The 1946–47 Chicago American Gears season was the American Gears' third and final year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which was also the tenth year the league existed. However, if you include the (at least) one previous season where they competed in the Amateur Athletic Union before making the jump into the NBL, this would actually be their fourth and final full season of play instead., pp. 2–3 This also was the NBL's first official season where they actually implemented a drafting system similar to what the future rivaling Basketball Association of America (and later merging partner to become the National Basketball Association) had for the eventual NBA draft system a year later following the conclusion of their inaugural league season for the purpose of controlled player salaries and limiting the idea of outbidding other players outside of their own 12-player teams at hand (with the NBL having a budget of $6,000 this season), as well as implementing key players to signing binding contracts as soon as they could and the NBL looking to have full-time referees on display., pp. 158–159 Twelve teams competed in the NBL in 1946–47, comprising six teams in both the Eastern and Western Divisions.
Chicago played their home games at the International Amphitheatre, which would have a significantly larger crowd capacity at hand than the venue they used for the previous season, the Cicero Stadium., p. 40 Despite finishing tied for third place with the Sheboygan Red Skins in the Western Division, the American Gears made a surprise playoffs run by winning the first series three games to two (3–2) over the Indianapolis Kautskys, followed by a 2–0 sweep of Oshkosh All-Stars in the semifinals. They then went on to win their first and only NBL championship 3–1 over Eastern Division champion Rochester Royals. Weirdly enough, despite the American Gears being considered the champions of the 1947 NBL Playoffs, the NBL's commissioner of the time period, Ward Lambert, considered the American Gears to only be the champions of the NBL Playoffs that season instead of the overall champions of the league since he inexplicably considered the team with the best overall record that season (the Rochester Royals) to be the official league champions that season., pp. 174–175 That decision would help play into the team's final decision into leaving the NBL in order to create their own, short-lived rivaling professional league called the Professional Basketball League of America for their short, final following season of play.
When combining their NBL scheduled regular season and playoff games with the exhibition games they had this season, the Chicago American Gears would have a 47–31 (or 47–32 if an NBL game against the Rochester Royals that Chicago had protested to later was considered a no contest match actually counted) record.
Player-coach Bobby McDermott (First Team), George Mikan (First), and Bob Calihan (Second) all earned All-NBL honors for this season.
Draft picks Entering this season, the National Basketball League would utilize their own draft system that would be considered similar to what the NFL has done for the NFL draft. As such, the 1946 NBL draft would be considered the first ever professional basketball draft ever done, even before the 1947 BAA draft that was done by the soon to be rivaling Basketball Association of America. Because of that fact, the Chicago American Gears would participate in the inaugural 1946 NBL draft, which had occurred sometime during the 1946–47 season's offseason period before that season officially began for the NBL. However, as of 2026, no records of what the American Gears' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been for Chicago likely being lost to time in the process.
Roster
Note: Bob Cotton, Bill McDonald, Irv Noren, Les Rothman, and Bob Synnott were not on the playoffs roster. In addition to them, Charlie Butler, Jim Cominsky, and George Mikan's older brother, Joe Mikan, would only play for the team during this season's preseason period, with Bill McDonald also being cut from the team after their preseason period of play concluded, though McDonald managed to return to the team at some point in 1946 for the regular season only., p. 65
Maurice A. White owner of the American Gear started the season as coach, on November 21 he stepped down when he signed Davey Banks as a coach.
Regular season Season standings
Exhibition Games Reference: Dick Triptow's The Dynasty That Never Was, pg. 94, p. 94
October 31, 1946: Rochester Royals 55, Chicago American Gears 50 (@ Schenectady, New York) November 1, 1946: Rochester Royals 69, Chicago American Gears 68 (@ Gloversville, New York) November 2, 1946: Chicago American Gears 65, Rochester Royals 61 (@ Rochester, New York) November 13, 1946: Chicago American Gears 73, Jersey City Atoms 70 (OT via American Basketball League rules) November 14, 1946: Baltimore Bullets 57, Chicago American Gears 53 (via ABL rules) November 15, 1946: Chicago American Gears 64, Baltimore Mets 42 November 16, 1946: Philadelphia Sphas 81, Chicago American Gears 79 (via ABL rules) November 17, 1946: Chicago American Gears 40, Newark Bobcats 34 (via ABL rules) November 22, 1946: Chicago American Gears 59, Los Angeles Red Devils 56 November 23, 1946: Los Angeles Red Devils 47, Chicago American Gears 46 December 8, 1946: Chicago American Gears 76, Dayton Metropolitans 33 December 21, 1946: Baltimore Bullets 62, Chicago American