The NBL champion usually won this tournament, with three exceptions: the New York Rens won the first WPBT in 1939,[2] while the Harlem Globetrotters—a strongly competitive squad in those days—won the following year.
[3] In 1943, the Washington Bears (with many New York Rens players on their roster) won the tournament.
The NBL's Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons won the most titles (three, from 1944 to 1946), while the NBL's Oshkosh All-Stars made the most finals appearances with five, winning only once (in 1942).
[1][4] The following year, The Indianapolis News attempted to hold a similar tournament,[5] inviting the Wilkes-Barre Barons from the American Basketball League, three teams each from the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League, and one team that would remain unidentified until shortly before the seeded draw.
[6][7] Although the National Basketball League agreed to attend, the tournament did not come to fruition after the BAA declined the invitation.