National Industrial Basketball League

The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) belonging to the National Basketball League (NBL) that did not join the National Basketball Association when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America.

National Industrial Basketball League
SportBasketball
Founded1947
Ceased1963
No. of teams25
Country United States
Last
champion(s)		Cleveland Pipers (1st title)
Most titlesPhillips 66ers (11)

League history

The league first year, 1947–48, featured five teams in an eight-game schedule—the Milwaukee Harnischfegers (which won the round robin schedule with an 8-0 record), Peoria Caterpillars, Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, and Fort Wayne General Electrics. The following season (1948-1949), with a 16-game schedule, the new lineup was league champion Bartlesville Phillips 66ers (15-1 record), Denver Chevvies, Peoria Caterpillars, Akron Goodyears/Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, and Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys.

In the 1949-50 season, with the addition of the Dayton Industrialists making the league a six-team circuit, the Phillips 66ers repeated as champions. The league expanded again in the 1950-51 season to eight teams, adding the (Oakland Blue 'n Gold Atlas) and San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets. The Dayton team renamed as the Dayton Air Gems, and the Phillips 66ers repeated for their third consecutive title.

High Point of League Expansion

The league in 1951-52 expanded to 11 teams, with such new teams as the Los Angeles Fibber McGee & Mollys, Artesia REA Travelers, and Santa Maria Golden Dukes. The Phillips 66ers just edged the Oakland Atlas-Pacific Engineers and the San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets for their fourth title, with a 17-5 record to their opponents 16-6 records that tied for second. The next season (1952-1953), the league dropped down to nine teams, but saw new opponents in the Houston Ada Oilers and the Los Angeles Kirby's Shoes. The Phillips 66ers edged the Peoria Caterpillars for the title by one game, with a 13-3 record.

The Peoria Cats tied the Phillips 66ers for the 1953-54 title, each with a 10-4 record. Charter member Milwaukee Allen Bradleys, which managed to stay in the league, took last place for the fifth year in seven years in the eight-team circuit. Those Milwaukee fans were supportive apparently. The next two seasons, the Phillips 66ers and the Peoria Cats took first and second respectively. A new team in the greatly reduced circuit of five teams in 1955-56 was the Wichita Vickers. Milwaukee Allen-Bradley again took last place, their sixth time since the league began.

The 1956-57 season was one of the most competitive in the NIBL history, with the Phillips 66ers taking first with a 13-7 record, but tied for second were four teams with 11-9 records, among them new member the Denver-Chicago Truckers, headquartered in Denver. Milwaukee Allen-Bradley was typically the only non-competitive team, finishing last for the seventh time with a 3-17 record. This was the last season for the Milwaukee team, which had valiantly survived since the league's founding.

The 1957-58 season saw the Wichita Vickers move to the forefront, tying the Phillips 66ers for the league title, each with a 21-9 record. A new team that year was the Kansas City Kaycees.

End of the Phillips 66ers Winning Streak

Finally, in the 1958-59 season, the Phillips 66ers showed they were mortal, and took a mediocre third-place. First was the Denver-Chicago Truckers, with a 21-9 record, and second the Wichita Vickers, with a 19-11 record. Joining the league that season was the Seattle Buchan Bakers.

Unhappily for the rest of the league, in the 1959-60 season, the Phillips 66ers were again on top.

Demise of the NIBL

The escalation in the salaries of the National Basketball Association had a serious impact on industrial basketball teams. When the salaries of NBA players and industrial league players were comparable in the 1950s, top-notch players saw little advantage to joining the pros. However, by the early 1960s, the industrial teams found that they could not compete with the pros salary-wise, as top college graduates increasingly gravitated to the NBA. The NIBL saw a decline in its program. The Peoria Cats, for example, disbanded at the end of the 1959-60 season.

In the NIBL's final season, 1960–61, the league had dropped down to only six members, and was divided into two divisions, Eastern (Cleveland Pipers, Akron Goodyears, New York Tuck Tapers) and Western (Denver-Chicago Truckers, Phillips 66ers, and Seattle Buchan Bakers). Instead of the round-robin schedule determining a winner, the league sponsored a four-team playoff. The Cleveland Pipers beat the Denver-Chicago Truckers for the championship, 136-100; and for third place, the Phillips 66ers beat the Akron Goodyears, 114-112.

In 1961 the league reorganized changing sponsorship from industrial companies and became the National Alliance of Basketball Leagues (NABL). The Cleveland Pipers and the New York Tapers joined the newly formed American Basketball League in 1961.

The Bartlesville Phillips 66ers won the league championship in 11 of the league's 14 seasons.

The amateur nature of the NIBL

In the 1950s the salaries were about the same as the NBA and there was a job for all players in their companies. Some of them they ended up being president of their companies, working there for a lifetime. Most of players wanted no part of the uncertain professional game, and instead were accepting a position with the companies, rejecting offers even from NBA.

The NIBL was dedicated to remaining amateur at a time when basketball was desperately trying to carve out some postwar space in the pro sports landscape. But professional basketball staggered forward and the NIBL flourished, mostly because its stability allowed companies to poach stars such as Bob Kurland.

