The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball's Greatest Jewish Team

11. The Influx of New York Players

11 THE INFLUx OF NEW YORK PLAYERS Dutch Garfinkel was a terrific passer. He loved to play with me. I would run without the ball, be free and he would get me the ball. He used to call me the Rabbit. —Jerry Fleishman, interview by the author W orld War II fundamentally altered basketball in America. The 1930s witnessed a game that was growing nationally in popularity , where different parts of the country were following the exploits of a team or certain star players thousands of miles away. College doubleheaders at Madison Square Garden and other arenas showcased the talents of rising players from across the nation. The NIT and NCAA tournament proved wildly popular and generated additional national exposure for college basketball. Even the World Professional Basketball Tournament attracted an annual following, as teams descended on Chicago for a monthlong basketball extravaganza. But the war took the game and pushed these developments to new heights. Whereas college doubleheaders and tournaments allowed teams from different parts of the country to play against each other, armed services basketball allowed players from different parts of the country to play with each other. The armed services had leagues and teams stationed throughout the country, and the games became a way to build morale among the troops. As this happened, the game homogenized, which led to a sport that truly became national in the postwar years. Service basketball brought together disparate forms of the game and flattened it out, producing a game that was easily recognizable to anyone. “Service basketball loosened the game up. In the beginning of WWII to the end of WWII, scoring picked up. The game became more modern,” 158 • THE SPHAS Bill Himmelman, a basketball historian, explained. “Service ball promoted the integration of the sport. When they came out of WWII, they did not give as much thought to integration as football and baseball did. Basketball players did not give it a thought. It was considered natural.”1 Service basketball was a product of Special Services, which was formed by the Joint Army and Navy Committee on Welfare and Recreation in 1942. Its mission was simple, as stated in its publications and promotional literature: “Every red-blooded American youth, in and out of uniform, is a lover of sports. The Army has found it desirable to maintain and foster this competitive ideal. Mass participation in sports and games of every description is the Army goal.”2 With this charge, Special Services had a presence on every base, both stateside and overseas, and created leagues and teams. Sports, particularly basketball, were played everywhere during World War II. Teams were created, leagues were formed, games were set, equipment was available, and players were ready to participate. Over the next four years, some of the best basketball teams were found on armed forces bases. Professional players, in addition to playing with their pro teams, also competed in the armed services, and those teams regularly competed against and defeated college teams. One of those teams was Great Lakes Naval Training Station. The Greats Lakes Naval Training Station, located in North Chicago, Illinois, was a powerhouse when it came to fielding basketball teams. The squad of 1941–1942 produced one of the finest seasons of any team during the war—college, professional, or service. In compiling a 31–5 record, they established a level of excellence both on and off the court that was difficult for any team to match throughout the rest of the war. Led by Hall of Famer Tony Hinkle, head coach at Butler University, the team included Bob Calihan , Forrest Anderson, and Frank Baumholtz. They defeated colleges and other service teams, often winning with great ease. The importance of basketball to the war effort cannot be overstated, as evidenced by a letter that T. DeWitt Carr, Captain, U.S. Navy Executive Officer, wrote to Robert Calihan, EM2c of the U.S. Naval Training Station at Great Lakes, in March 1942: Never for one moment have you and the rest of the boys on the team been anything but the finest examples of Navy manhood. On trains, in hotel lobbies, at luncheons and on the basketball court your conduct has been so splendid that the entire Navy recognized you and your team as the best recruiting “poster” in the Ninth Naval District . You carried the Navy story to colleges and towns and you did THE INFlux OF NEW yORk PlAyERS...