Monday, February 5, 2024

1947-48 EPBL

The Eastern Penn League went into it second season with 8 teams. The Pottsville Maroons (aka Pros) and Allentown Rockets disbanded, and the Wilkes-Barre Barons left the league to join the ABL, which was no longer a top-tier league but more of a feeder league for the BAA.  The Harrisburg Senators joined the league EPBL as did a different Pottsville club known as the Packers. The largest city in the state, Philadelphia, would also be represented by the Lumberjacks. Also joining the league were the Sunbury Mercuries and the Williamsport Billies.

The season commences on November 30, 1947, and with the exception of the Senators, the league was tightly bunched at the end of the calendar year, with only three games separating first place from seventh. Once the new year began, Reading began to pull away and enjoyed a three-game cushion in early February, but late charges from Pottsville and Hazleton brought the regular season to an exciting climax. The Packers won their last six games and 13 of their last 16 to catch Reading on the final weekend of the season with both clubs sporting a 19-9 record. The Mountaineers had a 9-1 stretch and lost to Pottsville in the season finale, keeping them just one game back at 18-10. Lancaster grabbed the 4th playoff spot, and on March 16, 1948, Pottsville defeated Reading, 60-52, in a playoff game that served to determine the regular season champion.

The playoffs began On March 18, with Pottsville facing Hazleton, followed the next day with Reading and Lancaster. Pottsville  won the hard-fought opener against Hazleton, but the Mountaineers came back to win the next two and steal the series from the regular-season champions. Meanwhile, Lancaster stunned Reading with an opening-game victory, but would drop the next two to allow the Keys to win. 

Reading was  to face Hazleton in the best-of-three series to determine the champion. As was the case with the semi-final series, the team that won the opener wound up losing the series. After falling, 61-53, to Hazleton, Reading would rebound to win the second and third game, and therefore the championship of the league for the 1947-48 season.


  • Harrisburg Senators
  • Hazleton Mountaineers
  • Lancaster Red Roses
  • Philadelphia Lumberjacks
  • Pottsville Packers
  • Reading Keys
  • Sunbury Mercuries
  • Williamsport Billies



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