Phillips 66ers
From Hoopedia
The Phillips 66ers were a perennial amateur basketball power in the United States in the middle of the 20th century. Located in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and sponsored by the Phillips 66 Oil Corporation, the team played in the National Industrial Basketball League, the American Basketball League (not to be confused with the Eastern pro league of the same name) and in AAU tournaments. Sometimes referred to as the Phillips 66 Oilers, or Phillips Oilers.
Early Years
The first Phillips 66ers team was formed for the 1920-21 season, and made its first appearance in the AAU national tournament in 1922. It lost in the first round. A player on these teams was Kenneth S. "Boots" Adams, who would later become president of the company (1938-51) and would become the driving force in the company's support for the team. Phillips did not send another team to the national tournament until 1929. That year the company hired Louis G. Wilke as coach, and the team compiled a 47-5 record. The team, however, lost in the second round at the national tournament in Kansas City.
In the next two seasons, Phillips 66 aggressively recruited players to become more competitive--raising considerable controversy--but after the 1930-31 season disbanded the team because of the Depression. The company did not field a team until the 1936-37 season, when they went all the way to the AAU title game, losing to the Denver Safeway Stores, 45-38. The following year the 66ers took third place, beating the Wichita Gridleys, 45-32. In 1939, the 66ers again went to the title game, losing to the Denver team again, now called the Denver Nuggets, 25-22.
The 66ers won their first national AAU title in 1940. Under Coach Chuck Hyatt the team swept through the tournament, beating Twentieth Century Fox, 40-32, in the quarterfinals; S. L. Savidge, 50-36, in the semifinals; and the Denver Nuggets, 39-36, in the finals. Three 66ers were named tournament All Americans (all stars)--Don Lockard, Joe Fortenberry, and Grady Lewis.
The 1940s Dynasty
The Phillips 66ers achieved immortality when they established a dynasty, winning six straight titles from 1943 to 1948. After losing the 1941 tournament, Boots Adams did some major recruiting, bringing in the legendary Hank Luisetti, six-foot-eight John Freiberger, and future great Jimmy "Scat" McNatt. Luisetti suffered a severe knee injury that limited his effectiveness in the 1942 tournament, and Phillips lost the 1942 title game to Denver American Legion.
In 1943, because of wartime travel constructions, Phillips played only thirteen games before the national tournament. Three Notable additions TO the Phillips team was Denver veteran player Jack McCracken as player-coach, University of Arkansas star Gordon "Shorty" Carpenter, and former Cheyenne star Willie Rothman. Also brought into the team were two former Phillips veterans, Fred Pralle and Omar "Bud" Browning. Despite all this beefed up talent, Phillips path to the 1943 championship was not all that easy. In the quarterfinals they barely squeaked by the Eckers of Salt Lake City, 34-33, and in the semifinal got by the University of Denver, 40-36. The title game came easy, however, as the Phillips 66ers prevalied over the their old Denver rival, now called Denver American Legion, 57-40. McNatt and Carpenter were selected for the tournament All American team.
In 1944, Bud Browning led Phillips as the new player-coach, replacing Jack McCracken who returned to Denver. Phillips beat Fircrest Dairy in the quarterfinals and Army All-Stars in the semifinals, before the title game, overcoming Denver 50-43 by holding Robert Gruening to 11 points. Three Phillips players were selected as All Americans--Carpenter, McNatt, and Pralle.
Before the 1945 tournament, Phillips lost Fred Pralle in a career-ending knee injury, but gained strength with the addition of Paul Lindemann, a six-foot-ten center from Washington State. In the tournament, Phillips got by Twentieth Century Fox and the great Frank Lubin in the semifinal, before edging by the score of 47-46 in the championship game, their perennial Denver rival, now called Denver Ambrose Jellymakers (which had squandered a 14-point lead in the second half). Phillips had won its third consecutive title. Lindemann, and the ever-consistent Carpenter and McNatt were named All-Americans.
The 1946 season introduced a new wrinkle to AAU basketball, with the formation of an AAU regular season 10-team league, called the American Basketball League (ABL), and which the AAU stressed was a non-profit enterprise. The Phillips 66ers won the regular season ABL championship with an 11-4 record as well as the postseason tournament. In the AAU national tournament, which attracted 64 teams, the Phillips beat the San Diego Dons, 45-34, in the title game. Four Phillips players were named All Americans--Marty Nash, Bill Martin, Carpenter, and McNatt.
For the 1946-47 season the rich got richer, when Phillips recruited future Hall of Fame player, six-foot-ten Bob Kurland, out of Oklahoma A&M. Alongwith another newcomer, R. C. Pitts, Phillips had another formidable team for 1947. The team won the ABL regular season competing against 10 other teams, but was upset in the ABL tournament by the rebuilt Denver team, now called the Nuggets. But in the AAU national tournament, the story was the Phillips 66ers for the fifth consecutive time, when it beat the Oakland Bittners, 62-41. Again four Phillips players made All American--Nash, Carpenter, Kurland, and Jesse "Cab" Resnick. Sportswriters were now hailing the Phillips team as "basketball's New York Yankees."
In 1948, Coach Browning did not stand still and recruited two new players that strengthened the team, Gerald Tucker, a two-time All-American from the University of Oklahoma, and Lew Beck, the All-American from Oregon State. Phillips won its sixth dynastic title, beating the Denver Nuggets in the title game, 62-48. Kurland, Resnick, and R. C. Pitts were named All Americans. The dynasty was ended in 1949, when the Oakland Bittners upset Phillips in the title game, 55-51.
Subsequently the team won more AAU titles than any other team, adding to its previous seven titles with titles in 1950, 1955, 1962 and 1963, for a total of 11 titles.
1950s Teams
Gerald Tucker was the coach of Phillips 66ers for four seasons, 1954-1958. He led the 66ers to the most wins in the National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL) in each of those seasons. In 1955 the 66ers won the AAU National Basketball Championship against the Luckett-Nix Clippers (Boulder, Colorado), winning 66-64. In 1956 they were the runners-up to the Buchan Bakers (Seattle, Washington), losing 59-57.
