 | This article does not cite any sources .(August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1961 |
| Ceased | 1973 |
| Country |  |
The National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL) (founded 1961) is the descendant of the industrial-based basketball clubs that formed into the National Basketball League (NBL) in the early 1930s.
The league was the brainchild of Indianapolis grocer Irv Kautsky, who sponsored the Indianapolis Kautskys club team, and Goodyear Tire Company, who originally sponsored the Akron Wingfoots. After a false start in the early 1930s, the league was restarted in 1938, with the Wingfoots winning the initial NBL title. By World War II, both the Wingfoots and the Firestone Tire Company's Non-Skids had suspended play, but other seminal pro teams such as the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons), Syracuse Nationals (now the Philadelphia 76ers), Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings), Minneapolis Lakers (now the Los Angeles Lakers), and Tri-Cities BlackHawks (now the Atlanta Hawks), all of whom are currently playing in the NBA, had joined.
After World War II, the fledgling Basketball Association of America was established by arena owners in large cities to try to capture the popularity of the NBL teams from the smaller communities. This attempt failed miserably as 13 of the 16 BAA teams folded. Undaunted, the remaining BAA teams, the Philadelphia Warriors, Boston Celtics, and New York Knicks convinced the top NBL teams to join with them and they formed the NBA. Thus, the early NBA was composed mostly of teams brought over from the NBL and three BAA teams.
The remaining NBL teams reformed and changed the name to the National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL) where teams such as the Denver Truckers, Chicago Jamaco Saints, Akron Wingfoots, Phillips 66ers, Peoria Cats, Philadelphia Tapers, Lexington Marathon Oilers and Cleveland Pipers thrived as club teams. In the 1960s the league recognized the changing sponsorship of the teams away from the large industrial companies and renamed it the National AAU Basketball League (NABL).
1948 Milwaukee Harnischfegers
1949 Phillips 66ers
1950 Phillips 66ers
1951 Phillips 66ers
1952 Phillips 66ers
1953 Phillips 66ers
1954 Phillips 66ers and Peoria Caterpillars
1955 Phillips 66ers
1956 Phillips 66ers
1957 Phillips 66ers
1958 Phillips 66ers and Wichita Vickers
1959 Denver-Chicago Truckers
1960 Phillips 66ers
1961 Cleveland Pipers
During the early 1960s, the Pipers and the Tapers left to join the Hawaii Chiefs, Kansas City Steers, Los Angeles Jets and other teams to form the American Basketball League; when this venture folded, some of these teams returned to the NABL.
By the end of the 1970s, the NABL teams elected to adapt touring schedules rather than league schedules and the NABL format was mothballed until it was brought back in the 1990s when many of the legendary teams had been restarted under a new wave of sponsors. Today, the NABL teams are focused on preparing post-college players for the opportunity to play pro basketball overseas.
In 1966, the NABL organized the National Amateur Athletic Union Basketball League, with the league's champions playing at FIBA's Intercontinental Cup, as the North American Champions. The Akron Wingfoots won the title on the three occasions that they represented the country at the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
1967: Akron Wingfoots
1968: Akron Wingfoots
1969: Akron Wingfoots
1970:
1971: Lexington Marathon Oil
1972: Dayton Sanders Stone
1973: Dayton Utopians
The following leagues were members of the NABL in the 90s and noughties.
The National Basketball League (NBL) was a professional men's basketball league in the United States established in 1937. After the 1948–49 season, its twelfth, it merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to create the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The American Basketball League played one full season, 1961–1962, and part of the next season until the league folded on December 31, 1962. The ABL was the first basketball league to have a three point shot for baskets scored far away from the goal. Other rules that set the league apart were a 30-second shooting clock and a wider free throw lane of 18 feet instead of the standard 12.
The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams belonging to the National Basketball League (NBL) that did not join the National Basketball Association when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America.
The Indianapolis Jets were a Basketball Association of America (BAA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded as the Indianapolis Kautskys and used that name until the team joined the BAA. They played for one year in the BAA and then ceased operations due to the formation of the Indianapolis Olympians.
The Philadelphia Tapers were an American professional basketball team that played a partial 1962–1963 season in the American Basketball League (1961–62). It traces its history to the 1950s AAU New York Tapers.
