1946–47 Anderson Duffey Packers season

1946–47 Anderson Duffey Packers season
Head coachMurray Mendenhall (24–18[1])
Ike W. Duffey (interim; 0–2[1])
Owner(s)Ike W. Duffey
John B. Duffey
Duffey's Meat Packing, Inc.
ArenaAnderson High School Wigwam
Results
Record24–20 (.545)
PlaceDivision: 5th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1946–47 Anderson Duffey Packers season was the first professional season of play for the Duffey Packers in the small city of Anderson, Indiana under the National Basketball League, which officially was the tenth season that it existed as a professional basketball league after previously existing as a semi-pro or amateur basketball league called the Midwest Basketball Conference in its first two seasons back in 1935.[2] However, if you include their only season of independent play as the Anderson Chiefs (which sometimes got their team name expanded out more into being the Chief Anderson Meat Packers at times due to their affiliation with the local meat packing business called Duffey's Incorporated that was owned by brothers Ike W. and John B. Duffey, who subsequently owned and operated the team as well) before joining the NBL, this would also be their second overall season of play. Originally, the Anderson Duffey Packers were the team that had obtained the last open spot for play in the NBL in the 1946–47 season, but when the Cleveland Allmen Transfers and Pittsburgh Raiders opted out on their positions of entry, it allowed for the Syracuse Nationals and Toledo Jeeps to be the last two teams to join in instead.[3][4] Because of this, twelve teams would officially compete in the NBL for the 1946–47 season, which comprised six teams in both the Eastern and Western Divisions.[5]

Before the season began (specifically when Anderson began their first exhibition game), team owner Ike W. Duffey would make sure everyone on the opposing teams received a fresh 15-pound ham from their local Duffey's Incorporated meat packing plant, which would be seen as a sort of tradition by the franchise for the few seasons they would exist as a team.[6] When the Anderson Duffey Packers made their NBL debut against the Detroit Gems at the Anderson High School Wigwam on November 11, 1946 (which Anderson ultimately won), the Duffey Packers would see many special guests appear there like Richard T. James (the lieutenant governor of Indiana); Buffalo Bisons (later Tri-Cities Blackhawks) team president Leo Ferris; Indianapolis Kautskys co-owners Frank Kautsky and Paul A. Walk; Oshkosh All-Stars head coach and NBL secretary-treasurer (and former NBL president) Lon Darling alongside every single member of the Oshkosh All-Stars, who were there to compete against the Indianapolis Katuskys for the upcoming match in Indianapolis the following night afterward (with that latter match ending with the Indianapolis Kautskys winning 51–47 over Oshkosh); NBL publicity directory Keith Brehm; Anderson mayor Clarence D. Rotruck and other city officials within the small city of Anderson.[7] This alongside a 5–1 start in the month of November (with their only loss during that time being against the Sheboygan Red Skins on November 21) would help give the Duffey Packers an immediate fanbase within the small city of Anderson when the NBL already had two other teams in the state of Indiana at the time in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons and the (recently) twice-returning Indianapolis Kautskys to cheer for at the time. Unfortunately for the Duffey Packers, their first season in the NBL would have them competing in a very strong Western Division (meaning their strong start would not last for too long), where outside of the aforementioned Detroit Gems, every other team in that particular division had a respectable shot to at least earn a playoff spot that season, if not win the NBL's championship outright. Because of that fact, despite Anderson finishing the season with an above-average 24–20 record, the Duffey Packers would be eliminated from entering the NBL Playoffs in its first ever expanded format in their only season in the Western Division due to them being two games behind both the Sheboygan Red Skins and the eventual champions of the NBL that season, the Chicago American Gears. In addition to that, they would also compete in the 1947 World Professional Basketball Tournament, where they would end up losing in the quarterfinal round to the three-time defending WPBT champions of the event, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons.

Roster

1946–47 Anderson Duffey Packers roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
G/F Bob Bolyard 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 182 lb (83 kg) 1920–12–04 Toledo
F/C Jerry Bush 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1914–09–06 St. John's
G/F Dick Furey 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1925–03–08 St. Thomas (Minnesota)
F/C Elmer Gainer 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1918–11–22 DePaul
F/C Ben Gardner 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1919–10–18 Sam Houston State
G Frank Gates 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1920–04–12 Sam Houston State
G/F Bill Hapac 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1918–01–26 Illinois
G/F Howie Hoffman 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1921–12–04 Purdue
F/C Ed Lewinski 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1918–09–10 Bowen HS (IL)
G/F Dale Morey 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1918–12–01 LSU
C Howie Schultz 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1922–07–03 Hamline
G/F Rollie Seltz 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 1924–01–25 Hamline
G/F Charley Shipp 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1913–12–03 Catholic
G Ed Stanczak 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1921–08–15 Central HS (IN)
G John Stanton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1921–06–02 Loyola Chicago
G/F Russ Wilkins 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1923–03–31 Tri-State College
Head coach
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster

[1][8][9]

Regular season

NBL Schedule

Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Anderson'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 Anderson Duffey Packers during their first season in the NBL.

