1947–48 Providence Steamrollers season

The 1947–48 Providence Steamrollers season was the second season of the Providence Steamrollers. This season is also infamous for the lowest number of wins by a team in BAA/NBA history with only six total wins recorded by the Steamrollers throughout this entire season. The only other NBA teams to end their seasons with single-digit victories as of 2026 are the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers, the 1998–99 Vancouver Grizzlies, the 1998–99 Los Angeles Clippers, and the 2011–12 Charlotte Bobcats, who hold the worst win percentage in NBA history. This season is also noteworthy for featuring the oldest player in BAA/NBA history, with head coach Nat Hickey suiting up for two games with the Steamrollers near his 46th birthday, making him the oldest player in league history at 45 years, 363 days old. That record still stands as of 2026, though the current oldest player that's poised to threaten that record (if he's willing to do so) is future legendary Hall of Famer LeBron James. While the Steamrollers would, in effect, be eliminated from playoff contention by December 1947 due to all three of the defending champion Philadelphia Warriors, New York Knicks, and Boston Celtics each getting seven wins within that month, Providence wouldn't officially be eliminated from qualifying for the 1948 BAA playoffs until February 1948 due to the Steamrollers getting their 29th loss of the season, which would subsequently become the point where Providence would fail to qualify for the playoffs that season over the nearby Boston Celtics.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 4 Walt Dropo – Connecticut – – Joe Barry – Unknown – – Dick Furey – St. Thomas 2 14 Bob Hubbard F/C Springfield – – Bob Joyce – Bates – – Roy Lipscomb – St. Mary's – – John Mills – Hofstra – – Al Nichols – Rhode Island

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 13 @ Philadelphia L 64–79 Ernie Calverley (13) 0–1 2 November 15 Philadelphia L 78–80 Earl Shannon (19) 0–2 3 November 18 New York L 69–87 Ernie Calverley (24) 0–3 4 November 20 @ St. Louis L 67–73 Calverley, Goodwin (19) 0–4 5 November 22 Boston L 62–65 Ernie Calverley (14) 0–5 6 November 27 Baltimore L 61–76 Calverley, Martin (12) 0–6 7 November 29 Washington W 85–78 Ernie Calverley (21) 1–6 8 December 2 St. Louis L 66–86 Ariel Maughan (15) 1–7 9 December 5 @ Boston L 69–73 Ernie Calverley (23) 1–8 10 December 6 New York L 85–114 Ken Sailors (22) 1–9 11 December 9 @ Philadelphia L 74–78 Ken Sailors (22) 1–10 12 December 13 Washington L 72–88 Ernie Calverley (18) 1–11 13 December 17 @ Boston L 66–67 Ernie Calverley (23) 1–12 14 December 20 Philadelphia L 74–80 Ken Sailors (20) 1–13 15 December 23 New York W 66–58 Ernie Calverley (17) 2–13 16 December 25 @ New York L 75–89 Ken Sailors (19) 2–14 17 December 26 @ Philadelphia L 61–89 Earl Shannon (13) 2–15 18 December 27 Boston L 63–74 George Nostrand (16) 2–16 19 December 30 Chicago L 73–85 Dino Martin (19) 2–17 20 January 3 Chicago L 76–79 George Nostrand (28) 2–18 21 January 6 @ Baltimore L 64–82 Ernie Calverley (18) 2–19 22 January 10 Boston W 70–57 Johnny Ezersky (20) 3–19 23 January 15 Baltimore L 78–98 Ken Sailors (20) 3–20 24 January 18 @ St. Louis L 61–70 Johnny Ezersky (14) 3–21 25 January 22 @ Chicago W 56–50 George Nostrand (16) 4–21 26 January 24 @ Washington L 60–69 Bob Hubbard (17) 4–22 27 January 27 St. Louis L 61–94 George Nostrand (13) 4–23 28 January 28 @ New York L 73–75 George Nostrand (27) 4–24 29 January 30 @ Boston W 79–69 Ken Sailors (17) 5–24 30 January 31 Baltimore L 62–68 Nostrand, Sailors (16) 5–25 31 February 3 New York L 62–78 Lee Robbins (17) 5–26 32 February 4 @ New York L 69–108 Johnny Ezersky (18) 5–27 33 February 5 @ Baltimore L 74–100 Ken Sailors (21) 5–28 34 February 7 @ Washington L 64–86 Johnny Ezersky (16) 5–29 35 February 10 Washington L 60–79 George Nostrand (14) 5–30 36 February 11 @ New York L 63–86 Bob Hubbard (14) 5–31 37 February 13 @ Boston L 73–79 Ernie Calverley (20) 5–32 38 February 15 @ Chicago W 85–79 Mel Thurston (21) 6–32 39 February 19 @ St. Louis L 69–78 Jack Toomay (14) 6–33 40 February 21 Chicago L 73–92 Ernie Calverley (20) 6–34 41 February 28 Philadelphia L 82–83 Ken Sailors (19) 6–35 42 March 7 @ Chicago L 81–89 Ken Sailors (19) 6–36 43 March 9 St. Louis L 69–75 Ernie Calverley (20) 6–37 44 March 13 Boston L 64–86 Ken Sailors (16) 6–38 45 March 16 Philadelphia L 78–100 Jack Toomay (15) 6–39 46 March 17 @ Washington L 67–82 Jack Toomay (18) 6–40 47 March 18 @ Philadelphia L 57–88 Jack Toomay (17) 6–41 48 March 20 @ Baltimore L 58–75 Jack Toomay (21) 6–42

Player statistics

PlayerGPFG%FT%APGPPGHank Beenders21.265.638.36.8Ernie Calverley47.271.6652.511.9Bill Downey3.000.000.0.0Johnny Ezersky25.253.606.610.1Dick Fitzgerald1.000.000.0.0Pop Goodwin24.232.704.33.8Wyndol Gray1.000.000.00.0Nat Hickey2.000.667.01.0Bob Hubbard28.291.692.45.4John Janisch7.302.571.34.9Jerry Kelly3.300.000.02.0Dino Martin32.238.450.43.2Ariel Maughan14.242.688.13.9George Mearns24.200.484.42.5George Nostrand45.297.540.711.6Lee Robins31.277.548.26.3Kenny Sailors41.300.6921.412.7Earl Shannon45.262.6341.18.0Mel Thurston14.283.5000.35.6Jack Toomay14.361.6900.410.9Ray Wertis7.181.4290.94.6

Transactions

Trades To Providence SteamrollersWyndol Gray"1947–48 Providence Steamrollers Transactions". Basketball Reference. Retrieved September 19, 2017. To St. Louis BombersAriel Maughan

Purchases PlayerDate purchasedFormer teamKenny SailorsDecember 1, 1947Philadelphia Warriors

Sales PlayerDate soldNew teamCoulby GuntherNovember 9, 1947St. Louis BombersHank BeendersJanuary 15, 1948Philadelphia Warriors

Free agency Subtractions Player Reason left New team Elmore Morgenthaler Waived Birmingham Skyhawks (PBLA)

References