National Industrial Basketball League

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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.

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 Cats, Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, and Fort Wayne General Electrics. The following season, with a 16-game schedule, the new lineup was league champion Bartlesville Phillips 66ers (15-1 record), Denver Chevies, Peoria Cats, 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 Chevolets. The Dayton team became the Dayton Air Gems, and the Phillips 66ers repeated for their third consecutive title.

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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 Chevolets for their fourth title, with a 17-5 record to their opponents 16-6 records that tied for second. The next season, 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 Cats 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.

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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 Buchan Bakers from Seattle.

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

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End 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.

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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.

And as long as the NIBL offered players a career, the league was able to get some great quality players like Bob Kurland, Hank Luisetti, Johnny Stanich, Frank McCabe, Chuck Darling, Burdie Haldorson, Ron Bontemps, B.H. Born and Dan Pippin.