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1948–49 BAA Season
The 1948–49 BAA season was the third and final season of the Basketball Association of America. The 1949 BAA Playoffs ended with the Minneapolis Lakers winning the BAA Championship, beating the Washington Capitols in six games in the 1949 BAA Finals, BAA Finals. The NBA recognizes the three BAA seasons as part of its own history so the 1948–49 BAA season is considered the third NBA season. Following the season, the BAA and National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League merged to create the National Basketball Association or NBA. Notable occurrences Four National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League teams (Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Rochester) joined the BAA for the 1948–49 season. Final standings Eastern Division Western Division Playoffs Statistics leaders Note: Prior to the 1969–70 season, league leaders in points and assists were determined by totals rather than averages. BAA awards *Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 merged with the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Philadelphia Warriors won the inaugural List of NBA champions, BAA championship in 1947, followed by the Baltimore Bullets (1944–54), Baltimore Bullets and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 and 1949, respectively. Six teams from the BAA remain in operation in the NBA as of the 2024–25 NBA season, 2024–25 season, three that co-founded the league in 1946 (Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and Philadelphia Warriors) and three that joined it from the NBL in 1948 (Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals). The 1946–47 BAA season, inaugural BAA season began with 11 teams, of which four dropped out before the second season. One team joined from the American B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1949 BAA Finals
The 1949 BAA Finals was the championship round following the Basketball Association of America (BAA)'s 1948–49 season, its third and last. Later that year, the BAA and National Basketball League merged to create the National Basketball Association (NBA). 6'10" George Mikan and the Minneapolis Lakers proved dominant. They routed the Washington Capitols in six games. This was the first of several successive NBA titles for the Lakers. It was the beginning of the George Mikan and the Lakers Dynasty. As for the Capitols, they would never reach the Finals again, but their coach in Red Auerbach would do so several times over the next two decades, and this represented his only loss in a Final until 1958 (Auerbach would win nine of his eleven appearances in a Final); this would be the first of six overall finals that featured Auerbach against the Lakers, for which he beat them five times, including in 1959 when he beat Kundla in his last game as head coach of the Lakers. The six gam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Brownstein
Philip Brownstein (May 17, 1906 – February 11, 1999) was an American basketball coach, scout, and general manager at the prep school and professional levels. He was the interim head coach for the Chicago Stags, an early National Basketball Association team, for 11 games during the 1948–49 season, and went 10–1 while head coach Harold Olsen was out. Brownstein then took over as the Stags' head coach for the 1949–50 season and led them to a 40–28 record. Brownstein earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and his master's from DePaul University. From 1929 to 1971, Brownstein served as a basketball coach and assistant principal at Kelvyn Park High School in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. He also served as a scout for the Harlem Globetrotters and as a general manager for the Chicago Majors of the American Basketball League. He died on February 11, 1999, in Rush North Shore Medical Center in Skokie, Illinois. Head coachin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Olsen
Harold G. Olsen (May 12, 1895 – October 29, 1953) was a college men's basketball coach. The Rice Lake, Wisconsin native was the head coach of the Ohio State University from 1922 to 1946. That year, he became the first head coach of the BAA's Chicago Stags, where he coached almost three seasons before being replaced by Philip Brownstein. Olsen also coached at Northwestern University (1950–1952). While playing at University of Wisconsin–Madison (1914–1917), Olsen was named to the All-Big Ten twice for basketball. After graduating from Wisconsin, he began his coaching career at Bradley University and Ripon College. In 1922, Olsen followed George Trautman as head coach of the Ohio State University. In 24 years he guided the Buckeyes to a 259–197 record, as well as five Big Ten championships (1925, 1933, 1939, 1944, 1946). He served as a chair on the NCAA Basketball Committee. Olsen helped initiate the 10-second rule in 1937, which requires teams to advance the ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 originally meant to start out as the ''Chicago Atomics'', to the point of even playing an exhibition game against the New York Knicks under that moniker before playing as the ''Chicago Basketball Club, Inc.'' for one more exhibition game before officially becoming the ''Chicago Stags'' for the rest of their existence. During this time, the Stags were placed in the Western Division, and after 60 games were tied with the St. Louis Bombers at 38–22 each. A tiebreaker game between the two teams on March 31, 1947, resulted in the Stags defeating the Bombers in overtime, 73–66, to clinch the division and a first round bye. Under the initial playoff format, the two division champions faced each other in the Semifinals. The Stags defeated the Washington Capitols, the only team to finish with a better record tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grady Lewis
Grady W. Lewis (March 25, 1917 – March 11, 2009) was an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs and Oklahoma Sooners. Lewis played four seasons with the Phillips 66 Oilers of the AAU, and three seasons (1946–1949) in the Basketball Association of America as a member of the Detroit Falcons, St. Louis Bombers, and Baltimore Bullets. He averaged 5.4 points per game in his career and won a league championship with Baltimore in 1948. Lewis also was a member of two AAU national championship teams with Phillips 66 (1940, 1946). Lewis coached the St. Louis Bombers during the 1948–49 and 1949–50 seasons. He then worked for the Converse shoe company. Lewis went on to invent the Converse All Stars shoe, although he did not get recognition as the famous Marketer Chuck Taylor was accredited due to his popular name.Andy Taylor.Retired Converse exec with Caney connection dies. ''Montgomery County Chronicle' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Loeffler
