Spotlight: 1940's Decade in Review

The 1940s were a decade of change and upheaval. Millions around the world lost their lives leading up to and during World War II; the United Nations was founded to help prevent future conflicts; and critical research in computers, nuclear power, and quantum theory all made important progress. Each of these developments continue to significantly impact our world today. In addition, old regimes faded and new nations were born.

Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin

Photo by the U. S. Signal Corps [Public domain], 

via Wikimedia Commons

Like the People's Republic of China, Bhutan, and Israel, The Basketball Champs Belt also made itself known in the 1940s. It was first raised by the Philadelphia Warriors' Joe Fulks after the 1947 Basketball Association of America (BAA) finals, then passed through the hands of the Chicago Stags' Max Zaslofsky and the Baltimore Bullets' Bob Feerick. The belt then spent the summer of 1948 being paraded around Baltimore Harbor after the Bullets won the 1948 BAA championship. In 1947-48, the belt was raised by the Rochester Royals and Bob Davies, and then spent the summer of 1949 with the Minneapolis Lakers. Finally, in the last season of the decade and first official season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the belt was held high by Carl Braun's New York Knicks and George Mikan, whose Lakers would once again take the belt back to Minnesota for the summer of 1950.

Minneapolis police officer directs traffic 
before the Lakers parade the belt through the city 

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Belt Begins

In mid-March, I began writing this blog to highlight the history of the NBA by tracing the path of a fictional championship belt, The Basketball Champs Belt, (TBCB) as it makes its way from 1947 to today. As our alternative history of the NBA marches through time, we're also discussing the players and teams who held the belt throughout the decades. In addition to following the progress of the belt throughout history, we're also following the history of a modern-day belt as it travels among teams throughout the NBA seasons. The belt is currently held by the NBA Champion Miami Heat, who will defend it next when they play their first game of the 2012-13 NBA season. Eventually our exploration of history will catch up to modern times, but we're in no rush to complete this journey.

TBCB's records begin with the founding of the BAA in 1946 and the 1946-47 BAA Champion Philadelphia Warriors. While the National Basketball League (NBL) was established earlier than the BAA and initially featured better players and teams, the war between the leagues was ultimately won by the BAA. For example, one year before the merger, the Minneapolis Lakers and three other teams left the NBL to join the BAA in part due to the appeal of the BAA's bigger cities and venues. In addition, Maurice Polodoff, the first and only commissioner of the BAA and the man who engineered the NBL-BAA merger, was named the NBA's first commissioner in 1949. Finally, debate continues about how how to address pre-merger records, for the purposes of this blog the debate is definitively settled by the lack of available data about individual NBL games. However, websites like databasebasketball.com and basketball-reference.com maintain significant data sets about the BAA and NBA. We take our data seriously, and our experiment would be impossible without websites like these.

Philadelphia's Joe Fulks

[public domain]

All-Decade Awards & Hall of Fame

Our trip through the late forties has provided us with an introduction to the belt and an approach that we plan to continue following in writing about the history of the game. In addition to following the progress of the belt among teams, we're also identifying a player of the game for each game involving the belt. The player of the game is always chosen from the winning team, and the award is typically given to the game's high scorer. However, as we follow the belt into modern times, when available data also includes rebounds, assists, etc., other information will also be considered.

As loyal followers of TBCB have observed, this blog recently counted down the top 10 players of the 1940s based who won the most player of the game awards. After the conclusion of our 1954-55 season summary, we'll offer a similar countdown based on the top 10 players of all time. Then we'll continue the same pattern after covering every five seasons: After seasons that end with a zero (e.g., 1949-50), we'll identify and discuss the players and teams of the decade, and after seasons that end with a five (e.g., 1954-55), we'll catch up on the all-time players and teams.

In addition to reviewing the 1940s, we also recently opened the TBCB Hall of Fame, which features the top 5 players of the decade plus a sixth member chosen by me. We'll continue to induct six new players after covering every five NBA seasons, and by the time we reach the 2010 season, we'll have a total of about 85 players in the Hall of Fame. In contrast, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has inducted over 300 players, coaches, and teams. While we don't want to take ourselves too seriously, our approach makes the Champs Belt Hall of Fame an even more exclusive club than the official Basketball Hall of Fame.

So let's get on with the show...

Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

Photo by Rizha Ubal (DSC04206) 

[CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

All-Decade Team

The TBCB 1940s All-Decade Team honors the 10 men who won the most player of the game awards during the decade of the 1940s (1947-1950). These 10 can be thought of as the first and second team, although we're not concerned if the team is overly weighted towards any individual position. The bench is comprised of the 10th through 6th best players on our all-decade list and the starters represent the top five players of the decade. As noted above, all five starers are inducted into the Champs Belt Hall of Fame. Click on each player's name for a brief profile.

