The Akron Firestone Non-Skids were an American professional basketball team based in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

. The team was one of the thirteen founding members of the National Basketball League (NBL), which formed in 1937. The team was named for the

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheele ...

, which was headquartered in Akron.

Franchise history

The team was founded by Firestone as an amateur industrial team. Like other industrial teams of the era, the players were company employees with year-round jobs who were not paid for basketball but owed their jobs to their basketball skills. The Non-Skids first competed professionally in the 1932–33 National Basketball League and defeated the

Indianapolis Kautskys Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of U.S. state and territorial capitals, state capital and List of U.S. states' largest cities by population, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat, seat of ...

in the championship game. In 1935, the Non-Skids joined the Midwest Basketball Conference. In 1937, Firestone,

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

, and Goodyear created the National Basketball League from company-sponsored teams and independent teams. The Non-Skids were NBL champions in 1939 and 1940, defeating the

Oshkosh All-Stars The Oshkosh All-Stars were an American professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling, the team was a member of the National Basketball League, a forerunner to the NBA, from 1937 until 1949. Histor ...

both years in the Finals. Following the 1940–1941 season, the Akron Firestone Non-Skids disbanded, leaving the

Akron Goodyear Wingfoots The Akron Goodyear Wingfoots are one of the oldest basketball teams in the United States. They were founded in 1918, by the workers at the Goodyear Tire Company, in Akron, Ohio. The teams, while giving workers recreation, also helped to promote ...

as the only NBL team representing Akron.

Season-by-season records

Players of note

* Chuck Taylor * Soup Cable * John Moir * Wesley Bennett *

Irving Terjesen Irving Bernhard Terjesen (March 4, 1915 – April 12, 1990) was an American basketball player. An All-American college player at New York University, Terjesen played three seasons in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL). Terjes ...

* Roy "Goose" Burris

Coaches

* Paul Sheeks

References

External links

Firestone Non-Skids Complete HistoryAkron Firestone Non-Skids
at Ohio History Central 1937 establishments in Ohio Basketball teams established in 1937 Sports clubs disestablished in 1941 1941 disestablishments in Ohio {{Ohio-basketball-team-stub