The 1947–48 Oshkosh All-Stars season was the All-Stars' eleventh year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which was also the eleventh year of the league's existence. However, if one were to include the independent seasons they played starting all the way back in 1929 before beginning their NBL tenure in 1937, this would officially be their eighteenth season of play. Eleven teams would end up competing in the NBL this season due to both the defending NBL champion Chicago American Gears defecting from the league to create their own short-lived rival professional basketball league called the Professional Basketball League of America (while not being allowed back in through unanimous voting later on) and the Youngstown Bears folding operations in exchange for the Flint Dow A.C.'s (later known as the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s by most people due to them having home venue issues up in Flint, Michigan and looking to return to their original home venue in Midland, Michigan back when they originally were the Midland Dow Chemicals works team being owned and operated by the Dow Chemical Company) taking on their spot in the league (alongside the Detroit Gems moving to Minneapolis to become the Minneapolis Lakers). As a result of these changes, only five teams would compete in the Eastern Division (with one of them being a former Western Division team in question), while six teams (including the All-Stars) competing in the Western Division this season. The All-Stars played their home games at the South Park School Gymnasium in the South Park Middle School within the Oshkosh Area School District, which would start proving to be detrimental to the team's long-term survival during this season due, in part, to how many neutral-hosted games they held while playing within the state of Wisconsin this time around.

Unlike the previous season they played, the All-Stars would start this season playing rather poorly due, in part, to the growing display of talent within the NBL. However, by the time Oshkosh were nearing the end of January, they would not only adjust themselves to the improved talents within the NBL, but also get themselves an above-average record and would have a better shot at one of the four playoff spots available for the season, The All-Stars, however, finished the season with a below-average 29–31 record and finish in third place. They finished ahead of both the cityside rivals Sheboygan Red Skins and the surprising Indianapolis Kautskys playoff team, but behind the average Tri-Cities Blackhawks and the division-leading Minneapolis Lakers. Unfortunately for Oshkosh, the Minneapolis squad would showcase their commanding presence as a team early and quickly in this series (thanks in part due to new star center George Mikan, whom they acquired through a dispersal draft earlier in the season). This led to the Lakers eliminating the All-Stars in a quick 3–1 series, in the only series Oshkosh would ever see, Minneapolis eventually saw the Lakers be crowned the newest NBL (and WPBT) champions not long afterward. None of the All-Stars' players would receive any honors from the NBL Lautenbach were noted to be named a part of the NBL's All-Rookie Honorable Mention Team). Following this season's conclusion, both the Oshkosh All-Stars and the Toledo Jeeps would attempt to join (and ultimately fail) the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, the Indianapolis Kautskys, the new NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers, and the runners-up to the Lakers in the Rochester Royals. In moving out of the older NBL and into the younger yet newly rivaling Basketball Association of America (with Oshkosh's perceived failures likely stemming from venue issues because the South Park School Gymnasium could only hold a total of 1,500 people at a time). Because of the sudden betrayal/departure and the subsequent folding of both the Toledo Jeeps and the Flint/Midland Dow A.C.'s franchises, the NBL would see only five teams from this season (the Anderson Duffey Packers works team, the Oshkosh All-Stars, the Sheboygan Red Skins, the Syracuse Nationals, and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks) remain for what would later become the NBL's final season of existence.

Draft picks The Oshkosh All-Stars would participate in the 1947 NBL draft, which occurred right after the 1947 BAA draft due to a joint agreement the National Basketball League and the rivaling Basketball Association of America had with each other during the offseason period. However, as of 2026, no records of what the All-Stars' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been being lost to time in the process.

Roster

Note: Bill McDonald, Abel Rodrigues, Ted Scalissi, and Bob Sullivan were not a part of the playoff roster for this season.