The NIBL merged with other AAU leagues and reorganized into the National AAU Basketball League (NABL) in 1961.[1]

Notable NIBL alumni

Basketball Hall of Fame alumni

NIBL players who became NBA/ABA All-Stars

NIBL Olympic Players and Coaches

Notable NIBL alumni

NIBL Teams

NIBL Champions

NIBL All-Star Game

1958, Peoria: East - West 113-104 [2]
1959, Denver: East - West 81-78

Yearly NIBL Standings (1947-1948 to 1960-1961)
1947-1948 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Milwaukee Harnischfegers 8 0 1
Caterpillar Diesels 5 3 0.625
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 4 4 0.5
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 3 5 0.375
Fort Wayne General Electrics 0 8 0
1948-1949 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Bartlesville Phillips 66ers 15 1 0.938
Denver Chevvies 11 5 0.688
Caterpillar Diesels 8 8 0.5
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 4 12 0.25
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 2 14 0.125
1949-1950 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Bartlesville Phillips 66ers 9 1 0.9
Caterpillar Diesels 7 3 0.7
Denver Chevvies 5 5 0.5
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 3 7 0.3
Dayton Industrialists 3 7 0.3
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 2 14 0.125
1950-1951 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Bartlesville Phillips 66ers 22 3 0.888
Oakland Blue 'n Gold Atlas 11 6 0.647
San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets 12 8 0.6
Caterpillar Diesels 15 13 0.538
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 5 8 0.385
Dayton Air Gems 5 12 0.294
Denver Chevvies 5 14 0.263
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 1 12 0.077
1951-1952 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Bartlesville Phillips 66ers 17 5 0.773
Oakland Atlas-Pacific Engineers 16 6 0.727
San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets 16 6 0.727
Caterpillar Diesels 13 9 0.591
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 12 10 0.545
Los Angeles Fibber McGee & Mollys 9 13 0.409
Artesia REA Travelers 9 13 0.409
Denver Central Bankers 8 14 0.364
Santa Maria Golden Dukes 8 14 0.364
Dayton Air-Gems 7 15 0.318
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 5 17 0.227
1952-1953 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 13 3 0.812
Peoria Cats 12 4 0.75
Santa Maria Golden Dukes 10 6 0.625
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 9 7 0.562
Houston Ada Oilers 8 8 0.5
Los Angeles Kirby's Shoes 7 9 0.438
Denver Central Bankers 6 10 0.375
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 5 11 0.312
Artesia REA Travelers 2 14 0.125
1953-1954 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 10 4 0.714
Peoria Cats 10 4 0.714
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 9 5 0.643
Denver Central Bankers 9 5 0.643
Santa Maria Golden Dukes 7 7 0.5
Artesia CVE Travelers 4 10 0.286
Houston Ada Oilers 4 10 0.286
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 3 11 0.214
1954-1955 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 19 5 0.792
Peoria Cats 16 8 0.667
Denver Central Bankers 12 12 0.5
Houston Ada Oilers 12 12 0.5
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 10 14 0.417
Artesia CVE Travelers 8 16 0.333
Akron CVE Travelers 7 17 0.292
1955-1956 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 16 8 0.667
Peoria Cats 15 9 0.625
Wichita Vickers 15 9 0.625
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 9 15 0.375
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 5 19 0.208
1956-1957 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 13 7 0.65
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 11 9 0.55
Denver Denver-Chicago Truckers 11 9 0.55
Peoria Cats 11 9 0.55
Wichita Vickers 11 9 0.55
Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys 3 17 0.15
1957-1958 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 21 9 0.7
Wichita Vickers 21 9 0.7
Denver Denver-Chicago Truckers 16 14 0.533
Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 15 15 0.5
Peoria Cats 15 15 0.5
Kansas City Kaycees 2 28 0.064
1958-1959 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Denver Denver-Chicago Truckers 21 9 0.7
Wichita Vickers 19 11 0.633
Phillips 66ers 15 15 0.5
Akron Wingfoots 13 17 0.433
Peoria Cats 12 18 0.4
Seattle Buchan Bakers 10 20 0.333
1959-1960 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Phillips 66ers 24 8 0.75
Wichita Vickers 22 10 0.688
Akron Wingfoots 18 14 0.563
Cleveland Pipers 16 16 0.5
Peoria Cats 16 16 0.5
San Francisco Investors 15 17 0.469
Seattle Buchan Bakers 14 18 0.438
Denver Denver-Chicago Truckers 12 20 0.375
New York Tuck Tapers 7 25 0.219
1960-1961 Season
Team Name Wins Losses Win Pct
Eastern Division
Cleveland Pipers 24 10 0.706
Akron Goodyears 15 19 0.441
New York Tuck Tapers 15 19 0.441
Western Division
Denver Denver-Chicago Truckers 22 12 0.647
Bartlesville Phillips 66ers 16 18 0.471
Seattle Buchan Bakers 10 24 0.294
Playoffs
Championship Game Cleveland 136, Denver 100
Consolation Game Bartlesville 114, Akron 112

Teams profiles
DivisionTeamCityArenaCapacityClubFoundedNIBL YearsNIBL Titles
National Industrial Basketball League
Akron Goodyear WingfootsAkron, OhioAkron Goodyear Hall5,00019181947-1961-
Phillips 66ersBartlesville, OklahomaBartlesville High School Gym and Phillips Gymnasium1,400 and 2,60019251948-196111
Peoria CaterpillarsPeoria, IllinoisRobertson Memorial Field House8,30019371947-19601
Fort Wayne General ElectricsFort Wayne, IndianaNorth Side High School Gym3,00019351947-1948-
Buchan BakersSeattle, WashingtonSeattle Civic Auditorium2,96319481948-1961-
Houston Ada OilersHouston, TexasJeppesen Gymnasium2,50019521952-1955-
Oakland BittnersOakland, California??19411950-1952-
Wichita VickersWichita, KansasWichita Civic Auditorium?19551955-1960-
Cleveland PipersCleveland, OhioCleveland Arena10,00019591959-19611
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References
  1. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/player-reunion-to-highlight-goodyear-wingfoots-100th-anniversary-300763604.html
  2. http://www.buchanbakers.com/nibl.html
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