1947–48 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season

1947–48 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season
Head coachCarl Bennett
OwnerFred Zollner
ArenaNorth Side High School Gym, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Results
Record40–20 (.667)
PlaceDivision: 3rd (Eastern)
Playoff finishLost Eastern Division opening round to Rochester Royals, 3–1
Stats at Basketball Reference

The 1947–48 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons season was the seventh season of the franchise in the National Basketball League (NBL). It would be the final season that the franchise would play in the NBL, as well as the final season with the Zollner name representing team owner Fred Zollner and his company name being included in the team name; following the conclusion of this season, they would join the newest NBL champions in the Minneapolis Lakers, their newest NBL rivals in the Rochester Royals (who turned out to only remain as competitive rivals while out in the NBL), and the Indianapolis Kautskys (who ended up rebranding themselves to the Indianapolis Jets immediately upon entry, though only lasted for one season there themselves) in order to play in the Basketball Association of America (now known as the National Basketball Association), starting in the 1948–49 BAA season, with the Pistons removing the Zollner part of their team name due to that league not allowing sponsorships being a part of their team names. This was also the last season in Fort Wayne for both Blackie Towery and Jake Pelkington, who had both decided to leave the team prior to the start of the next season out in the BAA.

Throughout the entire season, the Zollner Pistons would struggle trying to catch up with the two best teams in their entire division, the Rochester Royals and the Anderson Duffey Packers, due to them being both an older and smaller team than those two franchises. However, Fred Zollner would try his best to make sure his team didn't fall behind the rest of the pack by picking up rookies Ralph Hamilton and Jack Smiley early on in the season, as well as Milo Komenich later on in the season in order to help out with those woes. Despite his best efforts, the early struggles in the season combined with the missing presence of their star veteran players from their earlier NBL days would ultimately doom Fort Wayne to a third-place finish in the Eastern Division (meaning they still qualified for the NBL Playoffs yet again, but had to go up against the #1 seeded Rochester Royals in the process instead of hoping to move up for the more desirable #4 seeded Syracuse Nationals). From there, the Zollner Pistons would end their run in the NBL with an Eastern Division opening round elimination by being defeated 3–1 to the Rochester Royals in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.

Roster

1947–48 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/F Ralph Hamilton 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 188 lb (85 kg) 1921-06-10 Indiana
F/C Bob Kinney 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1920-09-16 Rice
G/F Walt Kirk 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 173 lb (78 kg) 1924-09-03 Illinois
F/C Milo Komenich 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 212 lb (96 kg) 1920-06-22 Wyoming
G Ken Menke 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 168 lb (76 kg) 1922-10-02 Illinois
G/F Richie Niemiera 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 1921-05-26 Notre Dame
F/C Jake Pelkington 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1916-01-03 Manhattan
G/F Jack Smiley 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1922-12-22 Illinois
G/F Bob Tough 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1920-08-28 St. John's
F/C Blackie Towery 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1920-06-20 Western Kentucky
G/F Dick Triptow 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1922-11-03 DePaul
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 seventh and final season in the NBL before moving on to play in the BAA (now NBA) for their following season of play.

