1946 World Professional Basketball Tournament
| 1946 | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Chicago, Illinois |
| Dates | 25 March–8 April |
| Teams | 14 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons |
| 1st runner-up | Oshkosh All-Stars |
| 2nd runner-up | Chicago American Gears |
| Tournament statistics | |
| MVP | George Mikan |
| Top scorer(s) | George Mikan |
The 1946 World Professional Basketball Tournament was the eighth edition of the World Professional Basketball Tournament. It was held in Chicago, Illinois, during the days of 25 March - 8 April 1946 and featured 14 teams, with the teams mostly comprising a mixture of independently ran teams and teams from the National Basketball League, alongside the addition of the American Basketball League's champion team that year, the Baltimore Bullets. This year's tournament would also be the only WPBT event where the championship match and the third place match would be in a best of three format instead of a winner takes all format. The event had a home town team for local fans to cheer on during the tournament with the Chicago American Gears of the NBL, but they would be knocked out by the semifinal round against the NBL's Oshkosh All-Stars due to Oshkosh fouling out star center George Mikan and stealing the match away from them afterward. It was won by the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, who won their third straight championship in the event (and final championship in the WPBT's history), though wouldn't also win the NBL's championship alongside it due to the Rochester Royals winning that league's championship that year, after defeating the Oshkosh All-Stars (under what later became their final year competing for the championship in that event) 2–1 in the championship series.[1] The Chicago American Gears came in third after beating the Baltimore Bullets 2–0 in the third-place best-of-three series. Despite his team not even participating in the championship series, George Mikan of the American Gears was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after finishing as its top scorer with 100 points in five games.[2]
Results
[edit]Bracket
[edit]| Round 1 single match | Quarterfinals single match | Semifinals single match | Final best-of-three series | ||||||||||||||
| Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons | 65 | ||||||||||||||||
| Midland Dow Chemicals | 62 | ||||||||||||||||
| Midland Dow Chemicals | 72 | ||||||||||||||||
| Indianapolis Kautskys | 59 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons | 50 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore Bullets | 49 | ||||||||||||||||
| Dayton Mickeys | 58 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore Bullets | 61 | ||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore Bullets | 67 | ||||||||||||||||
| Anderson Chiefs | 65 | ||||||||||||||||
| Anderson Chiefs | 59 | ||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland Allmen Transfers | 46 | ||||||||||||||||
| Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons | 59 | 56 | 73 | ||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 61 | 47 | 57 | ||||||||||||||
| Sheboygan Red Skins | 51 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago American Gears | 52 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago American Gears[3][4] | 69 | ||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh Raiders | 58 | ||||||||||||||||
| Chicago American Gears | 66 | ||||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 72 | ||||||||||||||||
| Detroit Mansfields | 32 | Third place | |||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 60 | ||||||||||||||||
| Oshkosh All-Stars | 50 | Chicago American Gears | 59 | 65 | |||||||||||||
| New York Rens | 44 | Baltimore Bullets | 54 | 50 | |||||||||||||
| New York Rens | 82 | ||||||||||||||||
| Toledo White Huts | 39 | ||||||||||||||||
Third place series
[edit]5 April 1946
|
| Chicago American Gears 59, Baltimore Bullets 54 | ||
| Pts: G. Mikan – 17 | ||
Chicago Stadium
Attendance: 11,131 |
6 April 1946
|
| Chicago American Gears 65, Baltimore Bullets 50 | ||
| Pts: G. Mikan – 27 | Pts: S. Stutz – 11 | |
Chicago Stadium
Attendance: 17,782 |
Championship series
[edit]5 April 1946
|
| Oshkosh All-Stars 61, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 59 | ||
| Scoring by half: 40–25, 21–34 | ||
| Pts: B. Carpenter – 19 | Pts: B. McDermott – 17 | |
6 April 1946
|
| Oshkosh All-Stars 47, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 56 | ||
| Scoring by half: 24–32, 23–24 | ||
| Pts: L. Edwards – 24 | Pts: B. McDermott – 13 | |
8 April 1946
|
| Oshkosh All-Stars 57, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 73 | ||
| Scoring by half: 32–39, 25–34 | ||
| Pts: L. Edwards – 24 | Pts: B. McDermott – 20 | |
Individual awards
[edit]All-Tournament First team
[edit]- F - Jerry Bush, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
- F - Leroy Edwards, Oshkosh All-Stars
- C - George Mikan, Chicago American Gears (MVP)
- G - Bobby McDermott, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
- G - Bob Feerick, Oshkosh All-Stars
All-Tournament Second team
[edit]- F - Paul Cloyd, Midland Dow Chemicals
- F - Bob Calihan, Chicago American Gears
- C - Mike Bloom, Baltimore Bullets
- G - Stan Stutz, Baltimore Bullets
- G - Bob Carpenter, Oshkosh All-Stars
References
[edit]- ^ "Zollners win deciding game in Pro Tourney". The Oshkosh Northwestern. April 9, 1946. p. 13. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "George Mikan Most Valuable in Pro Tourney". Quad-City Times. April 7, 1946. p. 34. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Mikan leads Gears' win in pro meet". Nashville Banner. March 26, 1946. p. 14. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Jerry Liska (March 26, 1946). "George Mikan just another player as high-priced star shows in pro event". Chillicothe Gazette. p. 8. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Jimmy Jordan (April 6, 1946). "Zollners face uphill fight to retain title". The Indianapolis News. p. 4. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Oshkosh five 61-59 winner". The Des Moines Register. April 6, 1946. p. 11. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Fort Wayne ties series on 56-74 win". Democrat and Chronicle. April 7, 1946. p. 31. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
External links
[edit]- WPBT 1939-48 on apbr.org