Gears 60 (via National Basketball League rules) January 1, 1947: Chicago American Gears 40, Chicago Monarchs 38 January 19, 1947: Chicago American Gears 48, Baltimore Bullets 41 (via NBL rules) January 20, 1947: Chicago American Gears 67, Gary Ingots 57 January 22, 1947: Chicago American Gears 70, Rockford Press Club 58 January 27, 1947: Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 69, Chicago American Gears 62 (@ Milwaukee, Wisconsin) January 28, 1947: Midland Dow Chemicals 78, Chicago American Gears 53 February 2, 1947: Chicago American Gears 70, Midland Dow Chemicals 60 March 10, 1947: Dayton Metropolitans 52, Chicago American Gears 48 April 11, 1947: Rochester Royals 76, Chicago American Gears 73 (@ Hershey, Pennsylvania for the "Royals Appreciation Series") April 12, 1947: Chicago American Gears 75, Rochester Royals 74 (OT @ Schenectady, New York for the "Royals Appreciation Series") April 13, 1947: Chicago American Gears 68, Rochester Royals 60 (@ Rochester, New York for the "Royals Appreciation Series")
NBL Schedule Reference: Dick Triptow's The Dynasty That Never Was, pg. 93, p. 93 # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 9 @ Oshkosh 61–66 0–1 2 November 28 @ Sheboygan 40–48 0–2 3 November 30 @ Rochester 65–64 1–2 4 December 3 @ Syracuse 69–59 2–2 5 December 6 N Syracuse 55–57 2–3 6 December 10 @ Youngstown 72–60 3–3 7 December 11 Oshkosh 41–44 3–4 8 December 13 Fort Wayne 47–40 4–4 9 December 15 Detroit 58–43 5–4 10 December 17 @ Toledo 58–57 6–4 11 December 18 @ Detroit 56–60 6–5 12 December 20 Rochester 59–48 7–5 13 December 22 Anderson 54–57 7–6 14 December 23 @ Anderson 60–63 7–7 — December 25 @ Buffalo Cancelledhttps://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/AtlantaHawks/History/Buffalo/index.html 15 December 26 @ Indianapolis 59–67 7–8 16 December 27 Toledo 59–62 7–9 17 December 29 Sheboygan 58–63 7–10 18 January 3 Indianapolis 57–58 (OT) 7–11 19 January 5 Youngstown 55–45 8–11 20 January 8 @ Fort Wayne 55–56 8–12 21 January 11 @ Tri-Cities 43–48 8–13 22 January 16 @ Anderson 58–56 9–13 23 January 17 Tri-Cities 53–30 10–13 24 January 18 @ Oshkosh 38–55 10–14 25 January 24 Fort Wayne 64–60 (OT) 11–14 26 January 26 Anderson 55–50 12–14 27 January 31 Syracuse 62–60 13–14 28 February 5 @ Tri-Cities 61–57 (OT) 14–14 29 February 6 @ Sheboygan 59–60 14–15 30 February 7 Detroit 76–44 15–15 31 February 9 Indianapolis 55–47 16–15 32 February 10 @ Youngstown 64–52 17–15 33 February 11 @ Detroit 58–53 18–15 34 February 12 @ Toledo 55–57 18–16 35 February 13 @ Syracuse 61–50 19–16 36 February 14 Toledo 72–50 20–16 37 February 16 Sheboygan 62–44 21–16 38 February 20 @ Indianapolis 64–46 22–16 39 February 21 Rochester 57–56 23–16 40 February 23 Oshkosh 52–54 23–17 — February 24 @ Buffalo Cancelledhttps://nbahoopsonline.com/teams/AtlantaHawks/History/Buffalo/index.html 41† February 25 @ Rochester 39–41 (2OT; Protested) 23–18† 41/42 March 2 Youngstown 65–52 24–17(24–18†) 42/43 March 7 Tri-Cities 72–52 25–17(25–18†) 43/44 March 9 @ Fort Wayne 69–62 26–17(26–18†) 44* March 13 @ Rochester 55–75 26–18* Each team would play each other a total of four times for 2 home and road games each for 44 total regular season NBL matches for this particular season of play. However, due to the unique circumstances involved for this season of play, the games that Chicago originally intended to play for the Buffalo Bisons this season would instead either be cancelled (with make-up games being rescheduled into newer, more proper dates following the Buffalo Bisons moving to Moline, Illinois nearby where the American Gears played or otherwise being played on the original dates the Bisons meant to play for the newly-named Tri-Cities Blackhawks to take on instead, depending on specific circumstances involved), with one home game being considered more of a neutral site for them instead due to them playing that specific match in nearby Moline, Illinois and one road match against the Rochester Royals being replayed at a later date due to the double-overtime format used for that match deviating from the typical overtime format at hand to a sudden-death overtime format where the first team to score would win the entire match without much warning being given out.
NBL Playoffs NBL Western Division Opening Round (2W) Indianapolis Kautskys vs. (3/4W) Chicago American Gears: Chicago wins series 3–2 Game 1: March 18, 1947 @ Indianapolis: Chicago 74, Indianapolis 72 Game 2: March 20, 1947 @ Indianapolis: Chicago 69, Indianapolis 61 Game 3: March 23, 1947 @ Chicago: Indianapolis 68, Chicago 67 Game 4: March 25, 1947 @ Chicago: Indianapolis 55, Chicago 54 Game 5: March 26, 1947 @ Chicago: Chicago 76, Indianapolis 62
NBL Western Division Semifinals (1W) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (3/4W) Chicago American Gears: Chicago wins series 2–0 Game 1: March 27, 1947 @ Chicago: Chicago 60, Oshkosh 54 Game 2: March 29, 1947 @ Oshkosh: Chicago 61, Oshkosh 60
NBL Championship (1E) Rochester Royals vs. (3/4W) Chicago American Gears: Chicago wins series 3–1 Game 1: April 3, 1947 @ Rochester: Rochester 71, Chicago 65 Game 2: April 5, 1947 @ Rochester: Chicago 67, Rochester 63 Game 3: April 7, 1947 @ Chicago: Chicago 78, Rochester 70 Game 4: April 9, 1947 @ Chicago: Chicago 79, Rochester 68
Awards and honors All-NBL First Team – Bobby McDermott and George Mikan All-NBL Second Team – Bob Calihan NBL All-Time Team – Bobby McDermott and George Mikan
Chicago Departs the NBL for the PBLA