Dayton Dive Bombers

From Hoopedia

In 1943, officers at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, in Dayton, Ohio were asked to provide an emergency eighth team for the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago. In just one week, they assembled the Dayton Dive Bombers basketball team.

Led by center Hal Tidrick, the Bombers faced the Chicago Ramblers in first round; they won, 46-41. In the second round the Bombers faced the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters. In a big upsets in sports history, the Dayton Dive Bombers beat the previous World Champions in their second game ever played! The championship run for the Bombers ended in the semi-finals when they lost, 38-30, to the Washington Bears (made up of players from the famous New York Rens), the eventual tourney champs. The Bombers lost to the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, 58-52, in the consolation game.