Thursday, April 15, 2021

1947-48 WSBL

Small in scope and geography but fairly decent in talent, the Wisconsin State Basketball League kicked off in the fall of 1947. Not to be confused with the lesser Wisconsin-Michigan Basketball League which ran at the same time, the WSBL consisted of  seven teams, and would split their season into two halves, with the winner of each half meeting in a championship series to be played in the spring of 1948.

The first half turned out to be competitive. The Manitowoc Braves and the New Holstein AC finished knotted at 9-3 and would play a one-game playoff to settle the first half champions. North Fond du Lac had started 6-2 befor esliding out of contention and finishing 3rd. The Plymouth Legionnaires would finish in last and would drop out after the first half. They would be replaced by a team from Neenah.  Manitowoc and New Holstein continued their battle for league supremacy in the second half. However, the new entry from Neenah would also make a run for the second half title. When the final game had been played, Manitowoc would win ten of twelve in the second half and finish one game ahead of New Holstein and Neenah.

The championship series would pit the second-half champ Manitowoc Braves against New Holstein, who won the playoff over Manitowoc for the first half title. In the best-of-three series, New Holstein would sweep the  Braves in two closely-fought games. Manitowoc's Art Edinger averaged 19.3 PPG, second behind New Holstein's Fritz Engel, who had 20.1 PPG. Engel had been attending the University of Wisconsin as a sophomore but was declared academically ineligible, clearing the way for him to play for New Holstein..


Teams
Kimberly Papermakers 
Manitowoc Braves
Neenah Bluejackets (played in second half only)
New Holstein Cheesemakers
North Fond du Lac Tigers
Plymouth Legion Lions (left after first half)
Sheboygan Dicks
Two Rivers Kriseas

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