1947–48 Toledo Jeeps season

1947–48 Toledo Jeeps season
Head coachJule Rivlin (player-coach)
General managerVirgil Gladieux
Owner(s)Virgil Gladieux[1]
Willys-Overland Jeep Plant
ArenaThe Field House (University of Toledo)
Results
Record22–37 (.373)
PlaceDivision: 5th (Eastern)
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1947–48 Toledo Jeeps season was technically the second and final professional basketball season of play for the Toledo Jeeps in the city of Toledo, Ohio under the National Basketball League, which officially was the eleventh 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, according to historian and author Murry R. Nelson in his book The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949, the Toledo Jeeps are actually a continuation of the original Toledo White Huts/Toledo Jim White Chevrolets franchise that, similar to the Jeeps franchise, started out playing in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in a previous year before officially joining the NBL, with the only difference in ownership being the partnership in question as the team owners this time around were at Willys-Overland Jeep Plant, which was owned and operated by Virgil Gladieux of Willys at the time (now known as the Toledo Complex) and sold Jeep cars instead of being owned and operated by a car salesman named Jim White for Chevrolet cars.[3] As such, if we count the history of the White Huts/Jim White Chevrolets alongside the Jeeps franchise here, if we count the history of the White Huts/Jim White Chevrolets alongside the Jeeps franchise here, including the two previous independent seasons of play where they participated in the aforementioned WPBT events before being promoted to the NBL while using a different team name at the time, this season would officially be their fifth season of play when including the four games they played in the final season using the Jim White Chevrolets team name before folding the first time around before returning to operate once again instead of their second season as a franchise properly.

Unlike their inaugural season, where Toledo started out very promisingly before faltering off, the Jeeps would start the season out in direct competition with the Syracuse Nationals for the last open playoff spot in the Eastern Division after that division had the top three teams get settled early on in the season with the Rochester Royals, Anderson Duffey Packers, and Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons being considered the best teams in their division almost immediately after a 2–0 start to their season. While Toledo would keep things neck-and-neck with the Nationals for the final playoff spot in the NBL, the Jeeps would ultimately falter and end up being a game and a half shy from the final playoff spot with a 22–37 record. Worse yet, the Jeeps franchise would end up joining the Oshkosh All-Stars as one of two NBL franchises to not defect from the NBL to the upstart rivaling Basketball Association of America as a means of hopefully surviving for a better long-term future at hand, similar to what the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals would end up doing following this season as they, alongside the Indianapolis Kautskys, successfully defected from the NBL to the BAA by comparison to them.[4][5] (Supposedly, for the Jeeps' case, the reason why they failed to transition from the NBL to the BAA was because the University of Toledo's Field House used slippery terrazzo for their basketball court instead of the usual wooden floors for indoor matches, which was deemed unviable for the BAA's standards of play.[6]) Following the season's end, the Toledo Jeeps would end up folding operations entirely, with their position as a team being bought out (under the discretion of new NBL president Ike W. Duffey (who was also the team owner of the Anderson Duffey Packers)) by the expansion team known as the Hammond Calumet Buccaneers through an ownership model similar to that of the Green Bay Packers and the two Wisconsin-based teams in the NBL.[7]

Roster

Please note that due to the way records for professional basketball leagues like the NBL and the ABL were recorded at the time, some information on both teams and players may be harder to list out than usual here.

1947–48 Toledo Jeeps roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
C Harry Boykoff 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1922–07–24 St. John's
F/C Jerry Bush 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1914–09–06 St. John's
G Fran Curran 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1922–09–09 Notre Dame
G Jackie Goldsmith 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 155 lb (70 kg) 1921–01–18 Long Island
G/F Wyndol Gray 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1922–03–30 Harvard
G/F Dale Hamilton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1919–08–16 Franklin (IN)
F/C Bernie Mehen 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1918–09–19 Tennessee
F/C Dick Mehen 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1922–05–20 Tennessee
G/F Jule Rivlin 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 160 lb (73 kg) 1917–02–17 Marshall
F/C John Schick 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1916–01–06 Ohio State
G Chips Sobek 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1920–02–10 Notre Dame
G/F Hal Tidrick 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1915–08–04 Washington & Jefferson
Head coach
Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Roster

[8][9][10]

Regular season

NBL Schedule

Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Toledo'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 Toledo Jeeps during their second and final season (or fourth and final overall season if the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets also gets counted as a part of the Toledo Jeeps' history) in the NBL.

