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37-684: In 1946, a group of owners and operators of some of the larger arenas in America held a meeting in New York, to establish the Basketball Association of America (now the NBA). The majority of the would-be basketball owners were involved with the National Hockey League and wanted to fill empty dates. The only Canadian delegation invited was from Maple Leaf Gardens: Frank Selke Sr., who was in charge of

74-499: A go of the team," Newman once said, "but we were given the worst possible home dates." The hardships started almost immediately when Newman's father took ill soon after the first game, forcing Newman to leave the Huskies to take over the family scrap and steel metal business in St. Catharines , Ontario. Lack of co-operation from the local media and lack of talent on the court kept crowds low, despite

111-553: A name for Toronto's new NBA team in 1995 (marking a return of professional basketball to the city after a 48-year absence). However, management ruled that option out when it became apparent there was no way to design a suitable logo that didn't resemble that of the Minnesota Timberwolves , so they became the Toronto Raptors instead. Nevertheless, a group of fans have created a 'Bring back the Huskies' campaign, complete with

148-489: A website, TorontoHuskies.org, with the intent of having the franchise revert to the historical 'Huskies' name. On December 8, 2009, the Raptors introduced a throwback jersey to commemorate the Huskies. The uniforms were the same, except for the different team name and the shorts were longer than the originals. These uniforms were worn in six games in the 2009–10 season and have since been used as "retro" jerseys. On August 23, 2016,

185-700: The American Basketball League (ABL) and the NBL, the BAA was the first league that attempted to play primarily in large arenas in major cities, such as Madison Square Garden and Boston Garden . At its inception, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues, or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters . For instance, both the 1948 and 1949 titles were won by teams that had played in other leagues during

222-528: The Maple Leaf Gardens managing Director Frank Selke , Duquesne Gardens entertainment executive John Harris , and Rhode Island Auditorium owner Louis Pieri . The already-serving president of the American Hockey League (AHL) Maurice Podoloff was appointed president of the BAA , becoming the first person to simultaneously lead two professional leagues — Joseph Carr had been president of

259-587: The University of Oregon , and Paul Hoffman from Purdue University . However, they would later join the Pittsburgh Ironmen in folding their teams simultaneously on July 27, 1947, joining the Detroit Falcons from July 9 and Cleveland Rebels from June 9 as the first four BAA (now NBA) teams to ever fold in the league's existence. Reviving the Huskies name was originally considered at the time of selecting

296-550: The University of Wisconsin–Madison during the 1936–37 season but did not play on the varsity basketball team . A 6'2" forward / guard , Schulz played four seasons (1946–1950) in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Cleveland Rebels , Toronto Huskies , Baltimore Bullets , Washington Capitols , Tri-Cities Blackhawks , and Sheboygan Red Skins . He averaged 5.6 points per game in his BAA/NBA career and won

333-591: The finals . The divisional semifinals and finals were played in a best-of-3 format while the final series were played in the best-of-7 format. The Lakers defeated the Royals to become the inaugural Western Division winner. In the other divisional final, the Capitols defeated the New York Knicks to become the inaugural Eastern Division winner. The Lakers then won the finals by defeating the Capitols 4–2. On August 3, 1949,

370-647: The ABL from 1925 to 1928 while also overseeing the National Football League (NFL), but the NFL and ABL seasons did not overlap. The owners of the BAA, while experienced businessmen, had little experience owning basketball teams. The league started with 11 teams, which played a 60-game regular season. This was followed by the playoffs and the final series to determine the league winner. Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues, including

407-685: The BAA agreed to merge with the NBL, creating the National Basketball Association (NBA). Six remaining NBL teams joined with the ten BAA teams; the Indianapolis Jets and the Providence Steamrollers folded prior to the merger. The Indianapolis Olympians , a planned expansion team for the NBL, also joined the newly formed league. In total, the new league had 17 teams located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as large arenas, smaller gymnasiums, and armories. Prior to

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444-470: The BAA and NBL prior to the merger in 1949 are considered in official NBA history only if a player, coach or team participated in the newly formed NBA after 1949 for one or more seasons. The NBA generally claims the BAA's history as its own. For example, at NBA History online its table of one-line "NBA Season Recaps" begins 1946–47 without comment. It celebrated "NBA at 50" in 1996, with the announcement of its 50 Greatest Players among other things. When

