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| St. Louis Bombers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Division | Western |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Folded | 1950 |
| History | St. Louis Bombers 1946–1950 |
| Arena | St. Louis Arena |
| Location | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Team colors | Red and White |
| General manager | Emory D. Jones |
| Head coach | Ken Loeffler (1946–1948) Grady Lewis (1948–1950) |
| Division titles | 1 (1948) |
The St. Louis Bombers were a National Basketball Association team based in St. Louis from 1946 to 1950.
The St. Louis Bombers were originally part of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946. Ken Loeffler, head coach at the University of Denver, was the team's first head coach. He left the team in 1948 due to a disagreement with team president C. D. Hamilton Jr. over a bonus. [1]
On May 7, 1949, the Bombers signed Saint Louis University star Ed Macauley to one of the highest contracts in professional basketball. [2] Later that year, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). [3]
On January 27, 1950, general manager Emory D. Jones announced that the ownership was looking to sell the team due to poor on-court performance and low attendance (3,550 per game). [4] On April 22, 1950, the Bombers announced that they were dropping their franchise. [5] The Bombers were one of six teams that either folded or departed the NBA after the 1949–50 season. [6]
The NBA would return to St. Louis in 1955 when the Milwaukee Hawks became the St. Louis Hawks. Ed Macauley would end up back in St. Louis in a deal that sent Bill Russell to the Boston Celtics, and played a key role in the Hawks 1958 NBA championship. [7] The Hawks have played in their current home of Atlanta since 1968.
The Bombers played at the St. Louis Arena. The arena was torn down in 1999. [7]
| St. Louis Bombers Hall of Famers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | ||||
| No. | Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted |
| 50 | Ed Macauley | C/F | 1949–1950 | 1960 |
| Coaches | ||||
| Name | Position | Tenure | Inducted | |
| Ken Loeffler | Head coach | 1946-1948 | 1964 | |
| BAA/NBA champions | Division champions | Playoff berth |
| Season | League | Division | Finish | Wins | Losses | Win% | GB | Playoffs | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946–47 | BAA | Western | 2nd | 38 | 23 | .623 | 1 | Lost First round (Warriors) 1–2 | |
| 1947–48 | BAA | Western | 1st | 29 | 19 | .604 | — | Lost BAA Semifinals (Warriors) 3–4 † | |
| 1948–49 | BAA | Western | 4th | 29 | 31 | .483 | 16 | Lost Division semifinals (Royals) 0–2 ‡ | |
| 1949–50 | NBA | Central | 5th | 26 | 42 | .382 | 25 | ||
| Regular season record | 122 | 115 | .515 | 1946–1950 | |||||
| Playoff record | 4 | 8 | .333 | Postseason Series Record: 0–3 | |||||
The National Basketball League (NBL) was a professional basketball league in the United States. Established in 1935 as the Midwest Basketball Conference, it changed its name to the NBL 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). Five current NBA teams trace their history back to the NBL: the Atlanta Hawks, the Detroit Pistons, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Sacramento Kings.
The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago from 1946 to 1950.
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Charles Edward Macauley was a professional basketball player and coach. His playing nickname was "Easy Ed". Macauley played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1949 to 1959 for the St. Louis Bombers, Boston Celtics, and St. Louis Hawks. During his career, Macauley earned seven All-Star selections and won a championship with the Hawks in 1958. He played college basketball for Saint Louis.
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The 1949–50 NBA season was the inaugural season of the National Basketball Association, which was created in 1949 by merger of the 3-year-old BAA and 12-year-old NBL. The 1950 NBA playoffs ended with the Minneapolis Lakers winning the NBA Championship, beating the Syracuse Nationals in 6 games in the NBA Finals.
The 1947–48 BAA season was the second season of the Basketball Association of America. The 1948 BAA Playoffs ended with the Baltimore Bullets winning the BAA Championship, beating the Philadelphia Warriors in 6 games in the BAA Finals.
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Lester J. Harrison was an American professional basketball player, coach, and team owner and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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The 1948 BAA Finals was the championship round of the Basketball Association of America's 1947–48 season. The Philadelphia Warriors of the Eastern Division faced the Baltimore Bullets of the Western Division, with Philadelphia having home court advantage. The Bullets won the series 4–2.
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs is the annual elimination tournament held to determine the league champion. The four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held after the league's regular season and its preliminary postseason tournament, the NBA play-in tournament. Six teams from each of the two conferences automatically advance to the playoffs based on regular season winning percentage, while those teams finishing seven through 10 from each conference compete in the play-in tournament to determine the final two playoff seeds.
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