WHWaterloo Hawks

Franchise history

The Waterloo Hawks were formed in 1948 when National Basketball League owners narrowly approved, 5-2, moving the Hammond Calumet Buccaneers to Waterloo, Iowa, with much of the roster carrying over from Hammond's final NBL season. Waterloo then entered the newly merged NBA for 1949-50 and finished 19-43, fifth in the six-team Western Division, playing under two head coaches, Charley Shipp and Jack Smiley. Like the NBA's other small former-NBL markets that year, Waterloo could not match the bigger BAA-descended franchises at the gate, and the league contracted sharply after the season, from 17 teams down to 11. Waterloo did not survive the cut, moving instead to the minor National Professional Basketball League as a charter West Division team for 1950-51. There is no continuing NBA lineage.

Sources

• Waterloo Hawks — Wikipedia
• 1949-50 Waterloo Hawks season — Wikipedia
• 1949-50 Waterloo Hawks — Basketball-Reference