–4, , Lost NBL finals , - , 1945–46 , , 21, , 13, , 0.618, , 3–5, , Lost NBL finals , - , 1946–47 , , 26, , 18, , 0.591, , 2–3, , Lost Western Division semifinals , - , 1947–48 , , 23, , 37, , 0.383, , , , , - , 1948–49 , , 35, , 29, , 0.547, , 0–2, , Lost Western Division semifinals , - !colspan="6", Sheboygan Red Skins (NBA) , - , 1949–50 , , 22, , 40, , 0.355, , 1–2, , Lost Western Division semifinals , - !colspan="6", Sheboygan Red Skins (NPBL) , - , 1950–51 , , 29, , 16, , 0.644, , , , Top mark when league dissolved , -

References

External links

Complete Sheboygan Redskins History
{{NBAdefunct 1938 establishments in Wisconsin 1952 disestablishments in Wisconsin Basketball teams established in 1938 Basketball teams disestablished in 1952 Defunct National Basketball Association teams National Professional Basketball League (1950–51) Sheboygan, Wisconsin