New Book Clears Up Debate Over NBA Start Year (1950)


In 1996, while I was working at N.B.A. Properties — the National Basketball Association’s licensing and merchandising arm — the league vigorously promoted its 50th Anniversary with an avalanche of celebratory events, historical perspectives, and commemorative items.

The problem, though, was that technically it was only the 46th anniversary, since the N.B.A. didn’t actually exist until the 1949-50 season.

The National Basketball League: A History

Penn State history professor Murry Nelson's new book about the National Basketball League.

That year, the Basketball Association of America (established in 1946) and the National Basketball League (formed in 1937) merged most of their existing teams (except the all-black New York Rens) into a new league they called the National Basketball Association.

But those historical facts didn’t stop the league, which insisted the official inaugural year was 1946.

Their insistence was based upon the idea — now proven historically inaccurate — that rather than a merger, the B.A.A. merely expanded by swallowing up the N.B.L.’s teams and then renaming itself.

Some suspected that the N.B.A. was using that earlier date and accelerating its 50th anniversary celebration ahead of schedule for marketing reasons — to allow more promotional hype featuring Michael Jordan, whose remaining playing days at the time were uncertain.

Basketball history scholars and educators quickly objected to the dismissal of the N.B.L., a groundbreaking league that signed African American players as early as 1942.

But to no avail.  The N.B.A.’s marketing machine, which included the admittedly brilliant though somewhat flawed 50 Greatest Players promotional bonanza, created so much media attention that any dissenting voices were quickly and easily made irrelevant or drowned out.

However, one man, Murry Nelson, a professor of education and American studies at Penn State University, wouldn’t back down.  He began a letter writing campaign and, to his delight, Sports Illustrated published one of them in its issue of December 9, 1996:

The celebration of the NBA’s 50th year in SI and elsewhere has me confused. How is the first season of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), 1946-47, the beginning of the NBA? When the BAA and the National Basketball League (NBL) merged to form the NBA before the 1949-50 season, the league consisted of 17 teams, 11 from the BAA and six from the NBL. Why declare the inception of the BAA as the starting point of the NBA? The NBL began in 1937-38. Why not count the history of the NBA from then? The oldest team in the NBA is the Detroit Pistons, who began in 1941-42 as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons; why not start with them?

Of the 17 teams that began the NBA, eight are still in existence, but they began their various lives in the years from 1941 through 1947.

MURRY NELSON, Boalsburg, Pa.

That ink got a lot of attention.  Regrettably, however, SI’s editor had already drunk the N.B.A.’s revisionist Kool-Aid:

The NBA traces its origins to June 6, 1946, when it was founded, as the BAA, at a meeting of prospective team owners in New York. Maurice Podoloff was chosen commissioner at that gathering. The league, with Podoloff still the commissioner, simply changed its name to the NBA before the 1949-50 season, when it absorbed six surviving members of the rival NBL.—ED.

Prof. Nelson was summarily dismissed. And by a non-academic journalist.  As if!

What stands out about this historical faux pas reveals itself, ironically, in the very next letter to the editor, published by SI right below Prof. Nelson’s:

Earl Lloyd is listed in your timeline as the first black to play in an NBA game in 1950. But there were black pro players before then. William (Dolly) King and William (Pop) Gates of the NBL Rochester Royals each played in 1946-47. Because of a fight between Gates and another player, neither was retained the following year because of concern over racial tension. These two friends and former Harlem Renaissance players were the forebears of blacks in the NBA.

KEITH NORRIS, Los Angeles

It’s as if the N.B.A. didn’t want to be associated with the N.B.L., or with that racial breakthrough, or both, for whatever reason.

In other words, there remains a perplexing question: If the N.B.A. was formed in 1946, then why did the league not leverage or promote or even acknowledge its leadership — ahead of Major League Baseball — insofar as its breaking the color barrier that year (with King and Gates)?

But the brush-off provided powerful inspiration for Prof. Nelson.  He decided then and there to set the record straight — by writing a definitive and comprehensive book about the N.B.L.

That book is now finished: The National Basketball League: A History, 1935-1949, by Murry R. Nelson.

The book is all that.  It includes dozens of rarely seen photographs, tables of year-by-year team standings, complete listings of league MVPs and scoring leaders, and details of league franchises.

On a personal note, I met Prof. Nelson about 10 years ago at a basketball history symposium at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, where, afterward, we also played in a game of pickup basketball together.

He subsequently invited me to join a panel discussion on African American history at Penn State, where we played hoops at the college’s famed Rec Hall, under the watchful (and probably amused) eye of John “Boy Wonder” Isaacs, who was also a guest panelist.

After that we met (and played) at a couple of the annual North American Society for Sports History conferences, most memorably at an outdoor playground court in French Lick, Indiana.

So I got to know Prof. Nelson’s game — it’s solid and complete, and impressive in that what he lacks in any area is made up for with crazy stamina.

Moreover, he’s my definitive source for anything about the N.B.L.

He’s also, now, professor emeritus at Penn State, and the author of a history of the New York Original Celtics, as well as biographies of Bill Russell and Shaquille O’Neal.

Prof. Nelson’s new book provides a much-needed bridge between the N.B.A. and a vitally important portion of the history that led up to it’s formation.

So, if you want to know all the facts and the real story behind the hype, I recommend that you check it out.