The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote one of the first canvas/rubber based shoes made specifically for athletics, the wingfoot.
The Chicago Majors was a basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, that was a member of the American Basketball League from 1961 to 1963.
The Cleveland Pipers were an American industrial basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1950s and early 1960s. The Pipers are mostly known for having played in the short-lived American Basketball League from 1961–62. They were also a power in the days Amateur Athletic Union basketball and the National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL) which peaked in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, also commonly referred to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs, or the FIBA Club World Cup, is a professional basketball competition that is endorsed by FIBA World and the NBA. Historically, its purpose has been to gather the premier basketball clubs from each of the world's geographical zones, and to officially decide the best basketball club of the world, which is officially crowned as the world club champion. The World Cup for Clubs has been contended mainly by the champions of the continents and/or world geographical regions that are of the highest basketball levels.
The 1969 FIBA Intercontinental Cup was the 4th edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup for men's basketball clubs. It took place at Macon, Georgia, United States. From the FIBA European Champions Cup participated Real Madrid and Spartak ZJŠ Brno, and from the South American Club Championship participated Sírio. Macon Movers took part from the NCAA, and from the NABL participated the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots.
The 1968 FIBA Intercontinental Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIBA Intercontinental Cup for men's basketball clubs. It took place at Palestra and Spectrum, Philadelphia. From the FIBA European Champions Cup participated Real Madrid and Simmenthal Milano, from the South American Club Championship participated Botafogo, and from the NABL participated the Akron Wingfoots.
The Phillips 66ers were an amateur basketball team located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored and run by the Phillips Petroleum Company. The 66ers were a national phenomenon that grew from a small-town team to an organization of accomplished amateur athletes receiving national and worldwide attention. Under the sponsorship of the company's owner, Frank Phillips, the team, which began playing in 1919, participated in the Amateur Athletic Union, the nation’s premier basketball league before the National Basketball Association. Between 1920 and 1950, some of the strongest basketball teams in the United States were sponsored by corporations—Phillips 66, 20th Century Fox, Safeway Inc., Caterpillar Inc., and others.
The Akron Firestone Non-Skids were an American professional basketball team based in Akron, Ohio. The team was one of the thirteen founding members of the National Basketball League (NBL), which formed in 1937. The team was named for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, which was headquartered in Akron.
The 1937–38 NBL season was the inaugural season of the National Basketball League (NBL). This league is the evolution of the Midwest Basketball Conference, a league that had a duration of two years before becoming the NBL. The league launched with nine franchises, it was irregular because the teams were the ones that had to choose the day and the hour of the match, even the duration was chosen by the local team before the match. The season ended with the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots becoming the NBL's first championship team.
The Caterpillar Diesels was an amateur basketball team located in Peoria, Illinois and sponsored and run by the Caterpillar Inc. company. The Caterpillars were one of the most successful teams of the Amateur Athletic Union League in the 1950s and they became world-wide known in 1952 when five of their players represented the USA team in the Olympics, winning the gold medal.
The Buchan Bakers was an amateur basketball team located in Seattle, Washington and competed in the National Industrial Basketball League. The Bakers were one of the most popular teams of the Amateur Athletic Union, rising to fame in 1957 when the beat the Phillips 66ers in the AAU Tournament final. The team was sponsored by the Buchan Baking company, thus they adopted their name. During the 1955-56 season, the Buchan Bakers traveled to Asia, playing teams from Japan, China and they were the first AAU basketball team to play against Eastern European teams during the Cold War.
The National Basketball League Rookie of the Year Award was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season in each of the twelve years the league existed. The Rookie of the Year was selected by sports writers, broadcasters, coaches, and managers. Despite the dozens of teams that played in the NBL through its history, three of them collectively dominated the award's recipients. The Indianapolis Kautskys and Sheboygan Red Skins had three winners each, while the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots had two, for a combined eight of the twelve awards bestowed (66.7%).
Clifton Andrew "Lefty" Byers was an American professional basketball coach for the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL). He was the NBL Coach of the Year in 1937–38. During Byers' tenure, the Wingfoots transitioned from the Midwest Basketball Conference (MBC) in 1936–37 into the NBL in 1937–38. Byers led the Wingfoots to win the first-ever NBL championship in 1938. The year before, the team had also won the MBC championship.