481-566: The BAA remain in operation in the NBA as of the 2023–24 season , three that co-founded the league in 1946 ( Boston Celtics , New York Knicks , and Philadelphia Warriors) and three that joined it from the NBL in 1948 ( Fort Wayne Pistons , Minneapolis Lakers, and Rochester Royals ). The inaugural BAA season began with 11 teams, of which four dropped out before the second season. One ABL team joined to provide 8 teams for 1947–48 and four NBL teams joined to provide 12 for 1948–49. The records and statistics of

518-706: The BAA was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946. The remaining founding members were represented by the Madison Square Garden sports promoter Ned Irish , Philadelphia Arena sports promoter Peter Tyrell , the Uline Arena owner Mike Uline, both Chicago Stadium and St.Louis Arena owner Arthur Wirtz , the Detroit Olympia owner James D. Norris , the Cleveland Arena sports promoter Albert Sutphin ,

555-908: The BAA was founded, there were two established professional leagues in the United States: the American Basketball League (ABL) in the East, founded 1925, and the National Basketball League (NBL) in Midwestern industrial cities, founded 1937. However, most of the ABL and NBL teams played in small arenas, and in some cases even ballrooms or high school gymnasiums. Walter Brown , owner of the Boston Garden , believed that major ice hockey arenas, which sat empty on many nights, could be put to profitable use hosting basketball games when there were no ice hockey games to be played. To put this theory into practice,

592-783: The BAA, Ossie Schectman scored the opening basket for the Knickerbockers. The Eastern Division winner, the Washington Capitols , who had the best record with 49 wins, were defeated in the best-of-7 semifinal by the Western Division winner, the Chicago Stags . The Stags advanced to the finals along with the Philadelphia Warriors who defeated the New York Knickerbockers in the other semifinal. The Warriors won

629-606: The BAA. With twelve teams, the league was realigned into two six-team divisions. Each team played 60 regular season games. The Eastern Division was won by the Washington Capitols who had 38 wins, while the Western Division was dominated by the two new teams, the Royals and the Lakers who had 45 and 44 wins respectively. The 1949 Playoffs were expanded to include eight teams. The four best teams from each division contested in divisional semifinals and divisional finals to find each division winners. The two division winners then advanced to

666-611: The BAA/NBA after their time in Toronto. Of the 20 players to make it to the floor for the Huskies, only five would go on to play 10 or more games in the BAA/NBA following the 1946–47 season: Sadowski, Mogus, Hermsen, Nostrand, and Dick Schulz . Hermsen was the last active NBA player from the Huskies roster, retiring in 1953 as a member of the Indianapolis Olympians . The Huskies would continue to stick around long enough to participate in

703-581: The Gardens while Conn Smythe was overseas, got in touch with Ben Newman (who had coached two Canadian national championship teams and had staged a game in the Gardens previously.) The franchise cost approximately $ 150,000 which was funded mostly from Bay Street backers in Toronto. The major partners in the ownership group were Eric Cradock (co-owner of the Montreal Alouettes football team), Harold Shannon and Newman. "I honestly thought we could have made

740-562: The NBA. The All-BAA Team was an annual BAA honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every season. The All-BAA Team was composed of two five-man lineups—a first and second team, comprising a total of 10 roster spots. The players were selected without regard to position . Dick Schulz Richard A. Schulz (January 3, 1917 – June 26, 1998) was an American professional basketball player. Schulz attended Washington Park High School in Racine, Wisconsin . He attended

777-490: The NBL: the BAA played a 48-minute game instead of a 40-minute game, and allowed players to play until they committed six fouls as opposed to five. The league formation did not alarm team owners in the NBL until some NBL players switched to the BAA. Before the season started, the Cleveland Rebels , Detroit Falcons , Pittsburgh Ironmen and Toronto Huskies folded, leaving the BAA with only seven teams. The Baltimore Bullets joined

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814-520: The Raptors unveiled the Huskies throwbacks as new alternates, along with their Chinese New Year jerseys. An alternate Air Canada Centre floor with the Huskies dog logo at centre court and the Huskies logomark text at each end was also utilized by the Raptors on these retro nights. The Huskies played only a single season and never appeared in the playoffs. Note: W = wins, L = losses, % = win–loss % Basketball Association of America The Basketball Association of America ( BAA )

851-402: The ball for long periods. The owners discussed trying a 60-minute game and even doing "innings" where each team would have the ball for a certain period of time. In addition, the teams in the league were financially weak. However, the BAA still had fans eager to see former college stars play. From the beginning, the league aspired to be a major league. The league also differed from its rival,

