The Philadelphia Sphas were an early, historical example of an American professional basketball team. The 1937–38 season was the fifth season played in the now-revived American Basketball League by the Sphas, although they did play in the original rendition of the ABL from 1926 to 1928 as the Philadelphia Warriors, which had no relation to the later BAA franchise of the same name that now exists in the present day as the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. As such, when including the past history of the original ABL with the revived version of the ABL in 1933 following historical problems that related to the Great Depression near the end of 1931, this would technically be the eleventh official season played by the original ABL properly, though this would officially be the 21st season of play for the Sphas franchise when including previous seasons where they played under names like the "Philadelphia YMHA"; the "Philadelphia Passon, Gottlieb, Black", the "Philadelphia Warriors"; and most recently, the "Philadelphia Hebrews".
Background The Sphas played in leagues around Philadelphia since 1917, but game-by-game records before the Sphas rejoined the ABL in 1933 are not (currently) available (at least, not to the general public if official game records did exist for the Sphas) and are therefore likely lost to time itself.
When trying to become three-time repeating champions of the ABL and four-time champions in five seasons for the revived league's existence, the Sphas would have a promising 6–0 start to the first half of the season before a three-game losing streak soon afterward led to the Sphas stumbling downward in positioning into an average fourth place with an above-average 12–10 record, being above the New York (Original) Celtics, the (original) Kingston Colonials, and the New York Yankees basketball team that would drop out of the ABL by the time the first half of the season concluded, but finishing behind the Brooklyn Visitations, the New Haven turned New York Jewels, and the first half champion Jersey Reds. The Sphas would have a second chance at competing for the league's championship once they entered the second half of the season; while the Sphas showcased promise once again with a 5–1 start toward that half of the season, they would ultimately stumble and fail to qualify for the championship series by finishing in third place with a barely above-average 11–9 record that placed them behind the Jersey Reds and second half champion New York Jewels this time around, which eventually led to the Reds being named the new ABL champions this time around. Because of the Sphas' placement in each half this season, this was the first time while in the revived league (and technically, the first time since the 1926–27 season in the original ABL) where Philadelphia failed to qualify for any sort championship opportunity within the ABL during the season. This was also the first season in the Sphas' history in the ABL where the Sphas played as the Philadelphia Sphas properly instead of either the original Philadelphia Warriors in the initial version of the ABL (or technically as the Philadelphia Quakers first before technically becoming the Warriors officially by the second half of their initial ABL season of play) or as the Philadelphia Hebrews that they sometimes went by in the revived version of the ABL before permanently using the Sphas name for the majority of the rest of their history going forward due to growing concerns of the rise of antisemitism within the U.S.A. before World War II was set to begin.
Roster Due to information on American Basketball League players being generally hard to find, there are bound to be more gaps and/or inaccuracies found in certain areas on the team's roster spots than usual.
ABL Standings +First HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %Jersey Reds166.727New Haven Jewels / New York Jewels128.600Brooklyn Visitations1310.565Philadelphia SPHAs1210.545New York (Original) Celtics1110.524Kingston Colonials515.250New York Yankees111.083 +Second HalfTeamWinsLossesWinning %New York Jewels145.737Jersey Reds137.650Philadelphia SPHAs119.550Kingston Colonials99.500New York (Original) Celtics711.389Brooklyn Visitations215.118
ABL Schedule +First Half#DateOpponentScoreRecord1AOctober 30New Haven Jewels51–301–02ANovember 6New York Yankees52–362–03ANovember 13New York (Original) Celtics64–463–04ANovember 14@ New York (Original) Celtics41–384–05ANovember 20Kingston Colonials47–375–06ANovember 27Jersey Reds35–316–07ANovember 28@ Brooklyn Visitations24–396–18ADecember 2@ Jersey Reds22–346–29ADecember 4Brooklyn Visitations33–346–310ADecember 5@ New York Jewels44–367–311ADecember 8@ Kingston Colonials31–367–412ADecember 11New York Jewels40–447–513ADecember 12@ New York (Original) Celtics27–397–614ADecember 22@ New York Yankees40–288–615ADecember 25New York Yankees46–409–616ADecember 26@ Brooklyn Visitations29–2510–617AJanuary 1Jersey Reds46–5510–718AJanuary 2@ Jersey Reds27–3610–819AJanuary 5@ Kingston Colonials29–3610–920AJanuary 8Kingston Colonials42–2011–921AJanuary 9@ New York Jewels33–4711–1022AJanuary 15Brooklyn Visitations46–4212–10 +Second Half#DateOpponentScoreRecord1BJanuary 22New York Jewels33–420–12BJanuary 23@ Brooklyn Visitations49–461–13BJanuary 27Jersey Reds65–472–14BJanuary 30New York Jewels42–343–15BFebruary 2@ Kingston Colonials46–264–16BFebruary 5New York (Original) Celtics42–355–17BFebruary 6@ Jersey Reds27–485–28BFebruary 12Kingston Colonials45–306–29BFebruary 17@ New York Jewels31–336–310BFebruary 19Brooklyn Visitations48–397–311BFebruary 20@ New York (Original) Celtics25–347–412BMarch 5Jersey Reds33–387–513BMarch 6@ Brooklyn Visitations48–248–514BMarch 9@ Kingston Colonials29–418–615BMarch 12New York (Original) Celtics33–269–616BMarch 19@ New York Jewels30–559–717BMarch 20New York (Original) Celtics34–379–818BMarch 26@ Brooklyn Visitations53–3710–819BMarch 27@ Jersey Reds34–4410–920BApril 2Kingston Colonials45–3711–9
Notes Before the season began, the Brooklyn Jewels moved from Brooklyn, New York to New Haven, Connecticut to become the New Haven Jewels to start out the season. However, on November 30, 1937, the team moved back from New Haven to Brooklyn to once again return to their original New York Jewels name for the rest of the season. The New York Yankees basketball team would drop out of the ABL on January 11, 1938 during the first half of the season.
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