1948–49 Tri-Cities Blackhawks season

1948–49 Tri-Cities Blackhawks season
1948–49 Tri-Cities Blackhawks season
Head coach	Bobby McDermott
Arena	Wharton Field House
Results
Record	36–28 (.563)
Place	Division: 2nd (Western)
Playoff finish	Lost Division Semifinals (All-Stars) 1–3
	Stats at Basketball Reference

The 1948–49 season was the Tri-Cities Blackhawks' third season of play and the last of the National Basketball League (NBL) before its merger with the Basketball Association of America (BAA). Led by the league's final MVP Don Otten, the Blackhawks experienced their first winning season in team history, as well as their only winning season while in the NBL.^[1] The Tri-Cities would sweep the Sheboygan Red Skins 2–0 in the opening round, but lost to the Oshkosh All-Stars 3–1 in the semifinal round of the final NBL Playoffs ever held. Months after the end of what became the final NBL season as a whole, the NBL officially agreed to merge operations with the more upstart Basketball Association of America to become the modern-day National Basketball Association, with the NBA ultimately keeping the history of the BAA around over that of the NBL despite it being the longer-lasting league, though the NBA would also keep every surviving NBL team from the previous season outside of the Dayton Rens, Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, and Oshkosh All-Stars alongside keeping the NBL's planned expansion team in the Indianapolis Olympians, while the BAA side also kept every team of theirs outside of the Indianapolis Jets (formerly the NBL's Indianapolis Kautskys) and the Providence Steamrollers for the merger. However, the Blackhawks and the Syracuse Nationals would become the only NBL teams in the NBL side of things by 1949 to survive to the present day, albeit as the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers respectively.

Roster

1948–49 Tri-Cities Blackhawks roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Player	Height	Weight	DOB	From
F/C	–	Joe Camic	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1922-11-18	Duquesne
G/F	–	Dee Gibson	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1923-08-25	Bradley
F/C	–	Hoot Gibson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	1921-12-05	Creighton (Minnesota)
G/F	–	Luther Harris	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1923-08-27	East Alton–Wood River HS (IL)
G	–	Billy Hassett	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1921-10-21	Notre Dame
F	–	Earl Hawkins	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1920-09-23	Auburn
F/C	–	Ed Lewinski	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1918-09-10	Bowen HS (IL)
F/C	–	Bobby Lowther	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1923-12-14	LSU
G	–	Bobby McDermott	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1914-01-07	—
C	–	Don Otten	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	240 lb (109 kg)	1921-04-18	Bowling Green
F/C	–	George Ratkovicz	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1922-11-13	Lindblom HS (IL)
F/C	–	Don Ray	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1921-07-08	Western Kentucky
G/F	–	Whitey Von Nieda	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1922-06-19	Penn State
G	–	Murray Wier	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	155 lb (70 kg)	1926-12-12	Iowa