Indianapolis Jets

Template:Infobox basketball club

The Indianapolis Jets were a Basketball Association of America (BAA) team based in Indianapolis. They were founded as the Indianapolis Kautskys and used that name until the team joined the BAA. They played for one year in the BAA and then ceased operations due to the formation of the Indianapolis Olympians.

Franchise historyEdit

In 1931, Frank Kautsky, an Indianapolis grocer, formed a professional basketball team and named it the Indianapolis Kautskys. Their first game they ever played was on November 24, 1931, which they won 37–18 against the Kokomo 66ers in Kokomo, Indiana. Their first home game would be on December 11, where they'd win 31–17 over the Fort Wayne Firemen.<ref>Indianapolis Kautskys/Indianapolis Jets History</ref> After playing in the National Professional Basketball League (NPBL) in 1932–33<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Midwest Basketball Conference (MBC) in the 1935–36 and 1936–37) seasons,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Kautskys became one of the original members of the newly formed National Basketball League (NBL) in 1937.<ref name=Biesel>Template:Cite book</ref>

The franchise's best season was in 1946–47; led by Arnie Risen, they set the franchise mark for most wins (27) and won the World Professional Basketball Tournament.

With the Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, and Fort Wayne Pistons, the team moved to the Basketball Association of America (BAA) for the 1948–49 season. At that time the team's name was changed to the Indianapolis Jets because the BAA prevented its teams from having commercial sponsors, similar to how the Fort Wayne Pistons removed the Zollner sponsor from their original name.<ref name=Biesel /> With the team's inclusion into the BAA, they effectively replaced the already defunct BAA Indianapolis franchise that was originally planned for the league, but never played a single game there.<ref>https://www.apbr.org/baaminutes.html</ref>

Following the 1948–49 season, the Jets folded alongside the Providence Steamrollers on August 3, 1949. This coincided with the BAA and the NBL merging to form the National Basketball Association (NBA).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For the 1949–50 season, a new Indianapolis franchise, the Indianapolis Olympians, was created.<ref name=Biesel />

Season-by-season recordsEdit

Template:Start NBA SBS |- !colspan="6"|Indianapolis Kautskys (NPBL) |- |1932–33 ||7||4||0.636||Did not qualify|| |- !colspan="6"|Indianapolis Kautskys (MBC) |- |1935–36 ||9||3||0.750||Round Robin Tourney|| |- |1936–37 ||2||5||0.286||Did not qualify || |- !colspan="6"|Indianapolis Kautskys (NBL) |- |1937–38 ||4||9||0.308||Did not qualify || |- |1938–39 ||13||13||0.500||Did not qualify || |- |1939–40 ||9||19||0.321||Did not qualify|| |- |1941–42 ||12||11||0.522||0–2 || |- |1945–46 ||10||22||0.312||Did not qualify|| |- |1946–47 ||27||17||0.614||2–3|| |- |1947–48 ||24||35||0.407||1–3|| |- !colspan="6"|Indianapolis Jets (BAA) |- |1948–49 ||18||42||0.300||Did not qualify|| |- Template:S-end

PlayersEdit

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Basketball Hall of FamersEdit

Indianapolis Jets Hall of Famers
Players
No.	Name	Position	Tenure	Inducted
—	Arnie Risen	C	1945–1948	1998
—	John Wooden	G	1932–1937 1938–1939	1960
—	Charles "Stretch" Murphy	C	1932–1934	1960
—	Branch McCracken	C/F/G	—	1960

ReferencesEdit

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