Sheboygan Red Skins - Successful Middle Years

Successful Middle Years

After winning their only NBL title, the Red Skins continued as one of the strongest teams in pro basketball and appeared in the next three championship series (1944, 1945 and 1946) behind the stellar play of twin towers Mike Novak, a 6-foot-9 former all-American from Loyola, and Dancker, a 6–7 player who did not attend college but honed his skills in the Milwaukee recreational leagues. Defensive ace Suesens, Lautenschlager, Dick Schulz, Tony Kelly, Al Lucas, Al Moschetti and Bobby Holm were other key Red Skins during this period. The signings of Lucas, Moschetti and Holm by Basketball Hall of Famer Dutch Dehnert in 1944 represented a first for the Red Skins: the acquisition of a group of name players from the East Coast.

Sheboygan lost in the finals to Fort Wayne in 1944 and 1945, despite gaining a 2–0 lead in the latter best-of-five series, and in 1946 was ousted by the powerhouse Rochester Royals, who boasted Hall of Famers Al Cervi, Bob Davies and Red Holzman. Dehnert coached the Red Skins to consecutive divisional titles, but left following the 1945–46 season to coach the Cleveland Rebels of the Basketball Association of America.

Sheboygan remained among the NBL's elite, securing playoff berths in 1947 and 1949. Before the 1946–47 season, the Red Skins became the first NBL team to fly to the West Coast. There, they played at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and lost two close games to the Los Angeles Red Devils, whose best player was former UCLA great Jackie Robinson. The next spring, Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Sheboygan finished the season with a 26–18 record, only two games behind first-place Oshkosh in the Western Division, but the Red Skins lost to the All-Stars 49–47 in the fifth and deciding game of their first-round playoff.

For about a month, in December 1947, Hall of Fame player Bobby McDermott was a player-coach for the Red Skins. He was obtained from the Chicago American Gears after the Professional Basketball League of America folded in November 1947. McDermott played in 16 games for Sheboygan and scored 138 points. As a coach, he took the reins from Doxie Moore and had a 4–5 record for the Red Skins. Moore resumed coaching Sheboygan after McDermott left to join the Tri-Cities Blackhawks in January 1948. The season was one of the Red Skins' most disappointing, though, as the team was aging and in disarray and slumped to a 23–37 record.