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1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season

NBL professional basketball team season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season was the third season of the franchise in the National Basketball League, which ended up becoming the 12th and final season of that particular league's existence. The Nationals finished this season with their first winning season in franchise history, as well as their only winning season while in the NBL, which made this their best NBL season by default. Syracuse would sweep the Hammond Calumet Buccaneers 2–0 in the opening round, but lost to the eventual champion Anderson Duffey Packers 3–1 in the semifinal round of the final NBL Playoffs ever held. Months after the end of what became the final NBL season as a whole, the NBL officially agreed to merge operations with the more upstart Basketball Association of America to become the modern-day National Basketball Association, with the NBA ultimately keeping the history of the BAA around over that of the NBL despite it being the longer-lasting league, though the NBA would also keep every surviving NBL team from the previous season outside of the Dayton Rens, Hammond Calumet Buccaneers, and Oshkosh All-Stars (with Oshkosh being a last-minute subtraction on their end) alongside keeping the NBL's planned expansion team in the Indianapolis Olympians, while the BAA side also kept every team of theirs outside of the Indianapolis Jets (formerly the NBL's Indianapolis Kautskys) and the Providence Steamrollers for the merger. However, the Nationals and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks would become the only NBL teams in the NBL side of things by 1949 to survive to the present day, albeit as the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks respectively.

Head coachAl Cervi (player-coach)
PresidentDanny Biasone
General managerGeorge Mingin
OwnersDanny Biasone (majority)
George Mingin (minority)
Quick facts Syracuse Nationals season, Head coach ...
1948–49 Syracuse Nationals season
Head coachAl Cervi (player-coach)
PresidentDanny Biasone
General managerGeorge Mingin
OwnersDanny Biasone (majority)
George Mingin (minority)
ArenaWest Jefferson Street Armory
Results
Record40–23 (.635)
PlaceDivision: 2nd (Eastern)
Playoff finishLost Eastern Division Semifinals to the Anderson Duffey Packers, 1–3
Stats at Basketball Reference
< 1947–48 1949–50 >
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Draft picks

The Syracuse Nationals would participate in the 1948 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1948 BAA draft when plans for a joint draft between the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America ultimately fell out when the defending NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, and Indianapolis Kautskys turned Jets all defected from the NBL to the BAA. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Nationals' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process.

Roster

More information Players, Coaches ...
1948–49 Syracuse Nationals roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From
G/F Bob Calihan 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1918-08-02 Detroit Mercy
G/F Al Cervi 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1917-02-12 East HS (NY)
G/F John Chaney 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1920-02-29 LSU
G/F Billy Gabor 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1922-05-13 Syracuse
G/F Jim Homer 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1921-12-05 Alabama
G/F Johnny Macknowski 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1923-01-07 Seton Hall
F Hank O'Keeffe 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1923-12-12 Canisius
C Ed Peterson 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1924-06-27 Cornell
G Jerry Rizzo 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) 150 lb (68 kg) 1919-04-21 Fordham
F/C Dolph Schayes 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1928-05-19 NYU
G/F Paul Seymour 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1928-01-30 Toledo
F Paul Yesawich 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1923-11-27 Niagara
Head coach

Al Cervi

Legend
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster

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Note: Jerry Rizzo was not on the playoff roster due to the previous season-long suspension that was implemented following a road match against the original Denver Nuggets team (with Paul Yesawich probably also being the same way for a different reason as well).[1][2][3]

Season standings

Eastern Division standings

More information Pos., Eastern Division ...
Pos.Eastern DivisionWinsLossesWin %
1Anderson Duffey Packers4915.766
2Syracuse Nationals4023.635
3Hammond Calumet Buccaneers2141.339
4Dayton Rens‡1426.350
5Detroit Vagabond Kings‡217.105
‡ Dayton replaced Detroit, who disbanded during the season, and assumed Detroit's
record in the standings for the season. Their combined record was 16–43.
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[4]

NBL Schedule

Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Syracuse's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Syracuse Nationals during their third and final season in the NBL before moving on into the NBA.