Kenneth D. Loeffler (April 14, 1902 – January 1, 1975) was an American collegiate and professional basketball coach. He was mostly known for guiding the La Salle Explorers men's basketball team to the 1952 National Invitation Tournament and 1954 NCAA basketball tournament titles. After earning a Bachelor's degree at Pennsylvania State University (1920–24) and a short pro basketball career (1924–29), the Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania native began his collegiate coaching career at Geneva College (1928–35). In 1935 he became basketball head coach at Yale University, and also assistant coach to the football and baseball varsity. In seven years at Yale Loeffler put up a 61–82 record. During World War II he served in the U.S. Air Force. After the war Loeffler began coaching pro teams in the Basketball Association of America, first the St. Louis Bombers (1946–48), then the Providence Steamrollers (1948–49). In 1949 he returned to the college ranks when he became head ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat Hickey
Nicholas J. "Nat" Hickey (born Nicola Zarnecić; January 30, 1902 – September 16, 1979) was a Croatian American professional basketball coach/player and baseball player. He turned to coaching basketball after his retirement from playing full-time in 1942 but occasionally activated himself as a player for the teams he was coaching. In 1948, at the age of 45, Hickey played two games with the Providence Steamrollers of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) while serving as the team's head coach, making him the oldest player in NBA history, a mark he still holds today. Early life Hickey was born Nicola Zarnecić on the Croatian island of Korčula (then Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungary). He attended Hoboken High School in Hoboken, New Jersey. Professional basketball career As a 5'11" guard/ forward, Hickey played from the 1920s through 1940s with multiple early professional teams, including the Hoboken St. Joseph's, Eddie Holly's Majors, New York Crescents, Cleveland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Providence Steamrollers
The Providence Steamrollers were a Basketball Association of America team based in Providence, Rhode Island. As of 2025, the Steamrollers were the last professional sports franchise from one of the Big Four leagues to be based in Rhode Island. Franchise history The Steamrollers were one of the original eleven NBA franchises (when the league was called the Basketball Association of America). The franchise posted an all-time record of 46–122 (.274) before folding after three seasons. The Steamrollers still hold the dubious NBA record for the fewest games won in a season with six, in the 1947–48 season, paired with 42 losses. However, the 2011–2012 Charlotte Bobcats hold the record for the lowest winning percentage in NBA history, with .106, the result of a 7–59 record. During that 1947–48 season, the Steamrollers' coach Nat Hickey activated himself as a player for two games, the second of which was two days before his 46th birthday, setting a still-standing record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doggie Julian
Alvin Fred "Doggie" Julian (April 5, 1901 – July 28, 1967) was an American college football coach, a college basketball player and coach, and an National Basketball Association (NBA) coach. Early life and education Julian was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He attended Bucknell University, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball, and from which he graduated in 1923 Career Playing career From 1923 to 1926, Julian played minor league baseball with a number of clubs: the Reading Keystones, the Harrisburg Senators, the York White Roses, the Chambersburg Maroons, and the Lawrence Merry Macks. Coaching career Julian served as the head college basketball coach at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, from 1936 to 1945, at the College of the Holy Cross from 1945 to 1948, and at Dartmouth College from 1950 to 1967, compiling a career college basketball record of 379–332. Julian led Holy Cross to the NCAA title in 1947. His team, which included later Nat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honey Russell
John David "Honey" Russell (May 31, 1902 – November 15, 1973) was an American basketball player and coach who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964. He turned professional after his sophomore year of high school, and for the next 28 years he played for numerous early 20th century pro teams, including many in the American Basketball League. His career included over 3,200 pro games (a number that would take a modern NBA player 30–40 years to equal). He was the first coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics (1946–1948). Russell coached basketball at Seton Hall University from 1936 to 1943 and again from 1949 to 1960. His teams won 294 games and lost 137. In 1940 and 1941, Seton Hall ran its winning streak to 43 games, a national record at the time. The 1952–53 team won the National Invitation Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That team won 31 games, including 27 in a row, while only losing 2 games. Russell also was a scout in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946 as one of the league's original eight teams, the Celtics play their home games at TD Garden, a shared arena with the NHL's Boston Bruins. The Celtics are commonly regarded as the most successful team in NBA history and hold the records for List of NBA champions, most NBA championships won, with 18, and List of all-time NBA win–loss records, most recorded wins of any NBA franchise. The Celtics' rise to dominance began in the late 1950s, after the team, led by coach Red Auerbach, acquired Bill Russell in 1956, later becoming the cornerstone of the Celtics dynasty. Led by Russell, Bob Cousy, and Tom Heinsohn, the Celtics won their first NBA championship in 1957 NBA Finals, 1957. Russell, along with a tal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
