History
Beginning in the 1920s, many of the best basketball teams in the country were industrial teams. Originally, these teams were made up of company employees who happened to play basketball. As time went on, though, some of the larger companies began hiring some employees primarily to play basketball.
In 1937, the managers of three industrial teams, the Goodyear Wingfoots and Firestone Non-Skids of Akron and the General Electrics of Ft. Wayne, decided to form a fully professional league.
Some independent semi-pro teams entered the new league, including the Oshkosh All-Stars, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Buffalo Bisons, but most of the teams had clumsy names reflecting their company sponsorship: The Whiting Ciesar All-Americans, Indianapolis Kautskys, Richmond King Clothiers, and Kankakee Gallagher Trojans.
The 12-team National Basketball League was organized into two divisions, with the top two finishers in each division entering post-season playoffs. The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots won the first championship.
In the second year of operation, there were only eight teams in the NBL, and by the 1940-41 season the number was down to seven teams in a single division, with the top four finishers advancing to the playoffs.
World War II took its toll on the league. In 1942-43, the three founding teams were gone. There were only five teams left in the NBL, and one of them disbanded before the season ended.
After the war, though, the NBL expanded to eight teams in 1945-46 and to 12 in 1946-47. But it also faced competition from a new league, the Basketball Association of America, founded in 1946 by a group of arena owners.
The NBL won the first battle when the Chicago Gears signed three-time All-American George Mikan, basketball's first truly dominant big man. Mikan led the Gears to the 1947 championship.
Because Mikan was the biggest name in the sport, Gears' owner Maurice White founded the National Professional Basketball League in 1947 to capitalize on his star's marquee value. That league quickly folded, though, and Mikan was signed by the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, who won the 1948 title.
After the season ended, the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons, Indianapolis Kautskys, Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals left the NBL to join the BAA. The league lasted just one more season, then merged with the BAA to form the National Basketball Association.