1941–42 Oshkosh All-Stars season

The 1941–42 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 1941–42 and the league did not use divisions.^[2] The All-Stars played their home games at South Park School Gymnasium.^[3] This season was also notable for them playing a home game on December 7, 1941 (the same day the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, which subsequently led to the U.S.A. entering World War II days later against the Axis powers) against their nearby, municipal rivals in the Sheboygan Red Skins, which resulted in a 52–30 blowout win for Oshkosh.^[4]

For the fifth consecutive season, the All-Stars finished the season with either a division or league best record (20–4).^[2] They then went on to win their second consecutive league championship by defeating the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, two games to one in a best-of-three series.^[2]

Head coach Lon Darling won the league's Coach of the Year Award.^[2] Players Leroy Edwards and Charley Shipp earned First Team All-NBL honors for the second straight season.^[2]

In addition to the NBL Playoffs, the Oshkosh All-Stars also participated in the World Professional Basketball Tournament as well. The All-Stars would only compete against some independently ran teams in the Davenport Central Turner Rockets, the New York Renaissance, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the previous WPBT champion team that was formerly an NBL team that turned themselves into an independent barnstorming team known as the Detroit Eagles, being denied the opportunity to match up against any of the competing NBL teams that joined the WPBT this year. However, unlike the previous seasons that the All-Stars participated in the tournament, Oshkosh would manage to win the 1942 WPBT, being the first professional basketball team to win multiple championships in the same season; that honor would only be repeated three more times in the WPBT's history by the NBL's Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in 1944 & 1945 as well as the NBL's Minneapolis Lakers in 1948.

Note: Herm Witasek was not on the playoffs roster

(1) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (4) Indianapolis Kautskys: Oshkosh wins series 2–0

• Game 1 @ Indianapolis: Oshkosh 40, Indianapolis 33
• Game 2 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 64, Akron 48

(1) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (2) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons: Oshkosh wins series 2–1

• Game 1 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 61, Oshkosh 43^[5]
• Game 2 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 68, Fort Wayne 60^[5]
• Game 3 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 52, Fort Wayne 46^[5]

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

For the fourth straight year in a row, the Oshkosh All-Stars would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which the 1942 event was held on March 8–12, 1942 and was mostly held by independently ran teams due in part to World War II. In the first round, Oshkosh crushed the Davenport Central Turner Rockets 44–29. In the quarterfinal round, the All-Stars managed to upset the inaugural champions of the WPBT, the New York Renaissance, winning 44–38. By the semifinal round, Oshkosh managed to upset the 1940 WPBT champions, the Harlem Globetrotters, by winning 48–41 to enter the championship round once again for a rematch against the 1941 WPBT champions, the Detroit Eagles. In the final match, Oshkosh was ahead of Detroit 20–10 entering the half, but the Eagles managed to get themselves ahead of the All-Stars by one point late in the match. However, unlike the previous year's WPBT championship match against Detroit, Oshkosh would end up managing to get an extra edge over the Eagles thanks to the inspired play of veteran star Leroy Edwards, who had been handicapped due to a knee injury and played sparingly during the tournament, but hobbled himself off the bench to score five quick points to combine with Gene Englund's 17 points that night and Ed Riska's MVP worthy play to help the All-Stars get their revenge on the Detroit Eagles and win 43–41 to be the first NBL team to win both the NBL's championship and the WPBT's championship in the same season.^[6] Following the conclusion of the tournament, the All-Stars players all received gold watches as their special prizes for winning the event this year.^[7]

• Won first round (44–29) over Davenport Central Turner Rockets
• Won quarterfinal round (44–38) over New York Renaissance
• Won semifinal round (48–41) over Harlem Globetrotters
• Won championship round (43–41) over Detroit Eagles

• Gene Englund, All-Tournament Team, leading scorer
• Ed Riska, All-Tournament Team, MVP