Chicago Stags
On the 31st of March, 1947, the Chicago Stags played a game they had not expected to need. A season's worth of sixty games had ended in a tie, and one extra contest would decide the Western Division. The Stags won in overtime. It was the kind of decisive moment that suggests a franchise on solid ground. Yet the Chicago Stags were never quite on solid ground. They had opened the year under two different names before landing on Stags. After their first season, the ownership voted on whether to continue at all. Over four seasons at Chicago Stadium, the Stags built a strong record on the court. They also accumulated financial problems that would outlast the team itself.
The tiebreaker against the Bombers ended 73-66, with the Stags claiming the Western Division title and a first-round bye. In the Semifinals, they met the Washington Capitols, the only team in the league to have posted a better regular-season record. They beat Washington 4-2. The BAA Finals against the Philadelphia Warriors did not go as well. Chicago lost 1-4.
The 1947-48 season brought its own tiebreaker in the playoffs, this time against the Washington Capitols. The Stags won that game and advanced to the First Round, where they beat the Boston Celtics 2-1. The Semifinals brought a loss to the Baltimore Bullets, who went on to win the BAA championship.
A 38-22 finish in 1948-49 placed the Stags third in the division, seven games behind the Rochester Royals, who won it. The Minneapolis Lakers eliminated them 2-0 in the Division Semifinals. In 1949-50, the Stags tied the Fort Wayne Pistons at 40-28 before a tiebreaker loss sent the Pistons through. The Lakers eliminated Chicago again in the Division Semifinals. The Stags' final playoff game was played as part of a triple-header at Chicago Stadium. The Harlem Globetrotters shared the bill.
Abe Saperstein bought the Stags in June 1950. Saperstein was the owner of the Harlem Globetrotters. By August, he announced that the franchise would be renamed the Chicago Bruins. He planned to schedule double-headers with the Globetrotters on most of the team's home dates.
Saperstein also intended the Bruins to play 'home games' in cities far beyond Chicago. Detroit, Milwaukee, Peoria, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Cincinnati were all on the list. That arrangement would have made the Bruins a regional franchise rather than a single-city team. Saperstein's deposit for the purchase came to $20,000, reportedly about half the total agreed price.
In September 1950, Saperstein withdrew his offer and asked NBA president Maurice Podoloff to return the deposit. He reported that he had received 'exactly nothing' for his money. The club had not been transferred to him, and four players who had been under contract with the Stags had already jumped to the National Professional Basketball League.
Reportedly, Podoloff had acted on behalf of a group of other NBA owners to foreclose on the franchise over an unpaid debt. The Stags had borrowed $40,000 to finish the 1949-50 season and could not repay it. On the 25th of September, 1950, the franchise formally ceased operations. The NBA then held a dispersal draft to divide the remaining players among the surviving teams. Among those players was a guard named Bob Cousy, who had arrived in Chicago only months earlier.
The Tri-Cities Blackhawks had selected Bob Cousy in the BAA draft on the 25th of April, 1950, but the two sides could not agree on salary. Cousy wanted $10,000. Blackhawks owner Ben Kerner offered $6,000. Unable to close the gap, Kerner sold Cousy to the Chicago Stags in a trade.
When the Stags folded, Cousy was included in the draft that divided the roster. On the 5th of October, 1950, he was assigned to the Boston Celtics. His time in Chicago had spanned less than one season. In four seasons from 1946 to 1950, the franchise compiled 145 regular-season wins and 92 losses. The playoff record stood at eight wins and fourteen losses.
The Chicago Stags were among several franchises that left the NBA in the same period. The Denver Nuggets, the Anderson Packers, the Sheboygan Red Skins, and the Waterloo Hawks all moved to the National Professional Basketball League. The St. Louis Bombers folded at the same time. The league entered the 1950-51 season with seventeen teams and emerged with eleven.
In January 1951, the Washington Capitols also folded, bringing the total number of NBA teams down to ten. The league returned to Chicago with the Packers, who later became the Zephyrs and eventually the Washington Wizards. That team played from 1961 to 1963. The Bulls have been Chicago's NBA team since 1966.
On the 5th of December, 2005, the Bulls wore replica uniforms based on the 1946 Stags design. The gesture was part of the NBA's Hardwood Classics program. The tribute was repeated on the 22nd of February, 2006, and again on the 16th of April that year. Chicago Stadium, at 1800 West Madison Street, became home to the Bulls from 1967 to 1994. It was demolished in 1995 to make way for the United Center.
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Common questions
What year did the Chicago Stags fold?
The Chicago Stags folded on the 25th of September, 1950, after four seasons in the Basketball Association of America and, in their final year, the NBA. A dispersal draft held on the 5th of October, 1950, divided the team's players among the remaining franchises.
Why did the Chicago Stags leave the NBA?
The Stags could not repay a $40,000 loan that had allowed them to complete the 1949-50 season. NBA president Maurice Podoloff reportedly acted on behalf of other owners to foreclose on the franchise, ending operations on the 25th of September, 1950.
Who bought the Chicago Stags before they folded?
Abe Saperstein, owner of the Harlem Globetrotters, purchased the Stags in June 1950 and announced plans to rename them the Chicago Bruins. He withdrew his offer in September 1950 and requested the return of his $20,000 deposit, citing failure to receive either the club or the contracts of players who had left for another league.
Did the Chicago Stags ever reach the BAA Finals?
Yes. In the 1946-47 season, the Chicago Stags reached the first BAA Finals, losing to the Philadelphia Warriors 1-4. They had defeated the Washington Capitols 4-2 in the Semifinals to advance.
Where did Bob Cousy go after the Chicago Stags folded?
The dispersal draft of the 5th of October, 1950, sent Bob Cousy to the Boston Celtics. Cousy had arrived at the Stags after a failed salary negotiation with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, where he had been drafted on the 25th of April, 1950.
What were the Chicago Stags originally called?
The Chicago Stags were originally planned to be named the Chicago Atomics. The franchise played one exhibition game under that name against the New York Knicks, then one more as the Chicago Basketball Club, Inc., before officially adopting the Stags name for the 1946-47 regular season.
All sources
8 references cited across the entry
- 6BookBall Hawks: The Arrival and Departure of the NBA in IowaTim Harwood — University of Iowa Press — 2018
- 7NewsBulls Celebrate 60th Anniversary of Chicago StagsChicago Bulls — December 2, 2005
- 8NewsSTAG PARTY: BULLS PAY TRIBUTE TO THE CHICAGO STAGSBrett Ballantini — Chicago Bulls — April 17, 2006