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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 2196857, member: 289"] THE PLAYERS (I covered Phil Rabin, Moe Spahn and Nat Frankel last time.) LEROY EDWARDS was one of Adolph Rupp’s first big stars at Kentucky, (his tenure there began in 1930). There’s no shortage of articles about Edwards on the internet. He and Bobby McDermott were the most celebrated players of the era. [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_Edwards"]Leroy Edwards - Wikipedia[/URL] [URL="http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Edwards/"]Leroy Edwards: Basketball Legend[/URL] [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/leroy-edwards/"]LEROY EDWARDS - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] Edwards stood 6-4 220 and was famous for his hook shot and could score with either hand. As a sophomore he set a national scoring record with nearly 20ppg, including 34 in one game against Creighton, and led the Wildcats to a 19-2 record. They played NYU in Madison Square Garden in what was considered an unofficial “national championship game” and the Wildcats lost 22-23 with two of the Violets “hanging on Edwards throughout the game”. He must have looked like a Christmas tree. The test of great centers is if they force a rule change and with Edwards it was the occasionally enforced 3 second rule, the limit on time offensive players can spend in the lane. He went on to join the Oshkosh All-Stars, one of the top touring teams and then a long-time power in the NBL. He led the NBL in scoring for three years in a row and set a pro record with a 35 point game against Fort Wayne. Late in his career he went up against the next great center, 6-10 George Mikan. Despite chronic knees, Edwards out-played Mikan in their match-ups to the extent that George reported in his memoirs that Edwards was 6-8 and 260 pounds! His nickname was “Cowboy”, even though he was from Indianapolis. He played his entire career with Oshkosh and in the NBL, retiring just as the NBA was formed. He’d won three MVP awards and was the all-league center six times. He was the first of the truly great basketball centers. He died young, of a heart attack at the age of 57. Here is a video tribute: [MEDIA=youtube]AQa0rccZMU8[/MEDIA] INKY LAUTMAN was listed, (in 1972) as “one of the ten best players ever to come out of Philadelphia. He was a star for 10 years for the Philadelphia SHPAs when they dominated the ABL, winning four, (per this article), championships in his tenure there. “Lautman will be remembered as the sixth all-time scorer in ABL history with 1,867 points.” Inky was a teammate of Shikey Gotthoffer, so the SPHAs had both Inky and Shikey in their line-up. But they could play. [URL]http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=basketball&ID=190[/URL] Lautman was a solidly built 6-2 205. “Despite his bulky size, Lautman was an excellent passer and ball handler. He was an tenacious inside scorer and rebounder who also served as the team’s defensive enforcer. In the long and highly successful history of the SPHAS, Lautman stands out as the most productive player over the longest period of time.” This article correctly identified Lautman as starring on 7 Philadelphia ABL champions, not 4: [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/inky-lautman/"]INKY LAUTMAN - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] Inky’s parents made him quit high school in the tenth grade when he was still 15 to play pro ball and make some money. (Quite a contrast to the many stories of parents of those times who wanted their sons to “get a real job” rather than play games for a living.) He may have been the youngest pro basketball player ever. [URL="http://www.mrbasketball.net/instuff/zlargeImages/inkyLautman.html"]Youngest pro basketball player? Inky Lautman circa 1930-35[/URL] BEN STEPHENS was the star of the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots. He led the league in scoring with an 11.0 average and was MVP, despite being a 6-0 guard. After leaving the team to serve in the Navy, he became a lifetime employee of Goodyear before dying of a heart attack at age 49 in 1966. [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stephens"]Ben Stephens - Wikipedia[/URL] He’s been a star at Iowa, as a “fast-moving guard. Stephens joined an experienced squad and quickly impressed teammates and opponents alike with his hustle and determination. In his rookie season he displayed a fine set shot and great skill at penetrating to the basket. Stephens was a named to the NBL all-star team each of his three seasons in the league.” [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/ben-stephens/"]BEN STEPHENS - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] MOE DUBILIER was the definition of a “journeyman”. He made a lot of journeys. His college career ended prematurely when he was