# Date Opponent Score Record
1 November 7 Flint 75–56 1–0
2 November 8 @ Oshkosh 61–60 2–0
3 November 9 @ Sheboygan 48–54 2–1
4 November 14 Fort Wayne 53–59 2–2
5 November 20 N Oshkosh 43–59 2–3
6 November 21 Sheboygan 57–60 (OT) 2–4
7 November 23 @ Fort Wayne 49–62 2–5
8 November 25 @ Indianapolis 55–65 2–6
9 November 27 Rochester 50–41 3–6
10 November 29 @ Syracuse 48–59 3–7
11 December 2 Minneapolis 59–57 4–7
12 December 5 Anderson 55–71 4–8
13 December 6 @ Rochester 55–56 4–9
14 December 10 @ Minneapolis 46–49 4–10
15 December 14 @ Tri-Cities 76–65 5–10
16 December 17 @ Syracuse 72–54 6–10
17 December 18 N Minneapolis 56–66 6–11
18 December 19 Fort Wayne 55–50 7–11
19 December 21 @ Flint 51–48 8–11
20 December 22 Indianapolis 57–63 8–12
21 December 27 @ Minneapolis 52–55 8–13
22 December 28 @ Sheboygan 50–59 8–14
23 December 30 @ Anderson 58–71 8–15
24 January 2 Sheboygan 62–63 8–16
25 January 5 Tri-Cities 56–59 8–17
26 January 6 @ Indianapolis 56–63 8–18
27 January 8 Indianapolis 62–47 9–18
28 January 10 @ Rochester 74–65 10–18
29 January 12 @ Flint/Midland (Midland) 51–56 10–19
30 January 15 @ Tri-Cities 54–60 10–20
31 January 18 @ Fort Wayne 49–54 10–21
32 January 19 @ Anderson 50–76 10–22
33 January 20 Flint/Midland 64–51 11–22
34 January 22 Indianapolis 63–53 12–22
35 January 25 @ Sheboygan 57–58 12–23
36 January 29 Rochester 52–51 12–24
37 January 31 Syracuse 48–58 12–25
38 February 2 @ Anderson 42–38 13–25
39 February 3 Fort Wayne 59–57 14–25
40 February 7 Anderson 69–53 15–25
41 February 10 Tri-Cities 55–68 15–26
42 February 12 Flint/Midland 79–56 16–26
43 February 14 @ Minneapolis 50–65 16–27
44 February 17 Oshkosh 68–70 (2OT) 16–28
45 February 19 @ Tri-Cities 54–39 17–28
46 February 20 Rochester 41–49 17–29
47 February 22 @ Fort Wayne 41–49 17–30
48 February 23 @ Sheboygan 57–46 18–30
49 February 27 @ Flint/Midland (Flint) 76–65 19–30
50 February 28 @ Oshkosh 59–64 (OT) 19–31
51 March 1 Syracuse 55–59 19–32
52 March 2 @ Rochester 50–66 19–33
53 March 4 @ Syracuse 49–45 20–33
54 March 6 Anderson 58–56 21–33
55 March 11 @ Syracuse 45–48 21–34
56 March 13 N Tri-Cities 55–61 21–35
57 March 15 Oshkosh 43–47 21–36
58 March 16 Oshkosh 53–50 22–36
59 March 17 Minneapolis 56–60 22–37

A 60th game was intended to have been played between the Toledo Jeeps and the Indianapolis Kautskys (presumably having Toledo being the road team in that match due to Indianapolis already playing 30 road games this season[11]), but that game was ultimately cancelled for them both, meaning the 59th game of the regular season for them both would be their final regular season games in the NBL for each of them.

Season standings

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.

Awards and honors

References

  1. ^ Peterson, Robert (1990). Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years. Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0-19-505310-9., p. 164
  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., p. 159
  4. ^ Peterson, Robert (1990). Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years. Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0-19-505310-9., pp. 163–164
  5. ^ Bradley, Robert. "BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA LEAGUE MINUTES 1946-1949". APBR. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
  6. ^ Peterson, Robert (1990). Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years. Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 0-19-505310-9., p. 129
  7. ^ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-4006-1., pp. 203, 205–206
  8. ^ "TOLEDO JEEPS". Pro Basketball Encyclopedia.
  9. ^ "Peach Basket Society: 1947-48 Toledo Jeeps (NBL)". Peach Basket Society. 25 April 2016.
  10. ^ "1947-48 Toledo Jeeps Roster". statscrew.com.
  11. ^ Bradley, Robert; Grasso, John (2003). Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia. SPORT Media Publishing, Inc. ISBN 1-894963-01-6., p. 423
  12. ^ "Todorovich Top NBL Rookie". Democrat and Chronicle. April 2, 1948. p. 34. Retrieved February 4, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Steve Dimitry's NBL Web Site". Archived from the original on 2005-08-18.
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