1952-53 Baltimore Bullets (NBA)

1952-53 BALTIMORE BULLETS

Coach Clair Bee

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Eastern Division
Finished: 16-54 .229, 4th place

The Bullets only won 20 games the year before, and the outlook for this season wasn't much brighter. After starting the season with three blow-out losses, Chick Reiser was fired. Short-pressed to find a replacement, Ed Hargaden, a high school coach at Loyola High School in Baltimore, filled in as coach and lead the Bullets to their first victory of the year, a 107-90 victory over the unbeaten Milwaukee Hawks. Rumors circulated that Adolph Rupp, the legendary collegiate coach at Kentucky, would be hired to lead the team, but the reins were instead handed to Clair Bee. Bee was a legendary coach at Long Island University, winning two NIT titles and winning 44 consecutive games at one point in the early 40's. Bee, a future member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, could not change the Bullet's fate. They would go on to a dismal 16-54 finish, with only the even-crappier Philadelphia Warriors having a worse record (if you can believe it).

• Head Coaches:

Chick Reiser (December 17, 1914 - July 29, 1996) 0-3
Ed Hargaden (October 8, 1911 - December 18, 1986) 1-0
Clair Bee (March 2, 1896 - May 20, 1983) 15-51

PLAYERS:

• Jim Baechtold (December 9, 1927 - August 29, 2011)

Biography

• Don Barksdale (March 31, 1923 - March 8, 1993)

Biography

• Don Boven (March 6, 1925 - March 10, 2011)

Biography 

• Dick Bunt (July 13, 1929 - February 10, 2021)

Biography 

• Blaine Denning (September 19, 1930 - January 25, 2016)

Biography

• Don Henriksen (October 10, 1929 - May 14, 2008)

Biography 

• Paul Hoffman (May 5, 1925 - November 12, 1998)

Biography

• George Kaftan (February 22, 1928 - October 6, 2018)

Biography

• Jack Kerris (January 30, 1925 - December 4, 1983)

Biography

• Frank Kudelka (June 25, 1925 - May 4, 1993)

Biography

• Ray Lumpp (July 11, 1923 - January 16, 2015)

Biography

• George McLeod (January 3, 1931 - January 15, 2023)

Biography 

• Stan Miasek (September 19, 1923 - October 18, 1989)

Biography

• Eddie Miller (June 18, 1931 - April 9, 2014)

Biography 

• Dave Minor (February 23, 1922 - March 14, 1998)

Biography

• Buckshot O'Brien (April 28, 1928 - August 22, 2018)

Biography

• Kevin O'Shea (July 10, 1925 - February 21, 2003)

Biography

• Bob Priddy (March 24, 1930 - October 8, 2021)

Biography

• George Ratkovicz (November 13, 1922 - November 10, 2007)

Biography

• Fred Scolari (March 1, 1922 - October 17, 2002)

Biography

Source:

Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), November 13, 1952