1942–43 Sheboygan Red Skins season

1942–43 Sheboygan Red Skins season
NBL champions
Head coachCarl Roth
Results
Record12–11 (.522)
Playoff finishDefeated Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in NBL Championship, 2–1

The 1942–43 Sheboygan Red Skins season was the Red Skins' fifth year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which would also be the sixth year the NBL itself existed.[1] However, if one were to include their few seasons they played as an independent team under a few various team names involving local businesses like the Enzo Jels, The Ballhorns, and the Art Imig's at various points before becoming the Sheboygan Red Skins due to their promotion up into the NBL, this would officially be their tenth overall season of play as well. Five teams competed in the NBL in 1942–43, the league's lowest number to that point (largely caused by the war) before the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets folded operations four games into the season in order to have only four competing teams left there for the rest of the season, and the league did not use divisions.[2]

The Red Skins played their home games at the Sheboygan Municipal Auditorium and Armory.[3] For the second time in franchise history (1941), the Red Skins advanced to the NBL Championship, with Sheboygan sweeping the Oshkosh All-Stars 2-0.[2] They then went on to win their first and only NBL championship by defeating the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, two games to one in a best-of-three series.[2] In the third and deciding game, Ed Dancker made the game-winning shot from the corner with less than five seconds remaining to win the championship.[4]

Head coach Carl Roth won the league's Coach of the Year Award despite Sheboygan barely having an above-average team record that year and being second place in the regular season behind the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, while player Ken Buehler was named NBL Rookie of the Year.[2] Ed Dancker (First Team), Buddy Jeannette (Second), and Ken Suesens (Second) earned All-NBL honors.[2] In terms of profits during the season, however, the Red Skins franchise (alongside the rivaling Oshkosh All-Stars) operated in a manner similar to that of the nearby Green Bay Packers NFL team with community members owning a share of the team.[5] For Sheboygan's case, despite them making worthwhile profits with their new arena they had built at the time to seat a few thousand people, the actual usage of it was either free or very minimal for the team, meaning their expenses related to traveling, equipment, and player-staff salaries, to the point where some players were paid only $50 per game (with Buddy Jeannette getting $500 per game for his late inclusion for being signed away from the independently ran Rochester Eber Seagrams (now the NBA's Sacramento Kings) franchise).[6]

Roster

1942–43 Sheboygan Red Skins roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
F/C Ken Buehler 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1919–11–19 Milwaukee
C Ed Dancker 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1914–03–14 South Division High School
C George Jablonski 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1919–07–18 Milwaukee
G Buddy Jeannette 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1917–09–15 Washington & Jefferson
G/F Rube Lautenschlager 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1915–09–07 UW–Oshkosh
G/F Bill McDonald 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1916–11–05 Marquette
G/F Bob Regh 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1912–10–11 Hammond Tech High School (IN)
G Eddie Sadowski 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1915–02–02 Notre Dame
F/C Warren Schrage 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1920–07–30 Wisconsin
G/F Dick Schulz 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 192 lb (87 kg) 1917–01–03 Wisconsin
F Bob Schwartz 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1919–01–14 Wisconsin
G Ken Suesens 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1916–10–23 Iowa
Head coach
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster

Note: Ken Buehler was not on the playoffs roster

Regular season

Season standings

Pos. League Standings Wins Losses Win %
1 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 17 6 .739
2 12 11 .522
3 Oshkosh All-Stars 11 12 .478
4 Chicago Studebaker Flyers 8 15 .348
5 Toledo Jim White Chevrolets† 0 4 .000
†Toledo disbanded during the season

Playoffs

Semifinals

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

  • Game 1 @ Sheboygan: Sheboygan 50, Oshkosh 38
  • Game 2 @ Oshkosh: Sheboygan 56, Sheboygan 47

NBL Championship

(1) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons vs. (2) Sheboygan Red Skins: Sheboygan wins series 2–1

  • Game 1 @ Fort Wayne: Sheboygan 55, Fort Wayne 50[7]
  • Game 2 @ Sheboygan: Fort Wayne 50, Sheboygan 45[8]
  • Game 3 @ Fort Wayne: Sheboygan 30, Fort Wayne 29[4]

Awards and honors

World Professional Basketball Tournament

For the fifth year in a row, the Sheboygan Red Skins would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which the 1943 event was held on March 15–18, 1943 and was mostly held by independently ran teams alongside the four remaining NBL teams from this season due in part to World War II. The Red Skins were given a first round bye alongside last year's NBL/WPBT champions in the Oshkosh All-Stars, the world famous Harlem Globetrotters, and the Washington Bears (who held players from the legendarily independent New York Renaissance all-black team) due to Sheboygan being the champions of the NBL this year. Unfortunately for Sheboygan, they would lose their first and only match they played in the tournament by competing against the team they had just defeated in the NBL Finals, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, with a 48–40 loss. Fort Wayne would end up losing their semifinal match to the Oshkosh All-Stars (though beat the independent Dayton Dive Bombers in the third place game), while Oshkosh would lose the championship match to the Washington Bears (who only lost one time during their over 50 or so games played in the independent 1942–43 season they played) to have the Bears be the last independent team to win the WPBT championship in the tournament's history.

Game Played

References

  1. ^ "NBL Season Index". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e "1942–43 NBL Season Summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  3. ^ "Sheboygan Red Skins → 1942–1943". Pro Basketball Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Sheboygan Redskins Win Pro League Cup". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. March 10, 1943. p. 5. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., p. 123
  6. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., pp. 120–121, 124
  7. ^ "Sheboygan Redskins Beat Fort Wayne". Racine Journal Times. March 2, 1943. p. 8. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Fort Wayne Beats Sheboygan, 50–45". Racine Journal Times. March 3, 1943. p. 10. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
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