All-National Basketball League (United States) Team Explained

The All-National Basketball League Team was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) honor bestowed upon the best players in the United States league following the NBL season. The team was selected every season of the league's existence, from 1937–38 through 1948–49.

Nine players earned at least four total selections, three of whom have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – Bobby McDermott (1988),^[1] Buddy Jeannette (1994),^[2] and Al Cervi (1985).^[3]

Key

	Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been selected
Player (in bold text)	Indicates the player who won the NBL Most Valuable Player in the same year

Annual selections

Season	First Team	Second Team
	class=unsortable	Players!	class=unsortable	Teams	class=unsortable	Players!	class=unsortable	Teams
1937–38^[4]	Scott Armstrong	Fort Wayne General Electrics	Soup Cable	Akron Firestone Non-Skids
	Chuck Bloedorn	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots	Robert Kessler	Indianapolis Kautskys
	Leroy Edwards	Oshkosh All-Stars	Vince McGowan	Whiting Ciesar All-Americans
	Charley Shipp	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots	Jack Ozburn	Akron Firestone Non-Skids
	John Wooden	Whiting Ciesar All-Americans	Bart Quinn	Fort Wayne General Electrics
1938–39^[5]	Paul Birch	Pittsburgh Pirates	Chuck Bloedorn (2)	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots
	Jerry Bush	Akron Firestone Non-Skids	John Moir	Akron Firestone Non-Skids
	Soup Cable (2)	Akron Firestone Non-Skids	Jack Ozburn (2)	Akron Firestone Non-Skids
		Oshkosh All-Stars	Charley Shipp (2)	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots
	John Sines	Indianapolis Kautskys	Jewell Young	Indianapolis Kautskys
1939–40^[6]	Soup Cable (3)	Akron Firestone Non-Skids	Ernie Andres	Indianapolis Kautskys
		Oshkosh All-Stars	Nat Frankel	Detroit Eagles
	Wibs Kautz	Chicago Bruins	Otto Kolar	Sheboygan Red Skins
	Charley Shipp (3)	Oshkosh All-Stars	Rube Lautenschlager	Sheboygan Red Skins
	Ben Stephens	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots	Jack Ozburn (3)	Akron Firestone Non-Skids
1940–41^[7]		Oshkosh All-Stars	Bob Calihan	Detroit Eagles
	Buddy Jeannette	Detroit Eagles	Bill Hapac	Chicago Bruins
	Jack Ozburn (4)	Akron Firestone Non-Skids	Wibs Kautz (2)	Chicago Bruins
	Ed Sadowski	Detroit Eagles	Bobby Neu	Hammond Ciesar All-Americans
	Charley Shipp (4)	Oshkosh All-Stars	Jake Pelkington	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots
	Ben Stephens (2)	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots	Ralph Vaughn	Hammond Ciesar All-Americans / Chicago Bruins
1941–42^[8]	Chuck Chuckovits	Toledo Jim White Chevrolets	Ed Dancker	Sheboygan Red Skins
		Oshkosh All-Stars	George Glamack	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots
	Bobby McDermott	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Herm Schaefer	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
	Charley Shipp (5)	Oshkosh All-Stars	Ralph Vaughn (2)	Chicago Bruins
	Ben Stephens (3)	Akron Goodyear Wingfoots	Jewell Young (2)	Indianapolis Kautskys
1942–43^[9]	Curly Armstrong	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Sonny Boswell	Chicago Studebaker Flyers
	Ed Dancker (2)	Sheboygan Red Skins	Jerry Bush (2)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
		Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons		Oshkosh All-Stars
	Charley Shipp (6)	Oshkosh All-Stars	Buddy Jeannette (2)	Sheboygan Red Skins
	Ralph Vaughn (3)	Oshkosh All-Stars	Ken Suesens	Sheboygan Red Skins
1943–44^[10]	Ed Dancker (3)	Sheboygan Red Skins	Jerry Bush (3)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
	Buddy Jeannette (3)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons		Sheboygan Red Skins
		Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Jake Pelkington (2)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
	Mel Riebe	Cleveland Chase Brassmen	Charley Shipp (7)	Oshkosh All-Stars