Regular season Season standings

NBL Schedule Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Fort Wayne's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Oshkosh All-Stars during their eleventh season in the NBL. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 1 Minneapolis 47–49 0–1 2 November 3 @ Anderson 56–71 0–2 3 November 4 @ Indianapolis 65–58 1–2 4 November 8 Toledo 60–61 1–3 5 November 11 @ Rochester 68–78 1–4 6 November 13 @ Syracuse 59–65 1–5 7 November 14 @ Syracuse 56–46 2–5 8 November 15 @ Rochester 52–79 2–6 9 November 20 N Toledo 59–43 3–6 10 November 22 Flint 66–53 4–6 11 November 23 @ Flint 66–72 4–7 12 November 26 Rochester 47–43 5–7 13 November 29 Anderson 69–59 6–7 14 December 1 N Sheboygan 53–59 6–8 15 December 6 Tri-Cities 60–50 7–8 16 December 7 Minneapolis 44–38 8–8 17 December 9 @ Tri-Cities 56–57 8–9 18 December 13 Minneapolis 57–67 8–10 19 December 18 @ Sheboygan 48–59 8–11 20 December 20 Indianapolis 57–47 9–11 21 December 21 N Rochester 50–65 9–12 22 December 27 Sheboygan 51–49 10–12 23 December 28 @ Fort Wayne 41–51 10–13 24 January 3 Flint 58–47 11–13 25 January 7 Fort Wayne 59–61 11–14 26 January 10 Anderson 58–52 12–14 27 January 11 Flint 79–52 13–14 28 January 12 @ Anderson 58–71 13–15 29 January 14 Anderson 64–67 13–16 30 January 15 @ Sheboygan 45–43 14–16 31 January 17 Indianapolis 91–58 15–16 32 January 18 N Flint/Midland 55–47 16–16 33 January 24 Sheboygan 58–54 17–16 34 January 25 @ Tri-Cities 76–74 (OT) 18–16 35 January 27 @ Indianapolis 65–69 18–17 36 January 28 @ Tri-Cities 73–54 19–17 37 February 1 @ Sheboygan 64–65 19–18 38 February 3 N Anderson 61–72 19–19 39 February 5 @ Tri-Cities 65–70 19–20 40 February 7 @ Rochester 54–63 19–21 41 February 8 @ Minneapolis 56–78 19–22 42 February 10 N Rochester 51–40 20–22 43 February 12 N Indianapolis 64–67 20–23 44 February 14 Indianapolis 70–48 21–23 45 February 15 N Syracuse 62–75 21–24 46 February 16 @ Flint/Midland (Midland) 61–63 21–25 47 February 17 @ Toledo 70–68 (2OT) 22–25 48 February 18 Syracuse 77–65 23–25 49 February 20 N Syracuse 80–87 23–26 50 February 21 Syracuse 62–58 24–26 51 February 22 @ Minneapolis 58–85 24–27 52 February 25 Fort Wayne 58–57 (OT) 25–27 53 February 28 Toledo 64–59 (OT) 26–27 54 March 3 @ Fort Wayne 45–59 26–28 55 March 6 Minneapolis 65–69 26–29 56 March 10 Tri-Cities 68–56 27–29 57 March 14 @ Fort Wayne 46–62 27–30 58 March 15 @ Toledo 47–43 28–30 59 March 16 @ Toledo 50–53 28–31 60 March 20 Fort Wayne 58–42 29–31

NBL Playoffs NBL Western Division Opening Round (3W) Oshkosh All-Stars vs. (1W) Minneapolis Lakers: Minneapolis wins series 3–1 Game 1: March 23, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 80, Oshkosh 68, p. 423 Game 2: March 24, 1948 @ Minneapolis: Minneapolis 88, Oshkosh 65 Game 3: March 26, 1948 @ Oshkosh: Oshkosh 69, Minneapolis 51 Game 4: March 27, 1948 @ Oshkosh: Minneapolis 61, Oshkosh 55https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oshkosh-northwestern-61-55/187032999/

Awards and honors NBL All-Time Team – Bob Carpenter, Leroy Edwards, and Gene Englund

References