# Date Opponent Score Record
1 November 6 @ Sheboygan 49–45 1–0
2 November 8 @ Syracuse 52–51 2–0
3 November 9 Indianapolis 62–69 2–1
4 November 14 @ Toledo 59–53 3–1
5 November 16 Flint 64–54 4–1
6 November 20 @ Anderson 69–82 4–2
7 November 23 Toledo 62–49 5–2
8 November 30 Indianapolis 67–56 6–2
9 December 2 @ Indianapolis 45–40 7–2
10 December 3 Minneapolis 58–68 7–3
11 December 4 N Minneapolis 42–56 7–4
12 December 7 Tri-Cities 63–49 8–4
13 December 10 Rochester 58–62 8–5
14 December 12 N Minneapolis 60–55 9–5
15 December 14 N Syracuse 58–47 10–5
16 December 18 @ Flint 71–74 10–6
17 December 19 @ Toledo 50–55 10–7
18 December 20 Rochester 62–65 (OT) 10–8
19 December 21 Anderson 58–52 11–8
20 December 26 @ Indianapolis 58–60 11–9
21 December 28 Oshkosh 51–41 12–9
22 January 2 @ Minneapolis 46–41 13–9
23 January 4 Sheboygan 61–50 14–9
24 January 7 @ Oshkosh 61–59 15–9
25 January 8 @ Sheboygan 66–47 16–9
26 January 11 Anderson 57–54 17–9
27 January 13 @ Rochester 48–75 17–10
28 January 14 Rochester 70–56 18–10
29 January 18 Toledo 54–49 19–10
30 January 20 @ Tri-Cities 69–79 19–11
31 January 22 Flint 67–59 20–11
32 January 24 @ Minneapolis 52–69 20–12
33 January 25 Indianapolis 71–56 21–12
34 January 26 @ Anderson 55–70 21–13
35 January 29 @ Syracuse 69–55 22–13
36 February 1 Tri-Cities 52–48 23–13
37 February 3 @ Toledo 57–59 23–14
38 February 5 N Flint 74–57 24–14
39 February 8 N Syracuse 62–52 25–14
40 February 10 @ Indianapolis 73–65 26–14
41 February 11 Rochester 70–69 27–14
42 February 13 @ Syracuse 64–49 28–14
43 February 15 Anderson 51–47 29–14
44 February 18 @ Flint 59–57 (OT) 30–14
45 February 19 @ Anderson 65–69 30–15
46 February 22 Toledo 49–41 31–15
47 February 25 @ Oshkosh 57–58 (OT) 31–16
48 February 26 @ Sheboygan 55–49 32–16
49 February 27 @ Tri-Cities 68–66 33–16
50 February 29 Sheboygan 68–50 34–16
51 March 3 Oshkosh 59–45 35–16
52 March 6 @ Rochester 61–64 35–17
53 March 7 Syracuse 70–48 36–17
54 March 8 @ Flint 55–51 37–17
55 March 10 Sheboygan 62–53 38–17
56 March 13 @ Minneapolis 64–92 38–18
57 March 14 Oshkosh 62–46 39–18
58 March 17 Tri-Cities 74–56 40–18
59 March 19 @ Tri-Cities 55–72 40–19
60 March 20 @ Oshkosh 42–58 40–20

League standings

Eastern Division

Pos. Eastern Division Wins Losses Win %
1 Rochester Royals 44 16 .733
2 Anderson Duffey Packers 42 18 .700
3 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 40 20 .667
4 Syracuse Nationals 24 36 .400
5 Toledo Jeeps 22 37 .373
6 Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s‡ 8 52 .133
‡ Flint relocated to Midland during the season and assumed Flint's record in the standings.
It's unknown what the records for Flint's tenure and Midland's tenure were.

Western Division

Pos. Western Division Wins Losses Win %
1 Minneapolis Lakers 43 17 .717
2 Tri-Cities Blackhawks 30 30 .500
3 Oshkosh All-Stars 29 31 .483
4 Indianapolis Kautskys 24 35 .407
5 Sheboygan Red Skins 23 37 .383

Playoffs

Eastern Division Opening Round

(3E) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons vs. (1E) Rochester Royals: Rochester wins series 3–1

  • Game 1: March 23, 1948 @ Fort Wayne: Rochester 65, Fort Wayne 56[1]
  • Game 2: March 24, 1948 @ Fort Wayne: Fort Wayne 68, Rochester 65
  • Game 3: March 25, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 64, Fort Wayne 47
  • Game 4: March 27, 1948 @ Rochester: Rochester 71, Fort Wayne 62[2]

Awards and honors

World Professional Basketball Tournament

For the eighth and final year in a row (seventh and final year in a row while representing the NBL), the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons would participate in the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which saw the final event ever being held on April 8–11, 1948 and consisted mostly of teams from the National Basketball League alongside the Wilkes-Barre Barons from the American Basketball League (who saw themselves go up against the defending NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers) and two independently ran teams in the New York Renaissance and Bridgeport Newfields, who competed against each other in the first round of the event. For Fort Wayne, their quarterfinal match-up saw them go up against the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, who had since gotten more acclimated to their new home area following their sudden movement from Buffalo, New York to Moline, Illinois representing what was then known as the Tri-Cities area back in Christmas 1946. While the Zollner Pistons had more experience in the tournament, the Blackhawks had greater leadership in tow due to former Fort Wayne player Bobby McDermott being the player-coach of the Tri-Cities squad, as the Blackhawks managed to upset the Zollner Pistons 57–50 in what ultimately became the Zollner Pistons' final game ever played in the WPBT, while the Tri-Cities Blackhawks squad would go to the semifinal round and face off against the New York Renaissance independent team instead.

Game Played

References

  1. ^ Bradley, Robert; Grasso, John (2003). Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia. SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-894963-01-6., p. 423
  2. ^ "National Basketball League III - 1947-48 NBL Playoffs". RetroSeasons. 21 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Todorovich Top NBL Rookie". Democrat and Chronicle. April 2, 1948. p. 34. Retrieved December 25, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
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