Bench

• Bones McKinney: A 6 foot 6 forward/center, McKinney won six player of the game awards as a member of the Washington Capitols.
• Bobby Wanzer: A 6 foot guard, Wanzer won six player of the game awards as a member of the Rochester Royals.
• Bob Feerick: A 6 foot 3 guard/forward, Feerick won seven player of the game awards as a member of the Washington Capitols.
• Kleggie Hermsen: A 6 foot 9 forward/center, Hermsen won seven player of the game awards as a member of the Baltimore Bullets and Washington Capitols.  
• Arnie Risen: A 6 foot 9 forward/center, Risen won seven player of the game awards as a member of the Rochester Royals.

Starters/TBCB Hall of Famers

• George Mikan: A 6 foot 10 center, Mikan won 11 player of the game awards as a member of the Minneapolis Lakers.  
• Joe Fulks: A 6 foot 5 forward, Fulks won 10 player of the game awards as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors.  
• Bob Davies: A 6 foot 1 guard/forward, Davies won 13 player of the game awards as a member of the Rochester Royals.
• Max Zaslofsky: A 6 foot 2 guard, Zaslofsky won 15 player of the game awards as a member of the Chicago Stags.
• Carl Braun: A 6 foot 5 guard/forward, Braun won 9 player of the game awards as a member of the New York Knicks.  

Player of the Decade

In addition to earning a place on our 1940s All Decade Team and entering the TBCB Hall of Fame, Max Zaslofsky also earns the distinction of being the TBCB 1940's Player of the Decade. As noted above, Zaslofsky won more TBCB player of the game awards than any other player during the 1940s. In addition, he held the distinction of being the youngest player named to the All-BAA or NBA Team until his record was broken by Lebron James in 2006, and he was the youngest player to lead the league in scoring until his record was broken by Kevin Durant in 2010. However, Zaslofsky is not a member of the official Basketball Hall of Fame.

Max Zaslofsky

[public domain]

Commissioner's Hall of Fame Selection

Although I try not to take this blog too seriously, I wanted to take an appropriate level of due diligence in making the TBCB Commissioner's Hall of Fame selection. To do this, I consulted with Curtis Harris, who writes about basketball history for Hardwood Paroxysm, before finalizing my choice. Based on his feedback, my research, and TBCB game results, I have selected Bob Feerick as the first Comissioner's selection to the Champs Belt Hall of Fame. [As a side note, Harris is currently naming NBA MVPs for the 1946-47 through 1954-55 seasons, seasons in which there were no official MVPs named. Anyone interested in the history of the sport should check this effort out.]

Bob Feerick

[public domain]

Feerick did not make our list of the top 5 players of the decade, but his opportunities were cut short by the fact that the belt was not awarded until the end of the 1946-47 season. Had the belt been exchanging hands throughout 1946-47, Feerick would have almost certainly improved his standing in our rankings. With respect to his non-belt awards, Feerick earned All-BAA honors during his first three seasons, led the BAA in field goal percentage in 1946-47; was the runner up in total points in 1946-47; and led the BAA in win shares during the 1946-47 and 1947-48 seasons. In addition, Feerick was one of only 25 players nominated to be a member of the NBA's 25th Anniversary Team in 1971. Like Zaslofsky, Feerick is also not a member of the official Basketball Hall of Fame. This blog will also feature more on both Zaslofsky and Feerick in the coming months.  

Team of the Decade

From the time we first awarded the belt in 1947 through the end of the 1949-50 season, four teams stood out above all others as measured by the number of nights they held the belt. Surprising, the Minneapolis Lakers did not appear on this list. However, I've already collected the data needed to write about the 1950-1955 seasons, and we'll definitely hear much more from the Lakers as this project progresses. Before we reveal the team of the decade, let's first meet the contenders.

Contenders

Our top three contenders each won or defended the belt for a total of 26 games between 1947 and 1950.

• Washington Capitols: The Capitols won the belt on six different occasions and defended it 20 times.  The Capitols were also runners up for our 1948-49 team of the year.
• New York Knicks: The Knicks won the belt 11 different times and defended it 15 times. They were also our 1949-50 team of the year. 
• Chicago Stags: The Stags won the belt on 10 different occasions and defended it 16 times. They were runners up for our 1947-48 team of the year.

Team of the Decade

The TBCB Team of the Decade is the Rochester Royals. The Royals didn't join the BAA until 1948, but they made up for lost time by winning the belt on six different occasions between 1948 and 1950 and defending it 24 times, for a total of 30 nights as champion. In addition, the Royals, who were led by Arnie Risen and TBCB Hall of Famer Bob Davies, were also our 1948-49 team of the year and finished third in the TBCB team rankings during the 1949-50 season. 

Bob Davies

[public domain]

Stay tuned for more as we soon turn the corner and begin exploring the 1950s.

Sources: Wikipedia, wikimedia commons, previous TBCB posts and analysis; 1948 Bowman cards are in the public domain and are scanned from the author's collection.