Rochester Royals
Encyclopedia
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, as the Rochester Royals of the National Basketball League
National Basketball League (United States)
Founded in 1937, the National Basketball League, often abbreviated to NBL, was a professional men's basketball league in the United States. The league would later merge with the Basketball Association of America to form the National Basketball Association in 1949.- League history :The...
.
In the early 1920s, the team was a semi-pro group sponsored by a local Seagram's distillery. The team was known as the Rochester Seagrams for over two decades. Pro basketball 1920–1940 folded many a strictly pro operation, but the sponsored Seagrams stayed afloat as others fell by the wayside during the Great Depression. Under the watch of Hall Of Famer Les Harrison, the team grew in talent, hosted increasingly better competition, and became a greater local treasure as years went by.
At the conclusion of World War II, the National Basketball League was returning to success after waiting out the War Years. It was looking to add successful operations to its circuit, and Rochester was a natural candidate. The team had changed its name to the Rochester Pros, and moved to the 4500-seat Edgerton Sports Arena in 1942. Invited to join the NBL for the 1945–46 season, Les Harrison and brother Jack parted ways with sponsor Seagram's, who doubted the team would profit from the jump. The team then held a rename-the-team contest in Rochester's largest newspaper. The winner was 15-year old Richard Paeth for his entry, the "Royals."
Success for the Royals was almost immediate. Founded in 1945 by owner/coach/general manager Les Harrison
Lester Harrison
Lester "Les" Harrison was an American professional basketball player, coach, and team owner and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame....
(Hall of Famer) and his brother and co-owner/business manager Jack Harrison, the team won the NBL championship in 1945–46, its very first year in the circuit. The team was led by Bob Davies, Al Cervi
Al Cervi
Alfred Nicholas Cervi was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball League and National Basketball Association . One of the strongest backcourt players of the 1940s and 1950s, he was always assigned to defend against the opposing team's best scoring threat...
, George Glamack
George Glamack
George Gregory Glamack was an American basketball player.The 6'7" giant, during that era, attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Glamack, an All-America in 1940 and 1941, was nicknamed the Blind Bomber because of his poor eyesight and remarkably accurate hook shot...
, and Otto Graham
Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham, Jr. was a professional American football and basketball player who played for the Cleveland Browns in both the All-America Football Conference and National Football League, as well as the Rochester Royals in the National Basketball League.-Early life:Born in Waukegan,...
, a future NFL Hall of Famer, who, in his only season in professional basketball, won a league championship before moving on to football and leading the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
to ten straight championship games, winning seven. Additionally, the Royals had doubled the original investment of the Harrisons in just one season. Playing numerous exhibitions in addition to the NBL schedule, the team was arguably at its Rochester peak in 1946.
The following season, NBL Governors voted that the regular season "Pennant Winner" would be declared as the official NBL Champion, and the post-season would consist of a separate, non-championship tournament. The Royals finished 31–13 (.705), capturing their second NBL Championship in as many years, but lost in the post-season tournament finals to George Mikan and the Chicago American Gears
Chicago American Gears
The Chicago American Gears were a National Basketball League team who played from 1944 to 1947.Led by George Mikan and Bobby McDermott, they defeated the Rochester Royals to win the 1947 NBL Championship....
.
The following season the NBL scrapped their one-year "pennant" experiment, and from that point forward the post-season playoffs would determine the NBL Champion. The Royals again finished with the league's best overall record at 44–16, but lost to George Mikan
George Mikan
George Lawrence Mikan, Jr. , nicknamed Mr. Basketball, was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball Association...
's new team, the Minneapolis Lakers, 3 games to 1 in the NBL Finals.
The countless exhibitions, plus the season schedules, had worn the team down by 1948, with injuries figuring in the 1947 and 1948 NBL Finals. The team added Bobby Wanzer, a Seton Hall recruit made by Davies, to replace Cervi, among other roster moves. The team's strong reputation also soon made it part of the NBL – BAA merger.
In 1948, the Royals moved to the Basketball Association of America
Basketball Association of America
The Basketball Association of America was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. The league merged with the National Basketball League in 1949, forming the National Basketball Association ...
along with the Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers, and Indianapolis (Kautskys) Jets
Indianapolis Jets
The Indianapolis Jets were a Basketball Association of America team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The team lasted for one season and was later replaced by a new franchise.-Franchise history:...
. A year later, the BAA merged with the remaining NBL teams to become the National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
.
The move to the BAA took away Rochester's profitable exhibition schedule, and placed it in the same Western Division that Minneapolis was in. Of the two best teams in pro basketball, only one of them could play in the league finals, 1949–1954. Minneapolis, with Mikan, was almost always a little better at playoff time than the Royals. With their smallish arena and now-limited schedule, the Royals became less profitable even as Harrison maintained a remarkably high standard for the team, which finished no lower than second in its division, 1945–1954. He would spend much of the 1950s looking for a buyer for his team as debts mounted.
The Royals won the NBA title in 1951 by defeating the New York Knickerbockers
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
4 games to 3. It is the only NBA championship in the franchise's history to date. But the victory did not translate into profit for the franchise. The roster completely turned over in 1955, with only Wanzer remaining, and the team moved to the larger Rochester Memorial. Now a losing team filled with rookies, the Royals still did not turn a profit. Meanwhile the NBA was putting pressure on Harrison to sell or relocate his team to a larger city. With this in mind, the 1956–57 season was the Royals' last in Rochester.
The Royals' twelve-year stay in Rochester featured the services of nine future members of the Basketball Hall of Fame, one member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and a Hollywood Walk of Famer: Al Cervi
Al Cervi
Alfred Nicholas Cervi was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball League and National Basketball Association . One of the strongest backcourt players of the 1940s and 1950s, he was always assigned to defend against the opposing team's best scoring threat...
, Bob Davies, Alex Hannum
Alex Hannum
Alexander Murray Hannum was a professional basketball player and Hall-of-Fame coach.-Coaching career:Hannum is mostly known for coaching the Wilt Chamberlain-led Philadelphia 76ers of 1966-67 to the NBA championship, ending the eight-year title streak of the Boston Celtics. He had also coached the...
, Les Harrison, Red Holzman
Red Holzman
William "Red" Holzman was an NBA basketball player and coach probably best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks from 1967 to 1982. Holzman helped lead the Knicks to two NBA Championships in 1970 and 1973, and was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985...
, Arnie Risen
Arnie Risen
Arnold D. Risen is a retired American basketball player.A 6'9" center from the Ohio State University, he led the Buckeyes to two straight Final Four appearances....
, Maurice Stokes
Maurice Stokes
Maurice Stokes was an American professional basketball player in the 1950s, whose career was cut short by a debilitating injury...
, Jack Twyman
Jack Twyman
John Kennedy "Jack" Twyman is an American former professional basketball player and sports broadcaster.-Playing career:...
, Bobby Wanzer
Bobby Wanzer
Robert Francis Wanzer, also known as "Hooks" Wanzer is a former basketball player and coach. A 6'0" guard, he played collegiately at Seton Hall University, and was selected by the Rochester Royals in 1947...
, Otto Graham
Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham, Jr. was a professional American football and basketball player who played for the Cleveland Browns in both the All-America Football Conference and National Football League, as well as the Rochester Royals in the National Basketball League.-Early life:Born in Waukegan,...
, and Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
.