List of National Basketball League (United States) champions

The National Basketball League (NBL) Championship was the final series for the NBL and the conclusion of its postseason. The championship series were played in varying best-of-three or best-of-five formats. From 1937–38 to 1939–40, and again from 1944–45 to 1948–49, the championship series pitted the winners from the Eastern Division against the winners from the Western Division. However, due to fewer teams in the league caused by World War II, the NBL was not separated into divisions between 1940–41 and 1943–44, therefore the playoffs included the top four teams in the single-division league. Home court advantage was determined by better overall record heading into the championship series.

National Basketball League awards and honors
Championship
Individual awards
Honors

Three teams are tied with the most NBL championships at two each – the Akron Firestone Non-Skids (1939, 1940), Oshkosh All-Stars (1941, 1942), and Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (1944, 1945). The Oshkosh All-Stars have the most championship appearances of any team with six, followed by the Sheboygan Red Skins' five appearances.

Champions
  • The brackets in the Western champion, Eastern champion, Higher seed, and Lower seed columns indicate the number of times that teams have appeared in an NBL Championship as well as each respective team's NBL Championship record to date.
Bold Winning team of the NBL Championship
Italics Team with home-court advantage

1938 to 1940
Year Western champion Coach Result Eastern champion Coach Reference
1938Oshkosh All-Stars (1, 0–1)George Hotchkiss1–2Akron Goodyear Wingfoots (1, 1–0)Lefty Byers[1]
1939Oshkosh All-Stars (2, 0–2)George Hotchkiss2–3Akron Firestone Non-Skids (1, 1–0)Paul Sheeks[2]
1940Oshkosh All-Stars (3, 0–3)George Hotchkiss2–3Akron Firestone Non-Skids (2, 2–0)Paul Sheeks[3]

1941 to 1944
Year Higher seed Coach Result Lower seed Coach Reference
1941Oshkosh All-Stars (4, 1–3)George Hotchkiss3–0Sheboygan Red Skins (1, 0–1)Frank Zummach[4]
1942Oshkosh All-Stars (5, 2–3)Lon Darling2–1Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (1, 0–1)Carl Bennett[5]
1943Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (2, 0–2)Carl Bennett1–2Sheboygan Red Skins (2, 1–1)Carl Roth[6]
1944Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (3, 1–2)Bobby McDermott3–0Sheboygan Red Skins (3, 1–2)Carl Roth[7]

1945 to 1949
Year Western champion Coach Result Eastern champion Coach Reference
1945Sheboygan Red Skins (4, 1–3)Dutch Dehnert2–3Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (4, 2–2)Bobby McDermott[8]
1946Sheboygan Red Skins (5, 1–4)Dutch Dehnert0–3Rochester Royals (1, 1–0)Eddie Malanowicz[9]
1947Chicago American Gears (1, 1–0)Bobby McDermott3–1Rochester Royals (2, 1–1)Eddie Malanowicz[10]
1948Minneapolis Lakers (1, 1–0)John Kundla3–1Rochester Royals (3, 1–2)Eddie Malanowicz[11]
1949Oshkosh All-Stars (6, 2–4)Gene Englund & Eddie Riska0–3Anderson Duffey Packers (1, 1–0)Murray Mendenhall[12]

See also

References
General
  • "List of NBL champions". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
Specific
  1. "1937–38 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  2. "1938–39 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  3. "1939–40 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  4. "1940–41 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  5. "1941–42 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  6. "1942–43 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  7. "1943–44 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  8. "1944–45 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  9. "1945–46 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  10. "1946–47 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  11. "1947–48 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  12. "1948–49 NBL season summary". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
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