1937–38 National Basketball League (United States) season

The 1937–38 NBL season was the third overall season for the U.S.A.'s National Basketball League (NBL) and its first season under that name after previously going by the Midwest Basketball Conference (a semipro or amateur precursor to the NBL) in its first two seasons of existence. After previously having success as a league when using the MBC name, the league's organizers decided to change their name from the Midwest Basketball Conference to the National Basketball League in the 1937 offseason period, with the league's name change being made official by October 6, 1937 in order to have their league stop being generally confused with the Big Ten Conference, a college basketball division that was often referred to by local fans in the Great Lakes area that these teams played in as the "Midwest Conference" at the time. Weirdly enough, a minor basketball league of the same name would debut in the same season as well, though that National Basketball League would only last for one season by comparison to this National Basketball League.^[2] Not only that, but this season would start what can be considered the third version of the National Basketball League after a previous attempt done in 1926 (which featured the Original Celtics and Brooklyn Visitations) shut down near the end of that year and a version called the National Basket Ball League (with the sport being two words at the time instead of just one word) that was the first professional basketball league ever held (alongside the Massachusetts State Basketball League) years after the sport of basketball itself was invented by James Naismith that lasted from 1898 until January 3, 1904 (though other predecessors were also involved as well during the 1929–30 season and especially the 1932–33 season due to that latter season featuring some of the teams that would play in this most recent version of the NBL^[3]).^[4][5][6]

The NBL launched under its new name with a league-high 13 teams (with six teams in the Eastern Division and seven teams in the Western Division, most of which involved teams from the previous two seasons of the Midwest Basketball Conference) playing a planned 20 scheduled games in the league, though the lack of efficient schedule planning for every team there (including the Oshkosh All-Stars joining the NBL officially by December 1937 and playing their first scheduled NBL game by January 1938 while the other two new NBL teams in the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans and the Richmond King Clothiers (later known as the Cincinnati Comellos) both joined the NBL alongside the return of the original Buffalo Bisons MBC turned NBL team (that would not be related to the present-day Atlanta Hawks franchise) by November 1937) led to the NBL's teams playing an awkwardly diverse mix of games played for the newly rebranded league by going from as little as nine games played to as much as 20 games played. However, many of those games that were never officially recorded could be seen as unofficial forfeits from the teams that played less games than at least the 13 necessary games played for playoff qualification due to bad weather conditions during the winter period in particular, with no plans for rescheduling certain games ever coming through due mostly in part to the states the teams that played in the NBL this season dealing with blue laws at the time, leaving them with limited choices on what to do for scheduled NBL games for this season in particular. The inaugural NBL Playoffs ended with the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots (the last champions of the MBC) being the first champions of the NBL (the only time they would be named champions under the rebranding from the MBC to the NBL), with Akron sweeping the newer Oshkosh All-Stars NBL franchise 2 games to 0. An entire book focusing on the NBL's existence would be released in 2009 by historian and author Murry R. Nelson called "The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949", with an entire chapter being dedicated to this season of play.^[7]

Following its 12th season of existence as the NBL, the NBL and Basketball Association of America (the latter league not existing until 1946) merged operations to create the National Basketball Association. Despite the NBL continuing to exist until the 1948–49 NBL season as the longer-lasting operation, the NBA would not recognize the twelve NBL seasons (nor the two MBC precursor seasons nor even the one National Professional Basketball League season that inspired the league's creation) as a part of its own history (outside of certain circumstances), sometimes without comment. As such, none of the previous twelve NBL seasons nor even the two MBC seasons would officially be recognized by the NBA, with the NBA recognizing the 1946–47 BAA season as its first official season of play instead. Out of the thirteen NBL teams that competed in the league this season, only one of these teams in the Indianapolis Kautskys would end up playing in what can be considered the modern-day NBA, giving even the earliest existence of this league a connection to the present-day NBA. Even with that in mind, however, Indianapolis would only play for the 1948–49 BAA season as the Indianapolis Jets for the newer, rivaling Basketball Association of America before folding operations before the NBL and BAA merged operations to become the NBA. While the Oshkosh All-Stars were also considered for the NBL-BAA merger that became the modern-day NBA, no other NBL team from this season would end up joining the NBA once the two leagues merged.

