1940–41 Oshkosh All-Stars season

The 1940–41 Oshkosh All-Stars season was the All-Stars' fourth year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which was also the fourth year the league existed.^[1] Seven teams competed in the NBL in 1940–41, and for the first time, the league did not use divisions.^[2]

The All-Stars played their home games at South Park School Gymnasium.^[3] For the fourth consecutive season, the All-Stars finished the season with either a division or league-best record (18–6).^[2] They then went on to win their first NBL championship after having lost in the finals the previous three seasons.^[2]

Head coach George Hotchkiss won the league's Coach of the Year Award.^[2] Players Leroy Edwards and Charley Shipp earned First Team All-NBL honors.^[2]

Note: Pete Hecomovich was not on the playoffs roster

(1) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (3) Akron Firestone Non-Skids: Oshkosh wins series 2–0

• Game 1 @ Akron: Oshkosh 30, Akron 28
• Game 2 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 47, Akron 41^(OT)

(1) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (2) Sheboygan Red Skins: Oshkosh wins series 3–0

• Game 1 @ Sheboygan: Oshkosh 53, Sheboygan 38^[4]
• Game 2 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 44, Sheboygan 38^[5]
• Game 3 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 54, Sheboygan 36^[6]

• NBL Coach of the Year – George Hotchkiss
• First Team All-NBL – Leroy Edwards and Charley Shipp

For the third straight year in a row, the Oshkosh All-Stars would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which the 1941 event was held on March 15–19, 1941 (with the tournament beginning three days after Oshkosh swept Sheboygan for the NBL Championship^[7]) and was mostly held by independently ran teams (including the Indianapolis Kautskys, who left the NBL the previous year before returning to the NBL the following year, as well as future NBL teams in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and Rochester Seagrams (later Royals) to become the future NBA teams known as the Detroit Pistons and Sacramento Kings) alongside four of the NBL's teams (including the champion Oshkosh All-Stars, who were considered the favorites of the tournament) and the rivaling American Basketball League's own champions, the Philadelphia Sphas. In the first round on March 16, Oshkosh defeated the works team turned future NBL/BAA/NBA team known as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (who had defeated the independently ran Fort Wayne Harvesters team from previous tournaments to earn the open Fort Wayne, Indiana spot at hand there^[7]) 47–41. In the quarterfinal round, the NBL champion All-Stars managed to defeat the ABL champion Philadelphia Sphas 38–31.^[8] By the semifinal round, Oshkosh would keep things close with the independently ran Toledo White Huts (who were the only integrated team of the WPBT, were led by former NBL player Chuck Chuckovits, and were later considered to be the NBL's Toledo Jim White Chevrolets and then potentially the Toledo Jeeps^[7]), but they would ultimately win 40–37 to enter the championship round;^[9] with the NBL's Detroit Eagles defeating the also independently ran New York Renaissance in the semifinal round, the 1941 tournament marked the first time in WPBT history that the championship match would have a professional NBL team winning the tournament. In the final match, Oshkosh had fallen behind Detroit 35–23 entering the fourth quarter; the All-Stars tried to fight hard all throughout the fourth quarter to catch up and upset the Eagles, to the point of holding them to only four total points scored that quarter, but Detroit managed to hold onto their lead just long enough to win 39–37 (leading to Buddy Jeannette of the Eagles being named the MVP of the tournament) to not just upset the NBL champions in the WPBT, but also be the first NBL team to win that tournament's championship in the process.^[10][11] Despite being upset in the championship round (which occurred with Oshkosh shooting at a lowly 13/78 from the field that night, including star player Leroy Edwards making only one shot out of 15 total attempts^[12]), Bob Carpenter of the All-Stars would be named a member of the All-Tournament Team that year.

• Won first round (47–41) over the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
• Won quarterfinal round (38–31) over the Philadelphia Sphas
• Won semifinal round (40–37) over the Toledo White Huts
• Lost championship round (37–39) to the Detroit Eagles

• Bob Carpenter, All-Tournament Team