The 1945–46 Chicago American Gears season was the American Gears' second year in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which was also the ninth year the league existed. However, if you include the (at least) one previous season where they competed in the Amateur Athletic Union before making the jump into the NBL, this would actually be their third season of play instead., pp. 2–3 With the inclusion of both the Rochester Royals and Youngstown Bears (the latter of which being considered in exchange for the Pittsburgh Raiders and their players since the Bears would acquire most of the Raiders' players this season) alongside the second return of the Indianapolis Kautskys following the end of World War II, this led to the NBL being at its strongest point of contention since the 1939–40 NBL season with eight teams competing in the 1945–46 season, four teams in each of the Eastern and Western Divisions.
Chicago played their home games at the Cicero Stadium for this season, which held only 2,000 total people for attendance by comparison to the larger Chicago Stadium they used for their previous season., p. 40 During this season, team owner Maurice White implemented an interesting bonus system for the players on the team where, for every victory that the team had (and only for the victories the team had), the players would receive bonuses of $6 for every basket made and $3 for every free-throw made (later adding an extra $3 for every assist at hand as well, p. 149);, pp. 42–43 while some of the players suggested to pool the bonus money up and split it amongst themselves by the end of the season, it ultimately wasn't a unanimous decision, meaning the original bonus plan stuck instead., p. 43 Despite finishing this season with an average 17–17 record this season in the Western Division, the American Gears would ultimately not make it to the NBL Playoffs this season, which turned out to be the first and only time in their history that they would fail to do so in their history due to the Oshkosh All-Stars making significant improvements to their roster following the conclusion to World War II. Not only that, but people had noticed the effects White's bonus system had on the basketball court, to the point where it can be suggested that this season's team was the first team to make bonuses in player contracts become a thing in the first place. Furthermore, had the American Gears made it to the 1946 NBL Playoffs instead of Oshkosh as the second Western Division team alongside the Sheboygan Red Skins, they would have implemented both Price Brookfield and George Mikan (the latter being confirmed to sign a five-year deal worth $60,000, p. 154) as secret weapons to utilize for that event instead of waiting until both the 1946 World Professional Basketball Tournament and the following NBL season for official play with them on their team., p. 152
In addition to the NBL Playoffs, the Chicago American Gears also participated in the World Professional Basketball Tournament as the local home team throughout the event as well. Unlike the previous year's event where they would only compete against independently ran teams, the 1946 event would see George Mikan debut with the team alongside Price Brookfield following two exhibition victories against the Anderson Chiefs and Detroit Mansfields, with immediate prominence being showcased against the former NBL turned independent team in the Pittsburgh Raiders in the first round and then showcasing a surprising upset against the Western Division champions, the Sheboygan Red Skins (who had a first round bye alongside the repeating two-time champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons), in the quarterfinal round. However, foul trouble during the second half of their game against the Oshkosh All-Stars would prevent the American Gears from entering the championship round of the WPBT against the Zollner Pistons, with them instead having a best-of-three series against the new champions of the rivaling American Basketball League, the Baltimore Bullets. From that point, the American Gears would end up sweeping the Bullets in the two games they ended up playing for the third place series they had in the WPBT, with new center George Mikan being named the MVP of the WPBT that year despite not even making it to the championship series that year due to his impact throughout the entire event for the local home team.
For this season, only Bob Calihan would earn All-NBL Second Team honors while playing for the Chicago American Gears.