	Clint Wager	Oshkosh All-Stars	Ken Suesens (2)	Sheboygan Red Skins
1944–45^[11]		Oshkosh All-Stars	Jerry Bush (4)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
	Buddy Jeannette (4)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Ed Dancker (4)	Sheboygan Red Skins
		Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Huck Hartman	Pittsburgh Raiders
	Stan Patrick	Chicago American Gears	Jake Pelkington (3)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
	Mel Riebe (2)	Cleveland Allmen Transfers	Dick Triptow	Chicago American Gears
1945–46^[12]	Bob Carpenter	Oshkosh All-Stars	Frank Baumholtz	Youngstown Bears
	Ed Dancker (5)	Sheboygan Red Skins	Bob Calihan (2)	Chicago American Gears
	George Glamack (2)	Rochester Royals	Al Cervi	Rochester Royals
	Red Holzman	Rochester Royals		Oshkosh All-Stars
	Buddy Jeannette (5)	Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Mike Novak	Sheboygan Red Skins
		Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons	Jerry Steiner	Indianapolis Kautskys
1946–47^[13]	Al Cervi (2)	Rochester Royals	Bob Calihan (3)	Chicago American Gears
	Bob Davies	Rochester Royals	Bob Carpenter (2)	Oshkosh All-Stars
	Fred Lewis	Sheboygan Red Skins	Red Holzman (2)	Rochester Royals
		Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons / Chicago American Gears	Arnie Risen	Indianapolis Kautskys
	George Mikan	Chicago American Gears	Hal Tidrick	Toledo Jeeps
1947–48^[14]	Al Cervi (3)	Rochester Royals	Frank Brian	Anderson Duffey Packers
	Red Holzman (3)	Rochester Royals	Bob Calihan (4)	Flint Dow A.C.'s
	George Mikan (2)	Minneapolis Lakers	Bob Davies (2)	Rochester Royals
	Jim Pollard	Minneapolis Lakers		Sheboygan Red Skins / Tri-Cities Blackhawks
	Mike Todorovich	Sheboygan Red Skins	Don Otten	Tri-Cities Blackhawks
1948–49^[15]	Frank Brian (2)	Anderson Duffey Packers	Bill Closs	Anderson Duffey Packers
	Al Cervi (4)	Syracuse Nationals	Hoot Gibson	Tri-Cities Blackhawks / Denver Nuggets
	Gene Englund	Oshkosh All-Stars	Boag Johnson	Anderson Duffey Packers
	Dick Mehen	Waterloo Hawks	Mike Todorovich (2)	Sheboygan Red Skins
	Don Otten (2)	Tri-Cities Blackhawks	Whitey Von Nieda	Tri-Cities Blackhawks

Most selections

The following table only lists players with at least four total selections.

Player	Total	First Team	Second Team	MVP	Seasons played
	8	6	2	3	12
	7	6	1	4	8
	7	5	2	0	12
	5	3	2	0	11
	5	4	1	0	7
	4	1	3	0	9
	4	0	4	0	5
	4	3	1	0	5
	4	1	3	0	5

See also

• All-NBA Team

References

General

• Web site: All-NBL Teams. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 13, 2019.

Specific

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bobby McDermott . Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . June 16, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170731034105/http://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/bobby-mcdermott/ . July 31, 2017 . dead .
2. Web site: Buddy Jeannette . Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . June 16, 2019.
3. Web site: Al Cervi . Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . June 16, 2019.
4. Web site: 1937–38 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
5. Web site: 1938–39 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
6. Web site: 1939–40 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
7. Web site: 1940–41 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
8. Web site: 1941–42 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
9. Web site: 1942–43 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
10. Web site: 1943–44 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
11. Web site: 1944–45 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
12. Web site: 1945–46 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
13. Web site: 1946–47 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
14. Web site: 1947–48 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.
15. Web site: 1948–49 NBL Season Summary. Sports Reference, LLC. basketball-reference.com. June 14, 2019.