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Zachary C. Husser, Sr.
14 years ago

Mr. Gaynor and Other Historians,

I’m so very happy that I was corrected and the EBL history was introduced to show that I had my facts a little off. You know, my point is validated by the information that you bring to the table. I was awaiting the many “real” history people like yourself to step up to the plate and refute my generalization. Now that you have done that, I must say that you proved the point I was making in my original article, that the “White Supremacist” NBA wrote “Black” Professional Ball Players out of “Their” History. You telling the historical facts about Pop Gates and Dolly King is another validation of what I was describing that crosses genenerations. Nothing has changed and using “racial” tensions as a pretext after a fight to not let “Black” Professionals play in the NBA is just as racist yesterday as it is today.

Show me some “real” progress and I’ll talk over this medium and we’ll teach folks together about what really happened and what is happening “right” now as I write this response. The conversation needs to take place, because the “truth” crushed to Earth, will Rise again!

Are we just “Players” in the Show?

Peace,
Brother Zach Husser, Sr.
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Michael Funke
14 years ago

Such a conference or meet-up would be fun, though I have to say I am a small player in all of this. I had the good fortune to meet these guys, and they are the ones who really got me into the research. Last night I traced the current NBA teams that have roots in the NBL and the BAA and near as I can tell five (the Hawks, Pistons, Lakers, 76ers and Kings) go back to the NBL and three (Celtics, Warriors and Knicks) came out of the BAA. That makes the NBA’s official history all the more mystifying. Then again, maybe not. Written history is political. The Knicks and Celtics certainly have political clout. Ah…maybe I’m reading too much into this.

Michael Funke
14 years ago

I went to Amazon looking for Prof. Nelson’s book but it was out of stock. I’ll try to order it from my local independent bookstore. I had the good fortune to sit down and interview four Chicago Studebakers–Bernie Price, Dick Evans, Tony Peyton, and Roosie Hudson–in 1992 for an article I wrote for Solidarity, the magazine of the United Auto Workers. The gathering was arranged, at Price’s home, because the Studebakers were not only the first fully integrated pro basketball team but also the only one ever sponsored by a union. Recent emails and conversations with Brian Gaynor and Keith Ellis caused me to dig up the raft of notes I have from that day in Chicago 17 years ago. What comes across clearly is how very proud all four of these men (three African-American, one white) were to have played on this historic team. It is truly sad that official NBA history still refuses to acknowledge the NBL, th Studebakers, and the other African-American players who played in the league. My recollection is that the BAA banned African-American players when it started up in 1946. In my opinion, that only makes the NBA’s refusal to acknowledge its true roots even worse. One of my favorite moments of that Sunday in Chicago was when we all went to an old college gym for some photos. I brought a basketball (which I later got all four to autograph) for the photo shoot. I handed it to Hudson. He lobbed it to Price. Price faced the basketball from the left side of the key, about 20 feet out, and swished a set shot. I mean, the guy was 77 years old and he told me he hadn’t taken a shot in eight years! Hudson just smiled and said, “Lucky man.” I was speechless.

Zachary C. Husser, Sr.
14 years ago

Brother Claude,

Once again, your research and contacts have educated all of us. As my grandmother used to say, the “truth” crushed to earth will rise again! That quote reminds me of how the current NBA as well as the founding fathers, just cut the black historical facts out of the “White NBA Beginnings.” I’m not surprised at anything that money hungry, and I use the next phrase very carefully, “white supremacist” will do to keep our black brothers and sisters founding legacy accomplishments as far as way from what they are doing as possible. This is what America was all about during the beginning of 1900’s up and to the 1980’s. Nothing changes with the NBA unless you “force” the change on that organization.

I got carried away about the original history lesson, but it wasn’t by much. The strategy has changed, but the same NBA story is being told right in our faces. How? Well, let’s talk about a few “Black” giants in NBA history and let’s see what the official story is about those players. Let’s see how the “NBA Family” has treated those individuals personally and collectively. First, what did the NBA do with many of the first black players to strut their stuff on the all white scene. How did the Association associate with Earl Lloyd, Sweet Water Clifton, and many of the first cats to open up the doors for Black players. How did the Association treat and associate with Dave Bing, Spencer Heyward, Bob McAddo, Willis Reed, Fred Crawford, and many players who wanted to be head coaches and had the capabilities? To this day, I can’t understand what the Association did to Willis Reed after he built two great teams in the New York metro area. The Association, let’s get this straight, individual teams don’t make moves, It’s the Association that makes the moves. All of the moves come through the Commissioner’s Office.

What about the disgraceful treatment the Association has directed straight at Mr. Nate “Tiny” Archibald. Tiny, as many of his friends call him, is one of the great “basketball minds” walking around America that the Association chose to never give a chance to run an National Basketball Association Team. Yes, one of the great “Basketball Minds” in the World has never been given the opportunity by the Association to teach real fundamental basketball. Mr. Nate “Tiny” Archibald, one the 50 greatest, the only point guard player to lead the Association in points averaged and assists in the same season, an “All Star” several times, and I say the best point guard general to ever play in the Association. Nate “Tiny” Archibald, the man that all basketball players knew and knows wants to coach on the NBA level is consistently overlooked by the Association. Yet, the Association continues to bring back old retread coaches who proved they could lose in the NBA. So, as far as I can read and see, the NBA or The ABA are doing exactly today, what they did in 1937-1950, with hold the “Black” player story and legacy. The strategies and the folks making the decisions have changed, but the results are the same!

In the interest of telling the “Truth,”

Brother Zachary C. Husser, Sr.
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carl campbell
14 years ago

a point of information for everyone john isaacs hank dezonie james l. usry george crowe tom sealy just happen to be playing the game the same time in the same game as pop gates and dolly king during the founding decade of the nbl which was proceeded by the baa..

14 years ago

Good point Claude. Did you paly point gaurd or shooting guard? I’ll check out Prof. Nelson’s book. I wonedred that myself. But it goes to show that historic fact sometimes gets in the way of pro sports and their money.