#DateOpponentScoreRecord
1November 7Denver54–401–0
2November 11Anderson65–622–0
3November 14Sheboygan53–453–0
4November 17Tri-Cities58–564–0
5November 21Anderson66–605–0
6November 23N Detroit78–546–0
7November 24@ Waterloo59–686–1
8November 25@ Sheboygan65–637–1
9November 27@ Oshkosh64–548–1
10November 28@ Hammond65–718–2
11November 29@ Anderson59–658–3
12December 2Waterloo68–599–3
13December 3N Waterloo72–7110–3
14December 5Denver76–6411–3
15December 12Sheboygan77–6512–3
16December 13N Oshkosh68–5513–3
17December 16@ Sheboygan46–6713–4
18December 18@ Oshkosh55–6013–5
19December 19@ Tri-Cities66–6713–6
20December 20@ Denver54–6013–7
21December 22@ Denver59–4914–7
22December 26Anderson57–7314–8
23December 28N Tri-Cities87–7415–8
24December 30Tri-Cities83–7416–8
25January 2Hammond59–7016–9
26January 6Oshkosh75–7017–9
27January 9Sheboygan65–5718–9
28January 13Oshkosh79–7219–9
29January 16@ Tri-Cities72–8319–10
30January 17N Sheboygan75–6620–10
31January 20Denver59–5521–10
32January 23Denver82–5722–10
33January 27Tri-Cities58–5523–10
34January 29N Dayton85–6524–10
35January 30Dayton78–6825–10
36January 31N Dayton65–5526–10
37February 3Hammond68–4927–10
38February 6Waterloo79–7528–10
39February 9@ Hammond67–7628–11
40February 13Hammond83–6129–11
41February 14@ Anderson61–7129–12
42February 16@ Denver71–6630–12
43February 18@ Denver54–7130–13
44February 20@ Tri-Cities66–7530–14
45February 21N Waterloo76–6531–14
46February 22@ Oshkosh38–6131–15
47February 24Dayton66–4932–15
48February 27@ Tri-Cities40–5132–16
49February 28@ Anderson69–7232–17
50March 3Oshkosh67–5533–17
51March 6Dayton61–5734–17
52March 9N Waterloo61–5135–17
53March 10Waterloo61–6535–18
54March 13@ Hammond73–6436–18
55March 14@ Anderson75–8236–19
56March 15N Dayton51–6936–20
57March 17Oshkosh61–6336–21
58March 20Hammond77–6337–21
59March 24Sheboygan79–7338–21
60March 27Anderson71–6039–21
61March 29@ Hammond74–69 (OT)40–21
62March 30@ Sheboygan66–9140–22
63March 31@ Waterloo68–6940–23

A 64th game was intended to have been played for this season, but it was ultimately cancelled for whatever reason (likely due to the cancellation of the Detroit Vagabond Kings and the subsequent replacement of the Dayton Rens for the rest of the season).

NBL Playoffs

NBL Eastern Division Opening Round

(2E) Syracuse Nationals vs. (3E) Hammond Calumet Buccaneers: Syracuse wins series 2–0

  • Game 1: April 1, 1949 @ Hammond: Syracuse 80, Hammond 69[5]
  • Game 2: April 3, 1949 @ Syracuse: Syracuse 72, Hammond 66

NBL Eastern Division Semifinals

(2E) Syracuse Nationals vs. (1E) Anderson Duffey Packers: Anderson wins series 3–1

  • Game 1: April 8, 1949 @ Syracuse: Anderson 89, Syracuse 74[5]
  • Game 2: April 10, 1949 @ Syracuse: Syracuse 80, Anderson 62
  • Game 3: April 11, 1949 @ Anderson: Anderson 76, Syracuse 59
  • Game 4: April 13, 1949 @ Anderson: Anderson 90, Syracuse 84

Awards and records

References

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