Alonzo “Lonnie” Darling

Founder of National Basketball League

Alonzo Lewis “Lonnie” Darling, an older brother of Bernard Darling, was reported to have spent a short time at Ripon College in the 1920s.

He was a businessman in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. To keep active during the off-season, he created a new professional basketball team, the Oshkosh All-Stars, in 1929.

In 1937, he founded the National Basketball League, a precursor to the current-day NBA, in which the All-Stars were included alongside former members of a regional professional league, for formally-structured league play.

During the team’s 12-year tenure in the NBL from 1937-49, Darling led the All-Stars to six Western Division championships, two league championships in 1941 and 1942 and a world championship at the 1942 World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago.

He was named NBL Coach of the Year in 1942 and 1947.

A dispute between rival leagues caused the National Basketball League to disband after the 1948–49 season.

Lonnie Darling died April 19, 1951, at the age of 48.