Roster
Note: Price Brookfield and George Mikan would play (or in Mikan's case, debut) with the American Gears after the 1946 NBL Playoffs (with the intention of having them both play for the team during the 1946 NBL Playoffs had Chicago made it there this season), with them notably playing for them during the 1946 World Professional Basketball Tournament in this season., p. 53
Regular season Season standings
NBL Schedule Reference: Dick Triptow's The Dynasty That Never Was, p. 55 # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 22 @ Sheboygan 49–53 0–1 2 November 23 Indianapolis 35–40 0–2 3 November 25 Oshkosh 47–38 1–2 4 December 7 Fort Wayne 51–60 1–3 5 December 8 @ Oshkosh 55–51 2–3 6 December 14 Sheboygan 42–47 2–4 7 December 16 @ Indianapolis 48–43 3–4 8 December 21 Indianapolis 54–43 4–4 9 December 27 @ Sheboygan 38–46 4–5 10 December 28 Youngstown 45–47 4–6 11 January 4 Sheboygan 55–52 5–6 12 January 9 Cleveland 51–37 6–6 13 January 12 @ Rochester 32–63 6–7 14 January 13 @ Fort Wayne 43–71 6–8 15 January 16 @ Indianapolis 52–47 7–8 16 January 18 Indianapolis 41–39 (OT) 8–8 17 January 19 @ Oshkosh 42–55 8–9 18 January 20 Oshkosh 49–48 9–9 19 January 25 Rochester 53–48 10–9 20 January 27 @ Cleveland 35–60 10–10 21 January 28 @ Youngstown 47–35 11–10 22 February 1 Fort Wayne 43–48 11–11 23 February 2 @ Oshkosh 51–69 11–12 24 February 7 @ Sheboygan 47–46 12–12 25 February 10 Sheboygan 65–71 12–13 26 February 14 @ Indianapolis 47–73 12–14 27 February 15 Oshkosh 66–67 (OT) 12–15 28 February 19 Youngstown 46–39 13–15 29 February 23 @ Rochester 56–68 13–16 30 February 24 @ Cleveland 51–50 14–16 — February 25 @ Youngstown Postponed (Make-up Date: March 11, 1946) 31 March 1 Rochester 58–51 15–16 32 March 8 Cleveland 59–47 16–16 33 March 10 @ Fort Wayne 55–47 17–16 34 March 11 @ Youngstown 38–54 17–17 When it came to the Chicago American Gears for this season, each team in the Western Division would play each other a total of six times for 3 home and road games each, while each team in the Eastern Division would play each other a total of four times for 2 home and road games each (with Eastern Division teams reversing the order where they play other Eastern Division teams a total of six times for 3 home and road games each, while each team in the Western Division would play each other a total of four times for 2 home and road games each) for 34 total NBL season matches for this particular season of play. However, not every team would end up adhering to the 34 game standard for this season, as both the Cleveland Allmen Transfers and the newly-created Youngstown Bears in the Eastern Division only played 33 games this season, while the returning Indianapolis Kautskys from the Western Division played in only 32 games this season instead.
Awards and honors All-NBL Second Team – Bob Calihan
World Professional Basketball Tournament In the second (and what would later turn out to be the final) time in franchise history, the Chicago American Gears would enter the annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago, which the 1946 event was held on March 25–April 8, 1946 and was mostly held by independently ran teams alongside six out of eight NBL teams from this season (only the new NBL champions in the Rochester Royals and the Youngstown Bears declined their entries this year) and the original Baltimore Bullets franchise from the American Basketball League. However, unlike every other team competing in this year's WPBT, the American Gears would have a home crowd advantage of sorts due to them representing the city of Chicago this year, similar to how things worked for them in the previous year's event, only the crowds felt more fired up for the hometown team winning their local tournament this time around by comparison to the previous season, especially due to the inclusion of both DePaul University star center George Mikan and Price Brookfield on the team, both of whom joined the team after the NBL Playoffs ended and played some exhibition games for the team against independently ran teams in the Anderson Chiefs on March 19 and the Detroit Mansfields the day after that (with both games being victories by Chicago) before the tournament began. In the first round, the American Gears would compete against a former NBL team that they had previously faced off against in their inaugural NBL season before that team left the NBL to become an independently operated franchise for the rest of their existence, the Pittsburgh Raiders. The match saw new center George Mikan already leading with 17 points scored, with three other Chicago players also scoring in the double-digits themselves with both Bob Calihan and Stan Patrick getting 15 points each and Stan Szukala putting up 10 points as the American Gears beat the Raiders one more time with a 69–58 victory that sadly had tragedy get involved due to the announcement of the passing of former Pittsburgh Raiders and, at the time, current Youngstown Bears star player Huck Hartman due to pneumonia at 25 years old., p. 155 Despite the downer announcement still in mind, local Chicago fans were still interested in seeing who their local squad would go up against next.
After a day of rest, the quarterfinal round would see the American Gears opening up what was considered to be the starting game of the "quadrupleheader" period set up on March 29 by going up against a fellow NBL squad for once in the Sheboygan Red Skins, who not only had acquired a first round bye in the WPBT this year alongside the two-time defending WPBT champions in the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, but had officially returned to action for the WPBT this year after previously having an inconspicuous absence from the previous year's tournament when they had entered in its previous events up until that point in time (though it probably related to World War II business at hand). While Sheboygan was expected to be a WPBT favorite for outsiders alongside the Zollner Pistons, the local Chicago squad would end up upsetting the Red Skins' return to the WPBT this season with a 52–51 comeback victory that was helped made assured on their ends by two late baskets scored by Stan Patrick. However, the American Gears' leading scorers for that match was George Mikan with 14 points and Bob Calihan with 9 points scored on their ends. Regardless, Chicago's upset over a potential tournament favorite in an early round match led to the local fans getting into screaming excitement over the team's semifinal match and potentially making it to the championship round this time around when they had failed to make it in the previous year's event.