The 1946–47 Syracuse Nationals season was the first season of the franchise when they existed. They competed in the National Basketball League during their first three seasons of existence. The Nationals' first season of existence was also the NBL's first official season where they actually implemented a drafting system similar to what the future rivaling Basketball Association of America (and later merging partner to become the National Basketball Association) had for the eventual NBA draft system a year later following the conclusion of their inaugural league season for the purpose of controlled player salaries and limiting the idea of outbidding other players outside of their own 12-player teams at hand (with the NBL having a budget of $6,000 this season), as well as implementing key players to signing binding contracts as soon as they could and the NBL looking to have full-time referees on display., pp. 158–159 Team owner Danny Biasone originally created the franchise by accident since he only really wanted the Rochester Royals to play an exhibition match of sorts against a local team in Syracuse, New York that Biasone would sponsor for against the team in nearby Rochester, but the Royals' team owner, Les Harrison, had no interest in the idea, no matter the guarantee at the time, which led to Biasone complaining to the NBL's offices held in Chicago, Illinois before they offered him a spot in the NBL for a team out in Syracuse, much to his surprise and amazement., p. 159 During this season, the team's inaugural head coach, Bennie Borgmann, would be let go from his position, with minority team owner George Mingin being the interim head coach for two games (both being wins) before Jerry Rizzo took over as the player-coach for the rest of the season, including the 1947 NBL Playoffs (after tying with the Toledo Jeeps for one of the last playoff spots this season), where they ended up losing in the Eastern Division opening round 3–1 to the Rochester Royals.
Founding of franchise and season highlights In May 1946, Danny Biasone and George Mingin deposited $1,000 with the National Basketball League (NBL) in hopes of securing a franchise for Syracuse. Biasone said a professional team would be formed with home games played at the West Jefferson Street Armory, even if the NBL declined to grant a franchise. In the absence of a league affiliation, the team would play as an independent.
Syracuse was one of five cities competing for a single new NBL franchise. The other cities that had applied were St. Louis, Milwaukee, Toledo and Anderson, Indiana. The NBL sent a representative to the city to assess the fiscal responsibility of the owners, their ability to assemble a quality team, the proposed playing facilities and the local appetite for professional basketball. The representative told a local reporter on June 24, that he planned to recommend Syracuse for NBL expansion. The Rochester Royals, defending league champions, were in favor of an NBL team in Syracuse to create a regional rivalry.
The NBL had planned to expand from eight teams to 12 for the 1946–47 season. Prior to the July 1, 1946 league meeting, the NBL had reactivated the Pittsburgh Raiders, which had suspended operations after the 1944–45 season, and granted expansion franchises to the Buffalo Bisons and Detroit Gems. It was, therefore, anticipated that only one new franchise would be granted at the meeting. The Anderson Duffey Packers were awarded the new franchise. However, both the Raiders and the Cleveland Allmen Transfers franchises were no longer considered viable franchises for the NBL and the league instead offered their spots in the league to the prospective owners from Syracuse and Toledo. Danny Biasone and George Mingin purchased the spot from the Cleveland franchise for a price in excess of $2,500, and the Toledo group purchased the spot from the Pittsburgh franchise to activate the Toledo Jeeps as a new franchise of their own. Biasone and Mingin did not acquire the rights to any of Cleveland's players in the transaction, effectively making all the 1945–46 Allmen Transfers players free agents. That being said, despite the fact that the original Syracuse Nationals franchise more or less bought out the Cleveland Allmen Transfers franchise to make it its own franchise, the Nationals would not claim the history of the Allmen Transfers (nor the complex history relating to them that also involves (potential) ties to the Cleveland Chase Brassmen (which they did share off of, albeit from their years in the Amateur Athletic Union as the Cleveland Chase Brass Coppers), the sole season of the Chicago Studebaker Flyers, and the much longer history of the Chicago Bruins) as well, with their history differing from the expansion Detroit Gems franchise to the future Minneapolis Lakers (now Los Angeles Lakers) franchise in terms of contexts there. Col. William A. Barry of the New York Guard, who managed the West Jefferson Street Armory, said that should the facility not be available for a Syracuse home game, the East Genesee Street Armory could serve as a backup.
Danny Biasone was the team's first president, with George Mingin being its first general manager. Long Island University's athletic director Lou Zara left his longtime post to become the team's business manager and public relations director. The team announced that it would play a 44-game league schedule, with 22 of those games being played at home. The owners expected the team to play about eight exhibition games at home and 60 games either on the road or on neutral floors, resulting in about 110 games to be played within a span of months. It was planned that most home games would be played on Sunday evenings, with the remainder of their games being played on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Western NBL teams would be scheduled to visit Syracuse and Rochester on Sundays and Tuesdays, thus playing against both teams on the same trip.
On August 7, 1946, Syracuse announced former professional basketball player turned head coach Bennie Borgmann had been hired as the team's first head coach. At the time, Borgmann was the manager of the Rochester Red Wings minor league baseball team. He had a previous connection to the local area, having served as the manager of the Syracuse Chiefs minor league baseball team in 1941. Following the 1946 baseball season, Borgmann resigned his position as Red Wings manager, remaining with the St. Louis Cardinals organization as a scout.
