Oshkosh All-Stars

Founded in 1929 by Lonnie Darling,[1] the team was a member of the National Basketball League, a forerunner to the NBA, from 1937 until 1949.

Although Darling had never played a game of basketball in his life, he agreed to set up a team, and recruited 30 talented local players to try out.

[2] The all-white Oshkosh All-Stars played the all-black New York Renaissance Big Five (Rens) for the first time in February 1936 in a two-game series.

[4] The All-Stars also won the 1942 World Professional Basketball Tournament, defeating the Detroit Eagles in the final .

[5] By the late 1940s, after a few unsuccessful seasons, the All-Stars were still a winning team, and Oshkosh was widely known as a "basketball city".

Darling proposed a move to Green Bay or Milwaukee, but was told that he had not met the deadline to enter the league.