888-530: The inaugural 1947 BAA draft at The Leland Hotel , with them having the #2 pick and selecting guard/forward Glen Selbo from the University of Wisconsin with it alongside multiple other players like forward/center Red Rocha from Oregon State University (who would be traded to the St. Louis Bombers ), Frank Broyles from the Georgia School of Technology (who later became a college football coach and athletic director), former MLB player Wimpy Quinn from

925-502: The inaugural BAA championship by winning the series 4–1. The first year had many problems. In arenas shared with hockey teams, some arena owners simply put a wooden basketball floor over the ice. This caused some games to be cancelled due to puddles on the floor. In addition, some owners would not heat their buildings, leading fans to bring blankets to the games and players to wear gloves. Attendance averaged just 3,000 per game. Teams with large leads would stall by having players dribble

962-614: The league from the ABL , and were assigned to the Western Division along with the Washington Capitols to even the divisions. Prior to the start of the season, the league held its inaugural college draft on July 1, 1947. Each team played 48 regular season games. The Eastern Division was won by the Philadelphia Warriors, the West by the St. Louis Bombers. The 1948 Playoffs followed the same format as

999-616: The merge, the league held the 1949 college draft on March 21, which was the last event held under the name BAA. The NBA later adopted the BAA's history and statistics as its own but did not do the same for NBL records and statistics. The series was initially known as the BAA Finals prior to the 1949–50 season when the Basketball Association of America (BAA) merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to create

1036-646: The previous year, the Baltimore Bullets in 1948 and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1949. The league started with 11 teams, which were divided into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division . Each team played 60 or 61 regular season games. The best three teams from each division advanced to the playoffs . The two division winners received first-round byes and qualified directly to

1073-724: The previous year. The Eastern Division winner, the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Western Division winner, St. Louis Bombers . In the finals , the Warriors were defeated by the Bullets 4–2. Prior to the start of the season, four teams from the NBL , the Fort Wayne Pistons , Indianapolis Jets , Minneapolis Lakers and the Rochester Royals , joined the BAA. This caused a surge in talent as players such as George Mikan were now playing in

1110-517: The semifinals, while the two second-place teams and two third-place teams competed in the best-of-3 quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals. The final series was also played in a best-of-7 format. On November 1, 1946, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto , the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers , which the NBA now regards as the league's first official game. In the opening game of

1147-676: The tallest Husky at 6'8", was given free admission. Attendance quickly dwindled and the Toronto Star published an estimate that team owners lost $ 100,000 in one season of operations. Managing director of the Huskies was Lew Hayman , coach and general manager of the Alouettes and future president of the Toronto Argonauts and the Canadian Football League , who had been a star basketball player at Syracuse University . Charles Watson

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1184-470: The time one of the league's top scorers. Hayman had previously traded Nostrand to the Rebels for another 6'9" giant, Kleggie Hermsen . In February 1947 the Huskies acquired the tallest player in the league, 7'1" Ralph Siewert, from the St. Louis Bombers . Despite his height, Siewert averaged just 1.1 points per game with the Huskies and had the lowest field goal percentage on the team. The team's leading scorer

1221-523: The use of such gimmicks that included free stockings to all women in attendance. On November 1, 1946, they hosted the first game in BAA league history losing 68–66 to the New York Knickerbockers before an opening night crowd of 7,090. Ossie Schectman scored the opening basket for the New York Knickerbockers against the Toronto Huskies. On that night, anyone taller than George Nostrand ,

1258-408: Was Mike McCarron , with 649 points in 60 games. He and Fitzgerald were the only players to appear in every game. Sadowski had the most points per game, averaging 19.1 points over his 10 games with the Huskies. Hank Biasatti and Gino Sovran were the only Canadians on the Huskies, each playing just six games. Neither of the Huskies' head coaches (or their interim coaches) would coach another game in

1295-540: Was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Philadelphia Warriors won the inaugural BAA championship in 1947, followed by the Baltimore Bullets and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 and 1949, respectively. Six teams from

1332-435: Was openly questioned and, just a month after the first game, he quit the team. After four games with interim coaches (Hayman coached one game, and Huskies player Dick Fitzgerald ruled the bench for three games), Hayman hired former Major League Baseball player Red Rolfe , who had also been the coach of Yale University 's basketball team. Hayman traded the playing rights to Sadowski to the Cleveland Rebels for Leo Mogus, at

1369-476: Was team president. Ben Newman and Salter Hayden were the other co-founders. Annis Stukus was also a member of the front office. Future all-star Ed Sadowski began the season as player-coach and was initially the team's top player. Three weeks into the season, with the team off to a poor start, the Star reported that the players had divided into two or three cliques that rarely spoke to each other. Sadowski's coaching

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