The 1928–29 Paterson Whirlwinds season was technically the first and only full professional basketball season of play for the Crescents team under that name held in Paterson, New Jersey during the fourth season of existence for the American Basketball League, which was the first professional basketball league that had truly attempted to go fully national after previous professional basketball leagues were mostly regional at the time. However, Paterson's history as a franchise had supposedly lasted as far back as 1909 by first appearing as the Whirlwinds properly in the Hudson River Basketball League (as well as the Princeton Tigers in the Eastern Basketball League, p. 15) before becoming the Paterson Crescents in the next two seasons there (and for most of their existence) soon afterward as well, with a brief year of independent play later giving them appearances in the New York State Basketball League, the Interstate Basketball League, the Pennsylvania State Basketball League (for some odd reason), and the Metropolitan Basketball League as the Paterson Crescents before eventually being picked up by the ABL this season as the Paterson Whirlwinds once again, with this season marking at least their 18th overall season of play (due to two seasons being lost due to World War I) and at least their 11th overall professional basketball season with some sort of professional basketball league when combining the histories of all of these leagues with this season of play here./ Regardless of the overall sentiment at hand here, Paterson's franchise would be one of eight teams competing in the ABL this season, which would return to a split season format after previously using a proper regular season and playoff formatting. Not only that, but the Whirlwinds would end up becoming the weakest team competing within the ABL this season, as they would end up finishing in last place throughout the entire season. In the first half of the season, the Whirlwinds would end up being the only team to have less than 10 wins throughout that half of the season, as they ended up finishing that half of the season with a poor 6–19 record to become dead last place in the league there. The second of the season would be even worse for them, however, as after losing three straight games to start that half of the season, Paterson would fire Pop Morgenweck as the head coach and replace him with player-coach Artie Powers for the rest of the season, which did little to help them out since they still ended up placing in last place in that half of the season with a 3–9 record with Powers' 3–6 coaching record. Following this failed season's conclusion, Paterson would continue competing in the ABL in spite of their poor performances, though they would return to their more common Paterson Crescents name by the time the upcoming ABL season began.
Roster Due to information on American Basketball League players being generally hard to find, there are bound to be more gaps and/or inaccuracies found in certain areas on the team's roster spots than usual. Player PositionTony CallandGPete DolanFJimmy GordanGBob GriebeF/CNick HarveyGMickey HustaG/FHarry KnoblauchF/CHank KnudsenCMoyer KrakovitchGCharlie LajeskieG/FStretch LangdellF/CSiggy MakofskiG/FLeo MaloneF/CStretch MeehanCJake MoskowG/FMike MusicGChickie PassonG/FJim PickenG/FArtie PowersG/FHarry RicondaGFrank RoxburyFReds SherrF/CLefty TopelGFats WykaFGus YorkesG
American Basketball League Standings +First HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Cleveland Rosenblums199.679Fort Wayne Hoosiers1810.643Brooklyn Visitations1512.556Chicago Bruins1512.556New York Hakoahs1316.448Trenton (Royal) Bengals1216.429Rochester Centrals1115.423Paterson Whirlwinds619.240
+Second Half TeamWinsLossesWinning %Fort Wayne Hoosiers113.786Cleveland Rosenblums104.714Brooklyn Visitations104.714Rochester Centrals77.500New York Hakoahs59.357Trenton (Royal) Bengals48.333Chicago Bruins410.286Paterson Whirlwinds39.250
References