Toledo Red Man Tobaccos
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The Toledo Red Man Tobaccos are a defunct American
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
team based in
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
that were champions of the National Professional Basketball League during the 1929–30 season. For the 1930–31 season, the team played in the American Basketball League, with 12 wins and 24 losses in that season. In 1932, the team returned to the NPBL as the Toledo Crimson Coach Tobaccos.


History


Early years

The Red Man Tobaccos were sponsored by the Toledo-based Pinkerton Tobacco Company, which produced Red Man Tobacco, and requested to be billed as the Red Man instead of the Red Men to avoid confusion with the
Improved Order of Red Men The Improved Order of Red Men is a List of civic, fraternal, service, and professional organizations, fraternal organization established in North America in 1834. It claims direct descent from the colonial era Sons of Liberty. Their rituals and ...
. The team began in 1926 as an industrial team and became a semipro team the following season. The Red Man Tobacco team originally played in the Westminster Gym and featured a number of Toledo's former high school and college stars, such as Rollie Boldt, as well as professional players like Chase Clements. It was managed by Ed Cannon and coached by A. W. "Pete" Doelling. In 1928, the Red Man moved to the Toledo
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gym. Cannon had 200 bleacher seats installed, which brought capacity up to 1,100. An electric timing and scoring device was also installed. That same year, the team added former
Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...
center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
Cookie Cunningham and player-coach
Pip Koehler Horace Levering "Pip" Koehler (January 16, 1902 – December 8, 1986) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and professional basketball player. Baseball Koehler played only one season (1925) with the New York Giants. He was a small a ...
. During its semipro years, the Toledo Red Man Tobaccos opponents included teams from the American Basketball League (the
Chicago Bruins The Chicago Bruins were an American basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Chicago Bears football team owner George Halas, the Bruins were a member of the American Basketball League, a league that also featured other National Footbal ...
, Cleveland Rosenblums,
New York Celtics The Original Celtics were a barnstorming professional American basketball team. At various times in their existence, the team played in the American Basketball League, the Eastern Basketball League and the Metropolitan Basketball League. The tea ...
, Rochester Centrals, and Fort Wayne Hoosiers), barnstorming clubs (
Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe (; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional American football, football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was ...
's World Famous Indians and Olson's Terrible Swedes), independent outfits (Flint Buick Flyers, Rochester Olds Motors, and Canton Orphans), and industrial teams (
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 ...
, Fort Wayne General Electrics,
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,
Michigan Central Railroad The Michigan Central Railroad (reporting mark MC) was originally chartered in 1832 to establish rail service between Detroit, Michigan, and St. Joseph, Michigan. The railroad later operated in the states of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois in th ...
, Robert Lee Shops, and Detroit Tool Shop).


National Professional Basketball League

In 1929, the Red Man Tobaccos were a founding member of the National Professional Basketball League. The NPBL, which also included teams from
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,
Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...
,
Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
,
Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
,
Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...
,
Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative divisions * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and entertainment * Canton (band), an It ...
, and
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
, was headed by Red Man manager Ed Cannon. The team moved to the new Toledo Civic Auditorium, which could seat over 4,200 spectators for basketball games. Cannon signed former Cleveland Rosenblums and Fort Wayne Hoosiers forward Len Sheppard to one of the largest contracts in professional basketball. Toledo finished the season with a 17–3 record and defeated the Dayton Kellys 4 games to 2 to win the NBPL championship.


American Basketball League

In 1930, Cannon was offered a franchise in the American Basketball League. He requested three players as a condition of joining the league and only joined after this demand was met, which caused hard feelings from the ABL's other owners, who felt that his intransigence had delayed the league. That December, Cannon, unhappy with the team's play, released all of the Red Man players except for Davey Banks and signed five members of the recently folded Cleveland Rosenblums (
Dutch Dehnert Henry G. "Dutch" Dehnert (April 5, 1898 – April 20, 1979) was an American basketball player whose career lasted from 1915 to 1935. Dehnert, a bulky forward born in New York City, New York, is mostly known for his time with the Original Celtic ...
,
Joe Lapchick Joseph Bohomiel Lapchick (April 12, 1900 – August 10, 1970) was an American professional basketball player, mostly known for playing with the Original Celtics in the 1920s and 1930s. He is commonly regarded as the best center of his era, ove ...
, Pete Barry, Lou Spindell, and Charley Shudtz). The Red Man finished the year with a 12–24 record and were well off the pace for the first and second half championships.


Return to independence

The ABL elected not to play a 1931–32 season due to financial difficulties caused by the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, but the Red Man continued as an independent team. Denhert, Lapchick, Banks, and Barry left the team to form the Rosenblum-Celtics with
Nat Hickey Nicholas J. "Nat" Hickey (born Nicola Zarnecić; January 30, 1902 – September 16, 1979) was a Croatian American professional basketball coach/player and baseball player. He turned to coaching basketball after his retirement from playing full-t ...
. Cannon replaced them with Frank Shimek, Rusty Saunders,
Carl Husta Carl Lawrence Husta (April 8, 1902 – November 6, 1951) was an American baseball and basketball player. He was one of the top basketball players of the 1920s and 30s, playing for the Cleveland Rosenblums, Fort Wayne Hoosiers, Camden Brewers, ...
, and Shang Chadwick – the latter three coming from the reigning ABL champion Fort Wayne Hoosiers. The Red Man Tobaccos opponents included the
Brooklyn Visitations The Brooklyn Visitations (also known as the Triangles) were an American basketball team based in Brooklyn, New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip ...
,
New York Renaissance The New York Renaissance, also known as the Renaissance Big R Five and as the Rens, were the first black-owned, all-black, fully-professional basketball team in history, established in October 1923, by Robert "Bob" Douglas. They were named after t ...
, and Chicago Bruins.


Return to the NPBL

In 1932, Toledo returned to National Professional Basketball League, this time sponsored by another Toledo tobacco company – Crimson Coach, and playing at the Toledo Coliseum. The Crimson Coach Tobaccos consisted of Fred Jacobs,
Abe Yourist Abe Harry Yourist (September 9, 1909 – November 9, 1991) was a Russian-American professional basketball player. He played one game for the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets in the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League ...
, Arnie Straka, Ollie Wiza, Hank Hubbard, Jim Barnham, and captain Pip Koehler and finished the year with an 8–4 record. The team made the NPBL finals, but were swept in three games by the Akron Firestone Non-Skids.


Later years

The NPBL folded after the 1932–33 season and the Crimson Coaches became an independent team once again. Cannon was able to retain a number of players (including Koehler, Jacons, Straka, and Wiza) and obtained the use of the
Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...
gym. Cannon turned his attention to softball in 1934 and the following year the Crimson Coach Tobaccos won the world amateur softball championship. Crimson Coach's final basketball game occurred on January 2, 1935, when a team of former Red Man and Crimson Coach players assembled by Cannon lost to the
Brooklyn Jewels The Brooklyn Jewels (also known as the ''Triangles'') were an American basketball team based in Brooklyn, New York that was a member of the Metropolitan Basketball League and the American Basketball League. After the 1933/34 season the team be ...
21–20.


Year-by-year


References

{{Reflist 1926 establishments in Ohio 1935 disestablishments in the United States American Basketball League (1925–1955) teams Basketball teams established in 1926 Basketball teams disestablished in 1935 Basketball teams in Toledo, Ohio