Founded: 1945 Folded: 1947 Location: Youngstown, OH Arena: Youngstown South Field House Built in: 1940 Capacity: 3,500 Titles: 0 |
The Youngstown Bears played for two seasons (1945-1947). During the team's first season, the squad finished third in the the National Basketball League's Eastern Division. The team won thirteen and lost twenty games. During the 1946-1947 season, the Youngstown Bears finished last in the Eastern Division, amassing twelve wins and thirty-two losses. Due to the team's poor performance, the Youngstown Bears disbanded at the end of the season.
Youngstown's Press Maravich would go on to become a somewhat successful college coach; Coaching from 1949-1975. His most memorable coaching tenure was as head coach of LSU from 1966-72, where he would coach his son and future NBA Hall-of-Famer "pistol" Pete Maravich.
Biggest Blowout in NBL history:
The Rochester Royals beat the Youngstown Bears 70-27 on January 5, 1946, in the biggest blowout in the history of the NBL. The Bears scored on just 11 field goals and added 5 free throws in the beatdown.
The Royals started a starting five of Bob Davis, Al Cervi, George Glamack, Red Holzman and football legand Otto Graham, while the Bears started Peter Maravich, Rudy Debnar, Moe Becker, Huck Hartman and Paul Birch (Who was also the coach)
Glackman lead all scorers with 17 points and Davies added 12 more as the combo outscored the Bears 29-27. No Bears player scored more than 8 points. The Bears were lead by baseball legand Frank Baumholtz.
Youngstown was not a terrible team that season, but they also were not good either, finishing the season 13-20. The Royals however would go on to win the NBL championship that year.
Unfortinate Loss:
Huck Hartman was the starting center for most of the Bears games in 1946, however, the big man fell ill with pneumonia near the end of the season and passed away on March 25, 1946 at just 25 years old.
Score sheet from a game program vs Oshkosh.
| Season | W | L | W/L% | Finish | Playoffs |
| 1946-47 | 12 | 32 | .273 | 6 | None |
| 1945-46 | 13 | 20 | .394 | 3 | None |
Free Press Ad from 1946.
Bears vs Nationals.
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| Frank Baumholtz | Huck Hartman | Irv Brenner | Joe Urso |
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| Milt Ticco | Moe Becker | Paul Birch | Press Maravich |
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| Rudy Debnar |
South Field House court as of 2016
South Field House as of 2016.
Facing the court at Youngstown's South Field House.
The locker room at South Field House.
Bears vs Gears program cover.
Newspaper article about a clock issue in the above game
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