1942–43 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season

1942–43 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season
Division champions
Head coachCarl Bennett
OwnersFred and Janet Zollner
ArenaNorth Side High School Gym, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Results
Record17–6 (.739)
PlaceDivision: 1st
Playoff finishLost to Sheboygan Red Skins in NBL Championship, 2-1
Stats at Basketball Reference
RadioWOWO

The 1942–43 season was the second season of the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons franchise in the National Basketball League. The Pistons came into the season off of a championship appearance and ended the year with a 17–6 record that earned them the #1 seed in the playoffs and set the team up as clear favorites to win the championship. After defeating Chicago in the first round in 3 games the Pistons were upset by the Sheboygan Red Skins in the NBL Championship Series. Following this season's conclusion, the Zollner Pistons' players (who were also employed into the local Zollner Piston Company during their days in the NBL) would split the profits that the team had earned throughout the season while playing basketball on a professional basis, which resulted in their players earning several thousand dollars of bonus revenue through the split payment at hand while also working their jobs that focused mostly on machinery (thus having the best payment plan out of the four remaining NBL teams that season when compared to the Chicago Studebaker Flyers' players working for and being owned by the United Auto Workers Union and both the Oshkosh All-Stars and Sheboygan Red Skins operating in manners similar to the nearby Green Bay Packers NFL team), which later helped result in the increased growth of salaries for all professional sports players, not just those in the sport of basketball.[1] After the season, Red Skins guard Buddy Jeannette joined Fort Wayne to form one of the best backcourts in NBL History with Bobby McDermott, along with one of basketballs earliest examples of a super team.

Roster

1942–43 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
G/F Curly Armstrong 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1918-11-01 Indiana
G Paul Birch 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1910-01-04 Duquesne
F/C Jerry Bush 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1914-09-06 St. John's
F Wilfred Doerner 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1922-02-27 Evansville
G/F Dale Hamilton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1919-08-16 Franklin
G/F Jack Keller 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1922-06-22 North Side High School (IN)
G Bobby McDermott 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1914-01-07 Flushing High School
F/C Jake Pelkington 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1916-01-03 Manhattan
G/F Herm Schaefer 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1919-12-20 Indiana
F/C Blackie Towery 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1920-06-20 Western Kentucky
Head coach

Carl Bennett

Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster

Regular season

NBL Schedule

Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Fort Wayne's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons during their second season in the NBL.

# Date Opponent Score Record
1 December 1 Chicago 47–54 0–1
2 December 3 @ Sheboygan 54–45 1–1
3 December 5 @ Oshkosh 38–47 1–2
4 December 8 Toledo 70–51 2–2
5 December 23 Oshkosh 43–46 2–3
6 December 29 Sheboygan 58–45 3–3
7 January 5 Chicago 62–49 4–3
8 January 8 N Chicago 78–62 5–3
9 January 9 @ Oshkosh 39–47 5–4
10 January 10 @ Sheboygan 42–40 6–4
11 January 12 Oshkosh 43–34 7–4
12 January 17 @ Chicago 64–59 8–4
13 January 19 Chicago 46–38 9–4
14 January 26 Sheboygan 55–36 10–4
15 January 27 Chicago 61–54 11–4
16 January 30 @ Oshkosh 40–33 12–4
17 January 31 @ Sheboygan 31–47 12–5
18 February 2 Chicago 73–50 13–5
19 February 9 Oshkosh 47–44 14–5
20 February 13 @ Oshkosh 50–47 15–5
21 February 14 @ Chicago 45–44 16–5
22 February 16 @ Sheboygan 54–48 17–5
23 February 18 @ Sheboygan 35–49 17–6

Season standings

Pos. League Standings Wins Losses Win %
1 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 17 6 .739
2 Sheboygan Red Skins 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

(1) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons vs. (4) Chicago Studebaker Flyers: Fort Wayne wins series 2–1

  • Game 1: February 20, 1943 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 49, Chicago 37
  • Game 2: February 22, 1943 @ Chicago: Chicago 45, Fort Wayne 32
  • Game 3: February 23, 1943 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 44, Chicago 32

NBL Championship

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

  • Game 1: March 1, 1943 @ Fort Wayne: Sheboygan 55, Fort Wayne 50[2]
  • Game 2: March 2, 1943 @ Sheboygan: Fort Wayne 50, Sheboygan 45[3]
  • Game 3: March 9, 1943 @ Fort Wayne: Sheboygan 30, Fort Wayne 29[4]

Awards and honors

World Professional Basketball Tournament

For the third straight year in a row (second in a row while representing the NBL), the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which the 1943 event was held on March 15–18, 1943 and featured 12 teams that were mostly independently ran alongside the remaining four National Basketball League teams due to World War II. In the first round, the Zollner Pistons competed against the Indianapolis Pure Oils, who were actually the Indianapolis Kautskys team that briefly returned to the NBL before leaving due to World War II, though decided to compete under the temporary independent moniker of the Indianapolis Pure Oils. With that being said, Fort Wayne would have a tough go at the former NBL turned independent squad, but they would defeat the Pure Oils with a 57–52 win.

In the quarterfinal round, the Zollner Pistons would have what was to be considered to be an NBL Finals rematch with the new champions of that league, the Sheboygan Red Skins. Looking at this match as motivation for revenge against losing the NBL championship to Sheboygan, Fort Wayne managed to play with enough fire to defeat the Red Skins for a 48–40 win to not only avenge their NBL championship loss, but also move onto the semifinal round.

Entering the semifinals, the Zollner Pistons saw themselves go up against the former champions of the NBL and last year's champions of the WPBT, the Oshkosh All-Stars. Unfortunately for Fort Wayne, despite them entering this match as the favorites of that match, they would end up being upset by the defending WPBT champion All-Stars 40–39, meaning that Oshkosh would enter the championship round to try and defend their title, while the Zollner Pistons were forced to compete in the consolation third place game between the losers of the independently ran Washington Bears and Dayton Dive Bombers instead.

For the third place game, Fort Wayne had to go up against the Dayton Dive Bombers, who were run by players stationed at the Wright Field in Riverside, Ohio and led by future professional player Hal Tidrick. Feeling the sting of their previous loss to Oshkosh, the Zollner Pistons managed to push back with their highest-scoring game of the tournament that year with 58 points scored for their 58–52 win over the Dive Bombers, with Curly Armstrong also being named the tournament's MVP alongside an All-Tournament First Team member despite not playing in the championship game and Bobby McDermott being named a member of the All-Tournament Second Team. As for the championship game, the independently ran Washington Bears (who were manned by New York Renaissance players at the time and only lost once during their independent season of play) managed to crush the defending champion Oshkosh All-Stars with a 43–31 victory for the last time an independent team would ever be named the winners of the WPBT.

Games

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., p. 123
  2. ^ "Sheboygan Redskins Beat Fort Wayne". Racine Journal Times. March 2, 1943. p. 8. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Fort Wayne Beats Sheboygan, 50–45". Racine Journal Times. March 3, 1943. p. 10. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Sheboygan Redskins Win Pro League Cup". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. March 10, 1943. p. 5. Retrieved October 12, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "NBL Year-by-Year Leaders and Records for Points". Basketball-Reference.com.
  6. ^ "NBL Year-by-Year Leaders and Records for Field Goals". Basketball-Reference.com.
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