[The idea for this post was simple: Find a magazine article about Bobby McDermott, basketball’s greatest long-range sharpshooter of the 1940s. Simple, however, turned out to be more difficult than at first thought. After much rummaging and page turning, the first McDermott article to appear is this admittedly sparse synopsis of the annual College All-Star Classic. Held on November 29, 1946, the classic pitted college basketball’s finest against the pro National Basketball League’s Zollner Pistons, featuring Bobby McDermott.
Sparse though this brief article may be, just imagine 23,778 sports fanatics packing Chicago Stadium for “basketball’s biggest show.” This annual game was considered about as good and star-studded as American basketball got during this war-torn decade. Here are the details, published in the February 1947 issue of the short-lived Basketball Magazine. On the call is Steve Bereolos.]
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“Basketball’s biggest show” is what they call the annual College All-Star Classic held each year at huge Chicago Stadium—and the 1946 edition lived up to its predecessors in thrills, color, and drama. With such outstanding stars as big George Mikan, Leo Klier, and Fred Lewis leading the way, the All-Stars made it five out of seven in the series by handing the famed Zollner Pistons of Fort Wayne, Indiana a neat trimming, 57-54, in an overtime before a record-breaking crowd of 23,778.
Klier, Lewis, and Mikan provided most of the points for the victors with 40 between them—All-American Klier of Notre Dame and Lewis of Eastern Kentucky Teachers’ College each tallied 12 points, while the great Mikan of DePaul had 16 before leaving the game in the closing moments on fouls.
Bob McDermott, one of the great names of the cage game, paced the losers with seven goals and eight free throws for a new record of 22 points. He, too, was forced to leave the game on fouls late in the fourth period.
It was a hard-fought contest with plenty of fast action. A total of 49 fouls were called by the two officials, Pat Kennedy of New York and Frank Kriznecky of Chicago.
McDermott opened the scoring by making a free-throw, and the All-Stars tied it up on a foul shot by Fred Lewis. George Mikan hit from near the foul line, and John Pelkington faked his man out of position near the circle to score for the Pistons. This made it 3-3. Pelkington and Chick Reiser hit foul shots, and McDermott connected the first of his long shots to make it 7-3 in favor of Fort Wayne. Bobby then sank another long one, and Mikan and Lewis hit for the All-Stars to make it 9-7 at the quarter in favor of the Pros.
Chick Reiser, flashy Piston forward, opened the second-quarter scoring by hitting under the basket. Rolland Seltz of the College boys and Carlyle Towery of the Pros made free throws. Billy Hassett, another Notre Dame star, connected from the side, and Klier sank a free throw to bring the score to 12-11 in favor of Fort Wayne.
McDermott hit from the side. Mikan and Seltz each registered at the free-throw line to make it 14-13, Fort Wayne. Another long shot by McDermott, followed with Lewis sneaking around the great Fort Wayne ace to hit for the Collegians. Lewis then fouled the player-coach of the Zollners, who hit.
Klier on a beautiful out-of-bounds play tied the score at 17 all. Bob Tough put one through the hoop for the pro champs. Lewis and Mikan tied the score again on free throws.
The All-Stars took a four-point lead on two more foul shots by Mikan and an under-the-basket bucket by Klier. The Zollners cut this to one point with Reiser hitting a basket, and Pelkington adding a charity throw. Mikan put one in near the circle, and McDermott swished another long one from the side to make it, 25-24, All-Stars. In the final minute of play of the period, Pelkington tipped one in, and Tony Jaros connected near the circle. The score stood at 27-26 in favor of the All-Stars at intermission.
The third quarter scoring opened when Klier and Charley Shipp registered free throws. McDermott hit two free throws to cut the All-Stars’ margin to one point. Lewis then dropped one in from way out. Reiser put the Fort Wayners out in the lead by hitting two in succession. McDermott made one at the charity line, as did Fritz Nagy of the Stars.
On an under-the-basket shot by lanky Mikan, the All-Stars again took the lead. This was short-lived, however, when Pelkington followed with a basket, and McDermott registered at the foul line. Mikan, on a short shot, tied it at 36-36.
The All-Stars scored on a one-hander by Nagy, and McDermott added two more with another one of his famous long shots. Lewis swished a long one, and McDermott scored a foul shot to make it 40-39, All-Stars, as the third quarter came to a close.
Chick Reiser opened the final stanza by hitting from the side, and Mikan tied the score on a free throw. Each side then hit a charity shot. Towery for Fort Wayne and Mikan for the Stars. Towery tipped one in, and the All-Stars tied at the free-throw line, made by Klier and Hassett.
Tom Close dropped a one-hander in to put the Collegians ahead again. McDermott connected under the basket and a minute later left the game on fouls when he tripped Mikan.
Fort Wayne took the lead on two quick buckets by Charley Shipp. On a pretty out-of-bounds play, which went from Mikan to Klier, the Stars scored. When Lewis hit a long one, the Lonborg men [as in Coach Lonborg] took a one-point lead with seconds to go. On Mikan’s fifth foul, Curly Armstrong tied the score at 52 all. Regulation play ended shortly afterwards.
In the extra period, the All-Stars outscored the pros, 5-2, to win the game. Don Otten, the seven-footer from Bowling Green, Ohio, opened the scoring with a pivot shot, but Armstrong tied it up seconds later with a beautiful shot from the side. There it stood until less than two minutes remained to be played. Fred Lewis hit from way out to clinch the game, and Klier completed the scoring for the night on a foul by Bob Tough.
From Way Downtown 