Denver Nuggets (original)

Denver Nuggets (original)
Denver Nuggets
Division Western Division
Founded 1948
History Denver Nuggets
1948–1950
Arena Auditorium Arena
City Denver, Colorado
Head coach Jimmy Darden
Championships 0
Division titles None

This article is about the original Denver Nuggets NBL/NBA team from 1948-1950. For the current NBA team see Denver Nuggets.

The Denver Nuggets were a professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado, The United States of America. The Nuggets joined the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1948-49 season, and then joined the National Basketball Association when the NBL and Basketball Association of America merged to create the NBA for the 1949-50 season. The Nuggets were the first major professional sports franchise in Colorado, and the first NBA franchise west of the Mississippi.

Contents

Team Record

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, % = Win–Loss %

Season W L  % Playoffs Results
Denver Nuggets
1948-49 18 44 .290
1949-50 11 51 .177

Nuggets NBA Roster

1949-50 Denver Nuggets

Denver Nuggets
NBA Team Roster
Head Coach: Jimmy Darden
F 6'6 Flag of the United States.svg Ed Bartels (North Carolina State University)
F 6'4 Flag of the United States.svg Bob Brown (University of Miami)
C 6'10 Flag of the United States.svg Jim Browne (Tilden High School, Chicago, Illinois)
F 6'4 Flag of the United States.svg Jake Carter (Texas A&M University-Commerce)
F 6'7 Flag of the United States.svg Jack Cotton (University of Wyoming)
F 6'4 Flag of the United States.svg Dillard Crocker (Western Michigan University)
G 6'1 Flag of the United States.svg Jimmy Darden (University of Denver)
F 6'5 Flag of the United States.svg Earl Dodd (Truman State University)
F 6'5 Flag of the United States.svg Al Guokas (St. Joseph's University)
G 6'3 Flag of the United States.svg Bill Herman (Mt. Union College)
G 6'3 Flag of the United States.svg Duane Klueh (Indiana State University)
G 5'10 Flag of the United States.svg Bob Royer (Indiana State University)
G 5'10 Flag of the United States.svg Kenny Sailors (University of Wyoming)
C 6'6 Flag of the United States.svg Jack Toomay (University of the Pacific)
F 6'4 Flag of the United States.svg Floyd Volker (University of Wyoming)

Nuggets History

The Denver Nuggets trace their roots back to 1938 when the original amateur Nuggets were formed as a member of the Amateur Athletic Union. Led by player/coach "Jumping Jack" McCracken, the Nuggets were one of the most powerful amateur athletic basketball teams in the country, winning the 1939 AAU championship and losing the 1940 championship to the Phillips 66ers of Oklahoma. Not playing professionally, its players were given extra jobs by team sponsors, and they played on the stage of the Auditorium Arena (now Ellie Caulkins Opera House). Featuring stars such as McCracken, Robert Ace Gruenig and Vince Boryla, the Nuggets continued as an AAU power throughout their existence, and the AAU has been credited by historians for helping put Denver on the national sports map. In 1948, the National Basketball League awarded Denver its first professional basketball franchise, which took on the people an identity of the Denver Nuggets. This 1948-49 team included Morris Udall, best known for serving in the US House of Representatives from 1961-91. When the NBL merged with the BAA (Basketball Association of America) in 1949 and became the National Basketball Association, the Nuggets became an NBA team. The westernmost team in the NBA, the Nuggets were led by player/coach Jimmy Darden, a star shooting guard who joined the amateur Nuggets after leaving the Army as a World War II veteran in 1946. The Nuggets played one season in the NBA, compiling an 11-51 record in the Western Division. The team was disbanded in 1950, leaving Colorado without any major league sports teams until the birth of the AFL's Denver Broncos in 1960.

Connections With Current Denver Nuggets

When Denver's second major pro basketball franchise, the Denver Rockets, endeavored to join the NBA, a contest was held in 1974 to give the team a new nickname since the NBA already had the Houston Rockets. The name of Denver's original NBA franchise won, and has been the name of the team ever since. In 1985 one-time amateur Nuggets star Vince Boryla joined the franchise as its president and general manager, and was awarded NBA Executive of the Year that same year. He was President and GM of the Nuggets from 1985-1988. The current Denver Nuggets also started out in the same venue as the original Nuggets, the Auditorium Arena (by then modified to hold a pure basketball court, capacity 6,841), playing there from 1967-1975.

Honors

  • Jimmy Darden (inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, 1989)

External links


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