# Date Opponent Score Record
1 November 11 Detroit 64–52 1–0
2 November 14 Toledo 51–50 2–0
3 November 18 Youngstown 66–58 3–0
4 November 21 @ Sheboygan 54–72 3–1
5 November 23 @ Oshkosh 66–64 4–1
6 November 25 Fort Wayne 55–52 5–1
7 December 2 Indianapolis 52–53 5–2
8 December 6 @ Indianapolis 49–56 5–3
9 December 9 Syracuse 69–64 6–3
10 December 11 @ Buffalo 50–52 (OT) 6–4
11 December 16 Oshkosh 66–64 7–4
12 December 19 Buffalo 61–46 8–4
13 December 22 @ Chicago 57–54 9–4
14 December 23 Chicago 63–60 10–4
15 December 30 Rochester 62–67 10–5
16 January 2 Sheboygan 80–64 11–5
17 January 6 Toledo 71–81 11–6
18 January 7 @ Indianapolis 54–73 11–7
19 January 9 @ Syracuse 64–71 11–8
20 January 11 @ Rochester 69–75 (OT) 11–9
21 January 12 @ Fort Wayne 61–56 12–9
22 January 13 @ Youngstown 63–56 13–9
23 January 14 Sheboygan 63–60 (OT) 14–9
24 January 16 Chicago 56–58 14–10
25 January 20 @ Tri-Cities 58–56 15–10
26 January 21 @ Tri-Cities 67–45 16–10
27 January 23 @ Sheboygan 44–47 16–11
28 January 26 @ Chicago 50–55 16–12
29 January 30 Fort Wayne 58–55 17–12
30 February 3 Toledo 56–52 18–12
31 February 5 @ Detroit 44–38 19–12
32 February 6 @ Youngstown 59–78 19–13
33 February 10 Rochester 60–54 20–13
34 February 17 Syracuse 53–54 (OT) 20–14
35 February 20 Oshkosh 60–61 20–15
36 February 24 N Detroit 85–57 21–15
37 March 2 @ Fort Wayne 56–61 21–16
38 March 3 Youngstown 63–47 22–16
39 March 5 @ Toledo 55–52 23–16
— March 6‡ @ Buffalo Cancelled[10]
40 March 6‡ @ Syracuse 46–68 23–17
41 March 8 @ Rochester 59–64 23–18
42 March 10 Detroit 72–51 24–18
43 March 13 Indianapolis 61–68 24–19
44 March 15 @ Oshkosh 52–55 24–20

‡ – The March 6, 1947 game that Anderson was originally intended to have played was against the Buffalo Bisons in Buffalo, New York, but due to the team moving to Moline, Illinois to become the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for the rest of the season by December 25, 1946, that game would ultimately be cancelled, meaning that at least Anderson's road schedule (and by extension, both the Syracuse Nationals' home schedule and the Indianapolis Kautskys' road schedule) ultimately got affected for this season due to the team change for this season.

Season standings

Pos. Western Division Wins Losses Win %
1 Oshkosh All-Stars 28 16 .636
2 Indianapolis Kautskys 27 17 .614
T–3 Chicago American Gears 26 18 .591
Sheboygan Red Skins 26 18 .591
5 Anderson Duffey Packers 24 20 .545
6 Detroit Gems 4 40 .091

Awards and honors

World Professional Basketball Tournament

After previously participating in the 1946 World Professional Basketball Tournament as the Anderson Chiefs (making it as far as the quarterfinal round there before losing to the American Basketball League's newest champions that season in the Baltimore Bullets), the Anderson Duffey Packers would return to the World Professional Basketball Tournament once again under their new name for the 1947 edition, with it being held in Chicago once again and it taking place on April 7–11, 1947. Due to the evergrowing strength of the National Basketball League by this point in time, a vast majority of the teams competing there this time around would mostly come from the NBL some of the independently ran teams that still held some sort of presence in independent basketball by this time (such as the all-black New York Renaissance), as well as the defending American Basketball League champion Baltimore Bullets (who had a 34–3 season) and the Portland Indians from the ultimately short-lived Pacific Coast Professional Basketball League. For the first round of the tournament, the Duffey Packers would go up against a former NBL team in the Pittsburgh Pirates, though they could actually be considered the Pittsburgh Raiders instead. In any case, Anderson would go and make easy work of the former NBL franchise, blowing them out in incredibly easy fashion with an easy 59–38 victory as all but one NBL team entered the quarterfinal round this year.

For the quarterfinal round, the Duffey Packers would go up against the three-time defending WPBT champions, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, who would still be looking for their fourth straight championship in the WPBT through the 1947 tournament. Unfortunately, much like the previous year's event, where Anderson faltered as the Chiefs in the quarterfinal round to the ABL's Baltimore Bullets, the Duffey Packers would end up faltering to the Zollner Pistons in a 52–40 defeat where Fort Wayne made easy work of their cityside rivals in Anderson by comparison to the close work that Baltimore had done to Anderson in the previous year's event. To add insult to the Duffey Packers' elimination in this event, the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would later be eliminated by the Toledo Jeeps in the semifinal round, who would end up losing the championship match to the Indianapolis Kautskys, a team that never won a single WPBT match before entering this year's tournament. (Fort Wayne would later end up finishing the tournament in third place instead.)

Scores

References

  1. ^ a b c "ANDERSON PACKERS". Pro Basketball Encyclopedia.
  2. ^ "NBL Season Index". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  3. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., pp. 158–159
  4. ^ "Syracuse Gains Post in National League; Hanson May Coach". Syracuse Herald-Journal. July 2, 1946. p. 25. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  5. ^ "1946–47 NBL Season Summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  6. ^ Triptow, Richard F. (1997). The Dynasty that Never Was: Chicago's First Professional Basketball Champions, The American Gears. Lake Bluff, Illinois: self-published. ISBN 0-9659280-0-4., p. 227
  7. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., p. 160
  8. ^ "Peach Basket Society: 1946-47 Anderson Duffey Packers (NBL)". Peach Basket Society. 5 March 2016.
  9. ^ "1946-47 Anderson Duffey Packers basketball Roster on StatsCrew.com". www.statscrew.com.
  10. ^ "Buffalo Bisons". nbahoopsonline.com.
  11. ^ "Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site". Archived from the original on 2005-08-18.
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