By August 1946, newspapers were referring to the team as the Nationals or, alternatively, as the Nats.
The Nationals started preseason drills on October 21, with 30 players reporting.
After the NBL season schedule had been finalized, the New York Guard issued a ruling prohibiting the use of any armory in the state for competitive sports on Sundays. Ten of the Nationals' 22 home games had been scheduled for Sunday evenings. The Nationals' appeal for an exception to the ruling was denied. The Nationals contacted opponents slated to play at the Armory on Sundays to begin the process of rescheduling the games. In the aftermath, Syracuse mayor Frank Costello announced a committee would be formed for the purpose of finding a way to make the article available for a wide variety of sporting events in the city.
The Nationals and Toledo Jeeps met in the NBL's season opener at the University of Toledo's Field House on November 7, 1946. Leading by a point with 10 minutes to play, the Jeeps closed the game on a 14–1 run to earn a 57–43 victory. Bob Nugent scored 11 points to lead Syracuse that night.
The Nationals took the Armory floor for their home opener against the Youngstown Bears with an 0–2 record. After falling behind be seven points at halftime, Syracuse rallied in the second half for a 67–64 victory. Johnny Gee scored 17 points, 10 in the second half, to lead the Nationals.
Draft picks Entering this season, the National Basketball League would utilize their own draft system that would be considered similar to what the NFL has done for the NFL draft. As such, the 1946 NBL draft would be considered the first ever professional basketball draft ever done, even before the 1947 BAA draft that was done by the soon to be rivaling Basketball Association of America. Because of that fact, the Syracuse Nationals would participate in the inaugural 1946 NBL draft, which had occurred sometime during the 1946–47 season's offseason period before that season officially began for the NBL. However, as of 2026, no records of what the Nationals' draft picks might have been for the NBL have properly come up, with any information on who those selections might have been for Syracuse (especially since the Syracuse Nationals franchise would be considered an expansion franchise for the NBL this season) being lost to time in the process.
Roster
Note: Over half of the roster would not be a part of the playoff roster this season, as the playoff team would only feature John Chaney, Ken Exel, Johnny Gee, George Nelmark, Mike Novak, Bob Nugent, Jerry Rizzo, and Steve Sharkey to become the official roster utilized for the playoffs this season.
Season standings Eastern Division standings
NBL Schedule Not to be confused with exhibition or other non-NBL scheduled games that did not count towards Syracuse's official NBL record for this season. An official database created by John Grasso detailing every NBL match possible (outside of two matches that the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans won over the Dayton Metropolitans in 1938) would be released in 2026 showcasing every team's official schedules throughout their time spent in the NBL. As such, these are the official results recorded for the Syracuse Nationals during their first ever season in the NBL. # Date Opponent Score Record 1 November 7 @ Toledo 43–57 0–1 2 November 10 @ Buffalo 39–50 0–2 3 November 14 Youngstown 67–64 1–2 4 November 16 @ Rochester 35–41 1–3 5 November 21 Buffalo 43–45 1–4 6 November 26 Detroit 54–61 1–5 7 November 28 Toledo 54–67 1–6 8 November 30 Indianapolis 59–62 1–7 9 December 2 @ Youngstown 47–36 2–7 10 December 3 Chicago 59–69 2–8 11 December 5 @ Sheboygan 47–74 2–9 12 December 6 N Chicago 57–55 3–9 13 December 7 @ Oshkosh 43–74 3–10 14 December 9 @ Anderson 64–69 3–11 15 December 12 Detroit 60–40 4–11 16 December 19 Fort Wayne 61–47 5–11 17 December 26 @ Youngstown 53–58 5–12 18 December 30‡ Indianapolis 56–49 6–12 — January 8 @ Buffalo Cancelled 19 January 9 Anderson 71–64 7–12 20 January 16 Oshkosh 67–49 8–12 21 January 19 @ Fort Wayne 49–58 8–13 22 January 21 @ Indianapolis 52–57 8–14 23 January 23 Rochester 53–60 8–15 24 January 28 @ Tri-Cities 46–41 9–15 25 January 31 @ Chicago 60–62 9–16 26 February 1 @ Oshkosh 50–46 10–16 27 February 4 Detroit 84–55 11–16 28 February 6 Oshkosh 54–53 12–16 29 February 8 Toledo 58–51 13–16 30 February 13 Chicago 50–61 13–17 31 February 16 @ Fort Wayne 56–55[56–57†] 14–17[13–18†] 32 February 17 @ Anderson 54–53 (OT) 15–17[14–18†] 33 February 18 @ Indianapolis 46–59 15–18[14–19†] 34 February 20 Youngstown 80–44 16–18[15–19†] 35 February 24 Tri-Cities 53–47 17–18 36 February 27 @ Toledo 48–69 17–19 37 March 1 @ Rochester 54–63 17–20 38 March 2 @ Sheboygan 61–63 17–21 39 March 6‡ Anderson 68–46 18–21 40 March 8 @ Fort Wayne 62–68 18–22 41 March 10 Rochester 54–60 18–23 42 March 11 @ Detroit 68–50 19–23 43 March 12 @ Sheboygan 63–40 20–23 44 March 13 Sheboygan 55–48 21–23