Toledo Jeeps

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Toledo Jeeps
Leagues NBL: 1946–1948
Founded1946
History1946-48
Arena University of Toledo Field House
Location Toledo, Ohio
Head coach Jule Rivlin
Championshipsnone

The Toledo Jeeps were a professional basketball team that played in the National Basketball League from 1946 to 1948. As with many other NBL teams, they owed their name to an industry of their hometown, in this case the Willys-Overland Jeep Plant. They played their games at the University of Toledo Field House. According to historian Murry R. Nelson in the book called The National Basketball League History: A History, 1935–1949, the Toledo Jeeps were actually a returning member in the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets (who played in the NBL from 1941–1943 before leaving due to the struggles of World War II) due to them having the same management, but now being sponsored by Jeep instead of Chevrolet under Jim White's name. [1]

The Jeeps' first season in the league (at least under the Toledo Jeeps name) was also the NBL's first official season where they actually implemented a drafting system similar to what the future rivaling Basketball Association of America (and later merging partner to become the National Basketball Association) had for the eventual NBA draft system a year later following the conclusion of their inaugural league season for the purpose of controlled player salaries and limiting the idea of outbidding other players outside of their own 12-player teams at hand (with the NBL having a budget of $6,000 this season), as well as implementing key players to signing binding contracts as soon as they could and the NBL looking to have full-time referees on display. [2] The 1946–47 team featured players such as Chips Sobek, Hal Tidrick, Jule Rivlin and rookie Paul Seymour. Rivlin served as the player-coach. [3] It went 21–23 and qualified for the playoffs, where it lost to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. [4] It would, however, be invited to the 1947 World Professional Basketball Tournament, where it finished 2nd behind the Indianapolis Kautskys.

In the 1947–48 NBL season, Sobek, Tidrick and Rivlin returned, and were joined by Dick Mehen and Harry Boykoff. The team finished with a record of 22–37 and missed the playoffs. [5] On May 10, 1948, the Jeeps joined the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, Indianapolis Kautskys, Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, and Oshkosh All-Stars as one of six NBL teams to at least try and switch from the NBL to the Basketball Association of America (BAA), though like the All-Stars, the Jeeps failed to switch leagues that year and joined the aborted BAA Buffalo team and cities of Louisville, Kentucky and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania as failed teams and locations to have teams enter the BAA that year. [6] The 1947-48 season later proved to be the Jeeps' last; they were replaced for what became the NBL's final season with the Waterloo Hawks, who inherited Mehen and Boykoff from Toledo.

References

  1. ↑ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN   978-0-7864-4006-1., p. 159
  2. ↑ Nelson, Murry R. (2009). The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN   978-0-7864-4006-1., pp. 158–159
  3. ↑ "Rivlin, Jule". Jews in Sports. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  4. ↑ "1946-47 Toledo Jeeps Stats". Basketball-reference.com.
  5. ↑ "1947-48 Toledo Jeeps Stats". Basketball-reference.com.
  6. ↑ https://www.apbr.org/baaminutes.html


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