declared ineligible. He started what amounted to a tour of basketball’s minor leagues before turning up with the ABL’s Jersey/New York Jewels., the first of six ABL teams he played for. He continued to play with minor league or touring teams when not employed in the ABL and even saw some time playing center, not for a basketball team but for a pro football team, the “New York Yankees” of the minor league AFL, (in 1936): [URL="http://www.profootballarchives.com/1936aflny.html"]1936 New York Yankees - The Pro Football Archives[/URL] Every reference but one lists Moe as one of a group of players who helped a team to be a success: “Led by two of the league's top 10 scorers, Phil Rabin and Morris “Moe” Dubilier, the Brewers finished in second place.”….” With Ace Abbott, Johnny Norlander and Moe Dubilier joining Ahearn, Bloom, and Stutz in the basket assault, the Bullets poured thirty points through the webbing”...” Ash Resnick, Moe Dubilier, Eddie Gard, Connie Schaff, Lou Kusserow, , Leroy Smith, Sherman White, Dolph Schayes, Bob Zowaluk, Gene Rossides, Dick Feutado, Jimmy Brasco- the cream of the basketball crop- all played at Grossingers”….” The team would feature, basketball pioneers such as Joe Polcha, Moe Dubilier (who also played professional football with the NY Yanks), Si Boardman, Fred Stanton, Al Kellet, Jim Brown” The only discussion specifically about Moe himself is below: [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/moe-dublier/"]MOE DUBLIER - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] He just seems to have been part of a good supporting cast – a consummate ‘team’ player. JACK OZBURN was an AAU all-American who signed with the NBL’s Akron Firestone Non-Skids and helped them to titles in 1939 and 1940. His career ended when he went into the military during World War II: [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/jack-ozburn/"]JACK OZBURN - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] Jack was a regular on the all-NBL team: [URL]https://books.google.com/books?id=8HYQQYEtQ4gC&pg=PA242&lpg=PA242&dq=JACK+OZBURN&source=bl&ots=iFRYpDz7Zz&sig=qtZ_lp-WuI9NzYa3QDDN_KUY_hc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiOs9vKifbTAhVJ9IMKHdLuCBcQ6AEIXTAQ#v=onepage&q=JACK%20OZBURN&=false[/URL] Some more pictures: [URL="http://peachbasketsociety.blogspot.com/2015/08/jack-ozburn.html"]Peach Basket Society: Jack Ozburn[/URL] WIBS KAUTZ played for Chicago- both for George Halas’s Bruins in 1939-41 and for the Chicago Stags of the BAA five years later. He’d played for Loyola of Chicago before that and Tilden Tech High School before that. It wasn’t all Chicago- he also saw some time with Baltimore Bullets of the ABL and a couple of independent teams, (on being the Chicago Harmons). He ended his career playing for the independent Grand Rapids Rangers in 1947-48, a team whose general manager was one Gerald Ford Jr. [URL="http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/PBLA/Teams/GrandRapids.html"]Grand Rapids Rangers[/URL] In his senior year at Loyola, the Ramblers went 21-0 until they met a 24-0 Long Island U. team in the finals of the NIT but lost 32-44. That was the year of the first NCAA tournament and either team might have bene favored to win that. It’s the only time that either tournament has had a final between undefeated teams. Kautz scored more points than any other NBL player in his first three years in the league. He also led the Bruins to the finals of the WPBT in 1940, where they lost to the Harlem Globetrotters. [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/wibs-kautz/"]WIBS KAUTZ - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] In this picture he looks every bit the “student-athlete”: [URL]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TFdYG5cEIME/VjuY5T6KTNI/AAAAAAAAAYo/W59QbHrAHFc/s1600/kautz-wilbert-nbl.jpg[/URL] PETEY ROSENBERG was Philadelphia man, playing for the ABL’s SPHAs and then the BAA’s Warriors. He never averaged 10 points a game but in that era his 8.9 was enough to win the ABL scoring title in 1941 as a 5-10 guard [URL="http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/player/pete-rosenberg/"]PETE ROSENBERG - Pro Basketball Encyclopedia[/URL] He played on three ABL championship teams, although his participation in the last two was limited by his military service. Then he played for the first ever BAA championship team. [URL]http://jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=basketball&ID=173[/URL] But his greatest contribution to Eddie Gottlieb may have bene to recommend he employ Joe Fulks, the first star of the Warriors and the BAA, who set scoring records Petey could not have dreamed of. Petey in his SPHA’s uniform: [URL]http://probasketballencyclopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Pete-Rosenberg-II.png[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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