• During the summer of 1937, the Midwest Basketball Conference would submit an organization name change from the Midwest Basketball Conference to the National Basketball League, which would be made official on October 6, 1937.^[8] The purpose of the name change would be to help give the league more of a "national effect" and have it feel less like a regional league, according to Warren HyVis Oils/Warren HyVis Oilers turned Warren Penns team owner, general manager, head coach, and player Gerry Archibald.^[9]
• The offseason would see the departure of three Midwest Basketball Conference teams in the inaugural MBC champions known as the Chicago Duffy Florals, the Detroit Altes Lagers (formerly known as the Detroit Hed-Aids in the inaugural MBC season), and the Indianapolis U.S. Tires (with the last team officially merging operations with the nearby Indianapolis Kautskys^[10]), with those teams joining the Canadian-based Windsor Cooper Buses from the inaugural MBC season as the only other MBC team to not enter the NBL altogether (the Buffalo Bisons previously exited from the MBC in that league's inaugural season alongside the Windsor Cooper Buses, but the Bisons ended up returning to the NBL this season).^[11]
• In addition to the removal of those teams, the name change of the MBC to the NBL also saw team name changes for the Dayton London Bobbys (representing a drink from the Miami Valley Brewing Company) going back to their original Dayton Metropolitans team name (representing the local Dayton Metropolitan Clothing Store), as well as the Pittsburgh Y.M.H.A. team (or Pittsburgh Y.M.H.A.s or Pittsburgh Y.M.H.A.'s due to them representing their local Young Men's Hebrew Association at the time) to the Pittsburgh Pirates NBL team dedicated to the Major League Baseball team of the same name and the Warren HyVis Oils or Warren HyVis Oilers (representing the HyVis oil company) becoming the Warren Penns (who apparently still held their HyVis oil company sponsorship at the time) entering this season.^[11]
• This season would also see the reintroduction of the Buffalo Bisons (who had previously played in the inaugural season of the MBC before leaving in its second season before returning to play in the inaugural NBL season, though with team owner and general manager (and former Buffalo Germans player) Al Heerdt replacing both player-coaches Sam Siegel and Elky Maister as the head coach for the time spent between their only season in the MBC and their return in the NBL^[12][13]), as well as the debuts of the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans, the Richmond King Clothiers (later known as the Cincinnati Comellos by January 5, 1938, with their first game under that name being made official by January 16, 1938 after three games played by the Richmond King Clothiers), and the self-declared world champion Oshkosh All-Stars due to a four to three best of seven championship series they won over the all-black New York Renaissance the previous season (who would not officially join the NBL until December 1937, with their first NBL game not being played until January 1938).^[9][14]
• Because of the lack of uniform policies agreed upon during this season, the NBL decided to let the home team for each game decide upon whether to use the center jump ball rule for each made basket or not, with the home team also deciding upon whether to utilize four ten minute quarters or three fifteen minute quarters for their games. Not only that, but some teams also only had full league schedules where they competed against three or four opponents instead, with some matches by teams like the Columbus Athletic Supply team and the Indianapolis Kautskys turning into forfeits (meaning the final score would be 2–0 for the victor) due to them simply not showing up to play scheduled matches against stronger opponents like the Fort Wayne General Electrics and the Akron Firestone Non-Skids altogether near the end of the season (with some of the teams that played a lesser number of games this season having unofficial forfeits due to bad weather likely being involved, with no plans for rescheduled games occurring for those teams there for one reason or another).^[15]
• Rosters for each team would also be made up of veteran players from each team's local area in question, with no team having much success in acquiring graduating star collegiate players from this era. (DePaul University guard Ed Campion from the Whiting Ciesar All-Americans would be the biggest college star to sign up with the NBL as a rookie player, while the works teams operated by Goodyear, Firestone, and General Electric recruited players from across the U.S.A. by offering management positions within their corporations in addition to playing on their basketball teams in their respective locations in Akron and Fort Wayne.^[15])
• The NBL would begin play under their new name by late November 1937, with some teams beginning their NBL play either by December 1937 or January 1938.^[9][16]
• After officially entering the NBL on December 1937, the Oshkosh All-Stars made their NBL debut on January 2, 1938 in a close 44–43 win over the Dayton Metropolitans, giving them their first official game of the NBL, as well as essentially having every team play an NBL scheduled game at least once by then.^[16]
• After three games played in the NBL, the Richmond King Clothiers would unofficially fold operations during the month of December 1937, with them selling their franchise off to Gus Comello on January 5, 1938 before playing their first NBL game as the Cincinnati Comellos (effectively taking over the spot previously held by the Richmond King Clothiers in the process) for the rest of this season on January 16, 1938.^[17] However, the Comellos would only play under that name for seven games alongside the three games played under the Richmond King Clothiers name before ending their season prematurely due to the city of Cincinnati recovering from the aftermath of the Ohio River flood of 1937.^[18]
• Not long after the team name change the Richmond King Clothiers to the Cincinnati Comellos, the Comellos would decide to fire head coach Bob McConachie (who had a 1–4 record between his time spent with both Richmond and Cincinnati) with player-coach John Wiethe, who posted a better 2–3 record to end their ultimately shortened season.
• Leroy Edwards of the Oshkosh All-Stars would score a then league-high 28 points in a February 2, 1938 win over the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans.^[19] This would later lead to both Leroy Edwards of the All-Stars and John Wooden of the Whiting Ciesar All-Americans being considered to be the only two players in the NBL to average over 10 points per game in the NBL this season for the longest time, though it was later discovered that rookie player Robert Kessler of the Indianapolis Kautskys was the third player to average at least 10 points per game while he played exactly 10 games this season.^[20]
• By the end of the season, the Columbus Athletic Supply team (who had only won one game early on in their season against the Dayton Metropolitans and had forfeited two different matches to the Fort Wayne General Electrics and Akron Firestone Non-Skids works teams at some point in time during this season (potentially for reasons related to bad weather)) ended up with what could be considered the worst record in the NBL's entire twelve year history (or fourteen year history if you include the MBC years) with a horrendous 1–12 record to end what can be considered their only season in the NBL properly.
• After previously implementing a round-robin tournament playoff format in the first MBC season and using a best of three playoff series for the two best teams of each division in the second MBC season before the winners of those playoffs compete against each other for the second and final championship series there, the NBL would utilize the similar playoff method of the second MBC season into its inaugural NBL Playoffs held where the best two NBL teams of each division competed against each other in a best of three series before the two winning teams competed against each other in another best of three series to win the inaugural NBL championship.
• Due to the Oshkosh All-Stars playing as a barnstorming team alongside an NBL team this season, their overall record when combining the NBL games played with the independent, exhibition games they played had them end their season with an unofficial 62–12 record.^[21]

