The National Industrial Basketball League was founded in 1947 to enable U.S. mill workers a chance to compete in basketball. The league was founded by the industrial teams (teams sponsored by the large companies and made up of their employees) belonging to the National Basketball League (NBL) that did not join the National Basketball Association when the NBL merged with the Basketball Association of America. The league’s first year, 1947–48, featured five teams in an eight-game schedule—the Milwaukee Harnischfegers (which won the round robin schedule with an 8-0 record), Peoria Cats, Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, and Fort Wayne General Electrics. The following season, with a 16-game schedule, the new lineup was league champion Bartlesville Phillips 66ers (15-1 record), Denver Chevies, Peoria Cats, Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, and Milwaukee Allen-Bradleys.
In the 1949-50 season, with the addition of the Dayton Industrialists making the league a six-team circuit, the Phillips 66ers repeated as champions. The league expanded again in the 1950-51 season to eight teams, adding the Oakland Blue 'n Gold Atlas and San Francisco Stewart Chevrolets. The Dayton team became the Dayton Air Gems, and the Phillips 66ers repeated for their third consecutive title.
This lot features a 1950’s Wichita Vickers fleece warm-up jacket and pants. Vickers Petroleum was an oil company founded by John A. (Jack) Vickers, Sr. In 1918. Vickers established a refinery in Potwin, Kansas. By the 1950s, Vickers had 300 employees, controlled a chain of 300 service stations in an area from Iowa to Colorado, and fielded the Wichita Vickers, an Amateur Athletic Union basketball team playing in the National Industrial Basketball League. The team was successful, winning a share of the 1957-58 league championship. Vickers discontinued its team sponsorship in 1960 due to competition with the NBA for players.
The red micro-fiber, plush fleece is in remarkably good condition given its age. The button-down warmup jacket’s front left breast area is sporting an embroidered “AAU Champion” patch, while the back boasts an oversized “Vickers” team logo patch. On the inside right tail can be found the proper manufacturers’ tags from both “Wichita Sporting Goods” and “Rawlings” [size 42]. A small hole exists in the right shoulder area. The accompanying size 36 red micro-fiber, plush fleece breakaway pants are in good shape as well and include the same proper tags on the inside rear waistband.