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The World Professional Basketball Tournament was an invitational tournament held in Chicago and sponsored by the Chicago Herald American. The annual event was held from 1939 to 1948, and the winner was generally acknowledged as the World Champions of basketball.[according to whom?] Many teams came from the National Basketball League, but it also included the best teams from other leagues and the best independent barnstorming teams such as the New York Rens and Harlem Globetrotters. Games were played at various sites including Chicago Coliseum, International Amphitheater and Chicago Stadium.
The NBL champion usually won this tournament, with three exceptions: the New York Rens won the first WPBT in 1939, while the Harlem Globetrotters—a strongly competitive squad in those days—won the following year. In 1943, the Washington Bears (with many New York Rens players on their roster) won the tournament. The NBL's Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons won the most titles (three, from 1944–46), while the NBL's Oshkosh All-Stars made the most finals appearances with five, winning only once (in 1942). The tournament disbanded in 1949, after the BAA and NBL merged to form the NBA.
Twenty-seven teams entered the tournament in various years but did not win a game; eight teams had one win.
The world-famous New York Celtics played in the initial tournament in 1939, but lost their only game. Another well-known team, the Philadelphia Sphas, had a win and a loss in their only appearance, in 1941 .
9th Place: Davenport Central Turner Rockets, Indianapolis Kautskys, Newark Elks, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, Dayton Sucher Wonders, Rochester Seagrams, Sheboygan Redskins, Bismark Phantoms
1942[]
1st Place: Oshkosh All-Stars 43- Detroit Eagles 41
MVP- Ed Riska (Oshkosh All-Stars)
Leading Championship Game Scorers:
Gene Englund (Oshkosh All-Stars) 17
Buddy Jeanette (Detroit Eagles ) 14
3rd Place: Long Island Grumman Flyers 43- Harlem Globetrotters 41
5th Place: Aberdeen Army Ordinance Training Center, Sheboygan Redskins, Chicago Bruins, New York Rens
9th Place: Detroit A.A.A., Columbus Bobb Chevrolets, Northern Indiana Steelers, Davenport Central Turner Rockets, Toledo White Huts, Hagerstown Conoco Oilers, Indianapolis Kautskys, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
5th Place: , Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, Indianapolis Kautskys, Wilkes-Barre Barons
External links[]
John Grasso. (2011). "World Professional Basketball Tournament". Historical Dictionary of Basketball. Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press. p. 391. ISBN978-0-8108-6763-5.
Dave Quinn; John Duxbury; Steven Brainerd; William F. Himmelman; Steve Dimitry; Robert Bradley. "World Professional Basketball Tournament 1939—1948". The Association for Professional Basketball Research. Retrieved 2013-04-22.
Schleppi, John. (2008). Chicago's Showcase of Basketball: The World Tournament of Professional Basketball and the College All-Star Game. Haworth, New Jersey: St. Johann Press. ISBN978-1878282491.
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1948 disestablishments in the United States
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National Basketball League (United States)
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