Basketball
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Amateur Basketball Champions
Brigade Basketball League
1902-03 Battery A 1903-04 Battery A Armory Basketball League 1908-09 Troop B 1909-10 Battery A 1910-11 Troop B 1911-12 Third Company 1912-13 Battery A 1913-14 Battery A 1914-15 Battery A 1916-22 N/A 1922-23 Troop A 1923-24 Troop A 1924-25 Troop B State Amateur Basketball Tournament
1925 Naval Station 1926 Galahads 1927 Naval Training Station 1928 Hibernians 1929 Boxwoods 1930 Boxwoods 1931 East Providence Townies 1932 Hibernians 1933 Ogden Farm 1934 Pawtucket High School Alumni Professional Basketball
Providence Steam Rollers
1946–47 BAA Eastern 4th 28-32 (.467) 1947–48 BAA Eastern 4th 6-42 (.125) 1948–49 BAA Eastern 6th 12-48 (.200) Regular season record 46-122 (.274) 1946–1949 Playoff record 0 0 .000 College Basketball
Brown University (1900-01)
*1912-18 No team University of RI (1903-04) Providence College (1926-27) *1943-44 No Team (WWII) |
At Infantry Hall in Providence basketball games were played before the popular Roller Polo contests spurning interest from the public. It would become a mainstay at local YMCAs, church leagues and Boy's Clubs. The Girls Inter-School Athletic League was formed in 1922 featuring games between different schools and classes in Providence. The 1903 Brigade Basketball League and the long running Armory Basketball League followed. Most high schools teams played an informal schedule prior to some teams in the Brown University Basketball League in 1905-06 and the Narragansett Basketball League in 1906-11. Informal interclass play continued for many years before schools finally joined the R.I. Interscholastic League in 1925. Woonsocket High won the first interscholastic league championship but lost to Rogers High for the state championship. In the early years state titles could be challenged by other school teams (like Rogers) not part of the Interscholastic League. High school girls competed in interclass competition before the Southern Rhode Island Girls League and Kent County Girls Leagues formed. Providence Friars basketball can be traced back to 1921, when the four-year-old school fielded its first basketball team on an informal basis. This first team only lasted two years, however, and did not return until the 1926–27 season. Brown boasts one of the oldest collegiate basketball programs in the country, thrilling fans on College Hill since 1900. The home of the Bears for much of that period was Marvel Gym which opened in 1927. The long running state amateur basketball tournament was organized in 1925 sponsored by the Disabled Veterans of the World War. The Naval Training Station team defeated the U.S. Marines 22-19 at La Salle Academy gym to win the first state championship. The Woodbines basketball machine of Pawtucket in the 1920s won several championships in the semi-pro division. Professional basketball came to Rhode Island in the name of the Providence Steam Rollers. The Steamrollers were one of the original eleven NBA franchises (when the league was called the Basketball Association of America). Ernie Calverley (Pawtucket High School and URI) was selected to the ALL-BAA Second Team in his rookie season and led in assists per game in the league's first and second years while playing for his home state team.
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