Anderson Packers

1940s

Anderson Packers HISTORY

Quick facts:

Founded:  1946
Folded:   1951
Arena:    Anderson High School Wigwam.
          1301 Lincoln St.
          Anderson, Indiana
          46016
Built in: 1925
Capacity: 8,996
Titles:   1 1949 NBL
Playoffs: 1
Colors:   Red, White, Blue
GM:       Howard Cronk
Owner:    Ike Duffey

1945-46 NL Anderson Chiefs 
1946-49 NBL Anderson Duffey Packers 
1949-50 NBA Anderson Packers 
1950-51 NPBL Anderson Packers 


Coachs: 3 

Howie Schultz    1949-50 
Ike Duffey       1949-50 
Doxie Moore      1949-50 
Murry Mendenhall 1950-51

The team was founded and owned by brothers Ike W. and John B. Duffey, founders of the meat packing company Duffey's Incorporated, which had purchased the Hughes-Curry Packing Co. of Anderson in 1946. John Duffey was president of the club, and Ike was its secretary-treasurer.

Anderson played in four leagues during its short existence. In their first year the played in the National League, a small rival to the NBL. After one year in the NL they joined the NBL for three seasons where they would win the leagues last championship in 1949.

In the 1949 the NBL merged with the BAA to form the NBA and Anderson would join most the NBL teams in the NBA. The Packers lasted only a season in the NBA before moving to the newly created National Professional Basketball League. The Packers and the NPBL would fold after half of a season.

Forced Out:
One consistent rumor from the first NBA season is that the larger markets of New York, Boston and Philadelphia did not like having to travel nor host the farming community teams such as Anderson and Sheboygan. The Knicks were especially vocal about the situation and threatened to withdraw from the league if something was not done.

The official story goes that Anderson, Sheboygan, Waterloo and Denver just could not afford the expenditures that playing a full season in the NBA would bring about and thus withdrew to form a smaller more regional league. However, rumors persist to this day that these teams were strong armed out of the league by president Maurice Podloff.

What really happened behind closed doors and in secret meetings will always be up for debate, but what is known is that the NBA required all teams to post a $50,000 bond for security purposes in case they failed to complete the season. The already heavily in debt Packers could not afford to post this money and were taken over by the league.

Jackie Robinson's connection:

When the Brooklyn Dodgers added the first African-American in MLB history they needed to create a roster spot for him, so they cut first basemen Howie Shultz. Shultz left baseball and signed with the Packers. He was a 6'6" center and would eventually go on the manage the team.

An American Hero:
Few sports figures can truly be called a true American Patriot, but Packers guard Charlie Black was one. He flew 51 flying missions over Nazi occupied Europe during World War II and lived to tell the tale.

Fouls a plenty:
In a 5 overtime game between the Anderson Packers and Syracuse Nationals on November 24, 1949, the two teams combined for 122 person fouls - an NBA record. The Packers had 66 fouls and the Nationals had 56.

John Hargis and Rollie Seltz of Anderson each had 7 fouls, 8 other Packers players had 6 fouls. Frank Gates was the only Packers player not to get 6 or more fouls.

The Nationals had six players get 6 fouls. nationals Leroy Chollett had the fewest fouls with only 3.

The game had 161 free throws attempted. The Packers were 57 of 75 (.760) and the Nationals were 59 of 86 (.686).

The Nationals won the game 125-123.

1948-49 Packers

History of early professional basketball in Indiana
Before the Indiana Pacers joined the ABA and eventually the NBA, the state of Indiana was the hot bed of professional basketball. From 1935 until 1953 the state hosted no less than 11 different teams in the major professional basketball leagues. Unfortunately, almost all of them would end and leave the state with no professional basketball teams for nearly two decades.
Indiana is synonymy with the game of basketball. The University of Indiana is one of the most storied programs in all of college basketball winning 5 NCAA titles, but it was Purdue who would bring the state its first NCAA basketball title in 1932.
Through out the early years of basketball a lot of fly by night leagues and teams called Indiana home, in fact Indiana even had its own semi-pro league of teams completely made up of teams in the Indianapolis region. It was not until 1935 when the Midwest Basketball Conference formed did the state of Indiana start seeing regular professional basketball at the highest levels and quality
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