1946–47 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season

The 1946–47 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season was the sixth season of the franchise in the National Basketball League. For the first time in their NBL history, Fort Wayne had to play without four-time NBL MVP Bobby McDermott, who left the team in the middle of the season to be a player-coach for the Chicago American Gears (who ended up winning the NBL's championship this season). Not only that, but they also lost star guard Buddy Jeannette during the off-season as well, though they did get back power forward Blackie Towery following World War II's conclusion. This also would be the NBL's first official season where they actually implemented a drafting system similar to what the future rivaling Basketball Association of America (and later merging partner to become the National Basketball Association) had for the eventual NBA draft system a year later following the conclusion of their inaugural league season for the purpose of controlled player salaries and limiting the idea of outbidding other players outside of their own 12-player teams at hand (with the NBL having a budget of $6,000 this season), as well as implementing key players to signing binding contracts as soon as they could and the NBL looking to have full-time referees on display.^[1] The Zollner Pistons finished the season by being second place in the Eastern Division behind the defending champion Rochester Royals and defeated the Toledo Jeeps 3–2 in the quarterfinal round of the Eastern Division's NBL Playoffs before falling to the Rochester Royals 2–1 in the semifinal round.

While they failed to win the NBL championship once again, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would participate in the World Professional Basketball Tournament once again in the hopes of being a four-time champion team there. The Zollner Pistons were granted a first round bye once again due to their champion status in the WPBT alongside being the best team in their division that participated in that event (alongside the Indianapolis Kautskys getting a first round bye, oddly enough, despite them not only being a team that never won a match in the WPBT before this year's event, but also participating alongside the Oshkosh All-Stars, who had won the best record in their division that year) and had beaten the Anderson Duffey Packers 52–40 in the quarterfinal round before being upset by the Toledo Jeeps 61–56 in the semifinal round, denying Fort Wayne the chance to be a rare four-time champion (doing it four times in a row) while in the WPBT. Instead, The Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would have to settle for a third-place finish by blowing out the Oshkosh All-Stars 86–67, while the Toledo Jeeps were upset by the Indianapolis Kautskys for not just their first and only victories in the WPBT, but also their only professional championship that they would win altogether.

For the seventh year in a row (sixth in a row while representing the NBL), the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which saw the 1947 event being held on April 7–11, 1947 and consisted of 14 teams, most of which was an even mixture of independently ran teams and teams from the National Basketball League alongside the rivaling American Basketball League's defending champion Baltimore Bullets and the Portland Indians from the ultimately short-lived Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. For the fourth straight year in a row, the Zollner Pistons were granted a first round bye due to their champion status in the WPBT alongside them being the best team in the NBL's reformatted Eastern Division (though they were given the bye alongside the Indianapolis Kautskys, oddly enough, despite them not only being a team that never won a match in the WPBT before this year's event (including the years they participated under the temporary monikers of the Indianapolis Pure Oils and Indianapolis Oilers), but also participating alongside the Oshkosh All-Stars, who had won the best record in the Western Division that year). As such, regardless of reasonings, Fort Wayne's first opponents in the WPBT's quarterfinal round this year was the Anderson Duffey Packers, which they took care of with relative ease by a 52–40 final score to advance to the semifinal round.

In the semifinal round, the Zollner Pistons saw themselves entering an opening round playoff rematch against the Toledo Jeeps, with whom Fort Wayne had beaten 3–2 in a best-of-five-game series in the NBL Playoffs. However, in the winner-takes-all match that saw the winner entering the championship match of tournament, Toledo saw themselves get their revenge for losing to Fort Wayne in the quarterfinal round of NBL Playoffs and get the 61–56 upset victory in the Jeeps' favor, which not only saw Toledo get into the championship round, but also saw the Zollner Pistons end their run for a fourth straight WPBT championship and instead be forced to settle for a potential third-place finish against the losing team between the Indianapolis Kautskys and Oshkosh All-Stars, meaning this year's WPBT path would have them facing off against NBL teams only for a change of pace.

For the third place consolation match, Fort Wayne went up against the Oshkosh All-Stars, who were the best team of the NBL's Western Division this season, with three more wins than the Zollner Pistons had that year. For the third place match, Fort Wayne ended up routing the All-Stars for the entire match, with Oshkosh only tying up the Zollner Pistons' play for the fourth quarter, which by that point saw Fort Wayne blowing out the All-Stars with a 86–67 victory to settle for third place, with Ralph Hamilton being named a member of the All-Tournament First Team and Jake Pelkington being a member of the All-Tournament Second Team.^[3] As for the final, championship match-up between two teams that had ended up exceeding expectations this year, it would be the Kautskys that would upset the Jeeps for the championship with a 62–47 finale, though it was Toledo's Julie Rivlin that was named the WPBT's MVP over anyone from Indianapolis' team.

• Fort Wayne had a bye in the first round.
• Won quarterfinal round (52–40) over the Anderson Duffey Packers
• Lost semifinal round (56–61) to the Toledo Jeeps
• Won third place consolation game (86–67) over the Oshkosh All-Stars

• Ralph Hamilton, All-Tournament First Team
• Jake Pelkington, All-Tournament Second Team