Pro Basketball History Revisited

35 EARLY BASKETBALL NICKNAMES LIKELY NEVER TO RETURN

While we may conceivably see another "Sparky" or "Lefty" or "Moose" we're probably a lot less likely to see some other like the ones given to Irving Rose and Francis Crossin (just trust me on this one).

While working on my basketball necrology recently, I ran across a few which I don't expect to see again (although I suppose basketball could make a big comeback in the Netherlands or Sweden).  It's just a testament to the originality that was used in coming up with a nickname back in the day, when a players initials or a shortened version of his name wasn't the standard.

Charles J. “Bulbs” Alberding
Roland L. “Jiggs” O’Dell Jr.
Henry G. “Dutch” Dehnert Jr.
Raymond B. “Snooks” Dowd
John E. “Shirt” Horan
William W. “Toots” Kronick
Robert “Longie” Powell
Max T. “Trixie” Messinger
Louis “Inky” Lautman
Stanley “Curley” Christian
Frederick K. “Fritz” Nagy
John L. "Squint" Phares
Harry M. "Swede" Roos
Walter C. “Tillie” Voss
James S. “Buttsey” Collins
Harry G. “Yummy” Armpriester
Michael J. “Shamus” O’Brien
Harry “Jammy” Moskowitz
John “Quack” Harvey
Albert “Runt” Pullins
Joel “Shikey” Gotthoffer
Wallace B. “Slats” Borrevik
Lucian C. “Skippy” Whitaker
Everett “Ziggy” Marcell
Frank “Peanuts” Gorczynski
Joseph C. "Scoop" Posewitz
Robert L. “Bubbles” Hawkins
Lauren H. “Laddie” Gale
Carl H. “Buttercup” Anderson
Wendell C. “Wink” Bowman
Irving G. “Porky” Rosenthal
Luther D. “Ticky” Burden
William C. “Blackie” Towery (uh, no.)
Stanley L. “Whitey” Von Nieda (also not likely.)
James L. “Pappy” Ricks

I still haven't decided whether "Yummy" or "Quack" is my favorite.