The inaugural NBL Playoffs held by the National Basketball League under that name showcased the top two teams from each division competing in a best of three format, with the two winners in the Division Playoffs competing against each other in the NBL Championship series, which was also a best of three series. The two best teams in the Eastern Division were both of the works teams held in Akron, Ohio representing the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company businesses, while the two best teams in the Western Division were the newly established Oshkosh All-Stars for the NBL and the Whiting Ciesar All-Americans in the small cities of Oshkosh, Wisconsin and Whiting, Indiana. Both of those matches would end in a 2–0 series sweep, with the Goodyear Wingfoots upsetting the Firestone Non-Skids and Oshkosh's All-Stars beating the Ciesar All-Americans in the final games that they would represent the city of Whiting. The first NBL championship series, meanwhile, held an upset with the lower seeded Goodyear team competing against the higher seeded Oshkosh All-Stars, with the lower seeded team winning the first ever championship under the rebranded name 2–1. (If you include their previous season when they won the second and final Midwest Basketball Conference championship in 1937 before the MBC became the NBL, the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots would technically be considered repeat championship for the league as well.)

Note: Prior to the 1969–70 NBA season, league leaders in points were determined by totals rather than averages. Also, rebounding and assist numbers were not recorded properly in the NBL like they would be in the BAA/NBA, as would field goal and free-throw shooting percentages.

• NBL Most Valuable Player: Leroy Edwards, Oshkosh All-Stars
• NBL Coach of the Year: Lefty Byers, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots
• NBL Rookie of the Year: Robert Kessler, Indianapolis Kautskys

^[34]

• National Basketball League (United States)

• NBL Standings, 1937–1949 on apbr.org
• National Basketball League III – 1937–38 NBL Season Overview on retroseasons.com