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The Denver Nuggets were a professional basketball
team
based in Denver, Colorado
, The United States of America. The Nuggets joined the National Basketball League
(NBL) for the 1948-49 season, and then joined the National Basketball Association
when the NBL and Basketball Association of America
merged to create the NBA for the 1949-50 season. The Nuggets were the first major professional sports franchise in Colorado
, and the first NBA franchise west of the Mississippi
.
Team Record
|-|colspan="6" | Denver Nuggets
|-
|1948-49 || 18 || 44 || .290 || ||
|-
|1949-50 || 11 || 51 || .177 || ||
|-
Nuggets NBA Roster
1949-50 Denver Nuggets| Denver Nuggets NBA Team Roster |
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| Head Coach: Jimmy Darden Jimmy Darden Jimmy Darden was an American professional basketball player and coach.A 6'1" guard from the University of Denver, Darden played 26 games for the original Denver Nuggets of the NBA during the 1949-50 season. He averaged 8.1 points per game... |
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| F | 6'6 |  |
Ed Bartels Edward Bartels Edward John "Ed" Bartels was an American basketball player.He played collegiately for the North Carolina State University.... |
(North Carolina State University North Carolina State University North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution... ) |
|
| F | 6'4 | |
Bob Brown | (University of Miami University of Miami The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12... ) |
|
| C | 6'10 | |
Jim Browne Jim Browne James "Jim" Browne, also known as "Stretch" is a retired American basketball player.He played for the Chicago Stags and Denver Nuggets in the BAA and NBA for 35 games.-External links:... |
(Tilden High School, Chicago, Illinois) | |
| F | 6'4 | |
Jake Carter Jake Carter John D. "Jake" Carter is a retired American basketball player.He played collegiately for East Texas State University.He was selected by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1948 BAA Draft.... |
(Texas A&M University-Commerce) | |
| F | 6'7 | |
Jack Cotton | (University of Wyoming University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university... ) |
|
| F | 6'4 | |
Dillard Crocker | (Western Michigan University Western Michigan University Western Michigan University is a public university located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1903 by Dwight B. Waldo, and as of the Fall 2010 semester, its enrollment is 25,045.... ) |
|
| G | 6'1 | |
Jimmy Darden Jimmy Darden Jimmy Darden was an American professional basketball player and coach.A 6'1" guard from the University of Denver, Darden played 26 games for the original Denver Nuggets of the NBA during the 1949-50 season. He averaged 8.1 points per game... |
(University of Denver University of Denver The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings.... ) |
|
| F | 6'5 | |
Earl Dodd | (Truman State University Truman State University Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri, United States and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. About 6,000 students attend Truman, pursuing degrees in 43 undergraduate and 9 Graduate programs. It is located in Kirksville in... ) |
|
| F | 6'5 | |
Al Guokas | (St. Joseph's University) | |
| G | 6'3 | |
Bill Herman | (Mt. Union College) | |
| G | 6'3 | |
Duane Klueh Duane Klueh Duane M. Klueh is a retired American basketball player and coach. He currently lives in Terre Haute, Indiana and was the head men's basketball coach at Indiana State University for 12 seasons... |
(Indiana State University Indiana State University Indiana State University is a public university located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States.The Princeton Review has named Indiana State as one of the "Best in the Midwest" seven years running, and the College of Education's Graduate Program was recently named as a 'Top 100' by U.S... ) |
|
| G | 5'10 | |
Bob Royer | (Indiana State University Indiana State University Indiana State University is a public university located in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States.The Princeton Review has named Indiana State as one of the "Best in the Midwest" seven years running, and the College of Education's Graduate Program was recently named as a 'Top 100' by U.S... ) |
|
| G | 5'10 | |
Kenny Sailors | (University of Wyoming University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university... ) |
|
| C | 6'6 | |
Jack Toomay | (University of the Pacific) | |
| F | 6'4 | |
Floyd Volker Floyd Volker Floyd W. Volker was an American basketball player. He played professionally in the National Basketball League , the National Professional Basketball League , and in the National Basketball Association in the early days of professional basketball.Volker, a 6'4 forward from Casper High School in... |
(University of Wyoming University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university... ) |
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Nuggets History
The Denver Nuggets trace their roots back to 1938 when the original amateur Nuggets were formed as a member of the Amateur Athletic Union
. Led by player/coach "Jumping Jack" McCracken, the Nuggets were one of the most powerful amateur athletic basketball teams in the country, winning the 1939 AAU championship and losing the 1940 championship to the Phillips 66ers of Oklahoma
. Not playing professionally, its players were given extra jobs by team sponsors, and they played on the stage of the Auditorium Arena
(now Ellie Caulkins Opera House
). Featuring stars such as McCracken, Robert Ace Gruenig and Vince Boryla
, the Nuggets continued as an AAU power throughout their existence, and the AAU has been credited by historians for helping put Denver on the national sports map. In 1948, the National Basketball League
awarded Denver its first professional basketball franchise, which took on the people an identity of the Denver Nuggets. This 1948-49 team included Morris Udall, best known for serving in the US House of Representatives from 1961-91.
When the NBL merged with the BAA (Basketball Association of America) in 1949 and became the National Basketball Association
, the Nuggets became an NBA team. The westernmost team in the NBA, the Nuggets were led by player/coach Jimmy Darden, a star shooting guard who joined the amateur Nuggets after leaving the Army as a World War II
veteran in 1946. The Nuggets played one season in the NBA, compiling an 11-51 record in the Western Division. The team was disbanded in 1950, leaving Colorado without any major league sports teams until the birth of the AFL's Denver Broncos
in 1960.
Connections With Current Denver Nuggets
When Denver's second major pro basketball franchise, the Denver Rockets, endeavored to join the NBA, a contest was held in 1974 to give the team a new nickname since the NBA already had the Houston Rockets
. The name of Denver's original NBA franchise won, and has been the name of the team ever since. In 1985 one-time amateur Nuggets star Vince Boryla
joined the franchise as its president and general manager, and was awarded NBA Executive of the Year that same year. He was President and GM of the Nuggets from 1985-1988. The current Denver Nuggets also started out in the same venue as the original Nuggets, the Auditorium Arena
(by then modified to hold a pure basketball court, capacity 6,841), playing there from 1967-1975.