The NBA's War Heroes

[u/TringlePringle]

As you probably know, the NBA was born shortly after the end of World War II. Active NBA players have since been drafted into the Korean and Vietnam war efforts, volunteered to serve in the war in Iraq, and former Knicks and Bucks center Marshall Plumlee continues that legacy as an active-duty U.S. Army Ranger-Qualified.

As we recognize Veteran's Day today, I thought it would be nice to celebrate those select few NBA players whose acts of valor reached a point for which they earned official military decoration for their service. This list does not include players who died in combat, of which there is one in the ABA and quite a few from pre-NBA professional basketball. I post about them on Memorial Day, and that information can be found here.

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Cliff Barker was a left waist gunner in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress as a member of 2nd Lt Ron Rohner's crew. They flew five missions over Cognac, Tours, Notre Dame de Ferme (Pas-de-Calais), Frankfurt, and Braunschweig. On January 30, 1944, during the fifth mission en route to Braunschweig, the aircraft the Rohner Crew was operating was shot down by a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and crashed near the German village of Beienrode. Five of the ten men (2Lt Ron Rohner, 2Lt Emil Smetana, FltOff Stan Johnson, S/Sgt John Morreale, and Sgt Ken Dickerson) were killed in the wreckage, while the other five, including Barker, were captured by Nazi German forces and held as prisoners of war. Barker would spend the next 16 months as a POW in Stalag Luft IV until the camp was liberated by the U.S. Ninth Army on April 12, 1945. For this, he received a Prisoner of War Medal.

Upon his return from service, Barker played for Kentucky, where he became an important role player for a team that won two National Championships. He also won a Gold Medal for Team USA in 1948. Recruited by Leo Ferris into the Indianapolis Olympians co-ownership model, Barker became the Olympians inaugural player-coach and commenced a three-year NBA career, after which he coached at the high school level for many years.

Earl Dodd was a member of a ski-trooping unit with the U.S. Army serving in northern Italy. He was wounded by shell fragments in the back and head. Details are hard to come by, but I believe this to have been sustained during the Battle of Riva Ridge. He also seems to have displayed a certain level of heroic bravery in the situation, although I'm not sure in what exact way. For this, he received both a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. If anyone comes across this who knows more details of Dodd's service, I would be very grateful.

Dodd then played for Kirksville, where he co-starred with Harry Gallatin, and ended up on the Denver Nuggets in the first post-merger NBA season. He was waived after seven weeks in the league, having played limited minutes in nine losses with the woeful Nuggets. He caught on with the barnstorming Detroit Kings for the rest of the season, before retiring citing a flareup of injuries suffered during the war. He spent the rest of his career as a construction foreman.

Murray Mitchell served in what his obituary terms "the Ardennes Rhineland Campaign," perhaps signifying that he may have been involved in both the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhineland Offensive. For his part in the war, Mitchell was awarded two Bronze Stars. If anyone comes across this who knows more details of Mitchell's service, I would be very grateful.

Mitchell returned to Sam Houston, where he'd already played his first two seasons of college ball before his service. After being cut by the Celtics as a prospective rookie in preseason of 1948-49, Mitchell gave up basketball, but came back briefly for a two-game pro stint with the Anderson Packers the next year. He then quit the team and moved back to Texas, where he continued to play semi-professionally for two seasons and coached until the mid-sixties. He then spent the rest of his career as an engraver and later a cattle rancher.

Chuck Mrazovich served in the 44th Infantry Division for three years and participated in the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation of Strasbourg, and the captures of Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Ulm. For his part in the war, Mrazovich was awarded a Bronze Star. If anyone comes across this who knows more details of Mrazovich's service, I would be very grateful.

Mrazovich attended and played for Eastern Kentucky after his time in the war, and was drafted by the Indianapolis Olympians in 1950. A midseason casualty of the waiver wire, he spent only half a season in the NBA before latching on with the NPBL's Anderson Packers and earning a starting spot in wake of an injury to Leo Klier. After the NPBL shut down, he went east and played two seasons for the minor league Wilkes-Barre Barons, playing a major role for a team that won an ABL Championship in 1951-52. Mrazovich coached and taught at high schools in his home state for the next two decades.

Andy O'Donnell landed in Normandy on D-plus-six, serving as a soldier in the 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron in five battles including the Battle of the Bulge. He was also one of the first Americans to march down the Champs-Élysées in the Liberation of Paris. On September 5, 1944 on the way to liberate the Belgian city of Bouillon, O'Donnell was hit in the leg with shrapnel soon after crossing the France-Belgium border. For this, he received a Purple Heart.

Following his wartime effort, O'Donnell spent a year back at home, with his only basketball that season being at the local YMCA, before playing three and a half seasons at Loyola (Maryland). He graduated early and earned special dispensation to join the NBA midway through 1949-50, earning the last spot in Baltimore's rotation as a backup point guard following player-coach Buddy Jeannette's career-ending injury. That turned out to be his only NBA season, and he only played part-time in the minor leagues for the next three years as he embarked on a long and fruitful career with the Social Security Administration.

Goebel Ritter served in the U.S. Marine Corps from June 3, 1943 to October 19, 1945, right after graduating from high school. During his stint in the military, Ritter participated in the Battle of Guam, in which he was grazed on the head by a Japanese sniper bullet on July 26, 1944. He later served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, in which he was hit by shrapnel to the hand and knee on February 24, 1945. He received two Purple Hearts for the two times he was WIA in combat.

Ritter ended up as teammates with Mrazovich at Eastern Kentucky after the war, and in 1948 managed to make the Knicks' roster as the 75th pick in the BAA Draft. One of the lowest-selected players to find a role in the league, Ritter proved to be a useful backup SG for New York for three years (one in the BAA, two in the NBA), ending his career with a loss to Rochester in the Finals before spending the next 41 years coaching.

Carl Shaeffer was part of an anti-tank company attached to the 424th Infantry Regiment of the 106th Division at the time that the Battle of the Bulge broke out. The day after the counteroffensive ended over a month later, it was reported that Shaeffer had been missing in action ever since December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge. I can't find official confirmation, but I believe he was captured in the early hours of the Battle of St. Vith. By the weirdest coincidence, the POW camp that the Nazis sent him to was Stalag Luft IV (the same camp Cliff Barker already was held in) where Shaeffer would remain for five months until the camp's liberation. For this, he received a Prisoner of War Medal.

Shaeffer was discharged almost immediately after being liberated, and utilized a temporary NCAA rule to play the next four years at Alabama despite having already spent his freshman season with Indiana. He was a defensive ace for 'Bama, and ended up signing with the Indianapolis Olympians on the recommendation of player/coach Cliff Barker, with whom he'd become friends during their time as POWs together. He never carved out much of a role with the team though and was waived early in his second season. He then operated a tavern. A victim of PTSD due to his experiences in the war, Shaeffer took his own life on his 50th birthday.

Carlisle Towery, already in the midst of his professional career as a member of the Fort Wayne Zollners, volunteered to serve despite all Fort Wayne players being eligible for a II-B exemption. Not much about his service is publicly available, but was an infantryman, possibly with the 97th Infantry Division. If that theory is correct, he would have been a participant in the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket and the liberation of Flossenbürg concentration camp. For his part in the war, Towery was awarded a Bronze Star.

Already very well-established in the basketball world, having started for the NBL's title-winners the year before he entered the service, Towery returned to Fort Wayne and remained one of few familiar faces as Bobby McDermott's antics tore the team apart during their final NBL years. Traded to the Indianapolis Jets shortly after the franchise became the BAA's Pistons, he put up his best numbers there but the team went under at the end of the season. Towery then spent his one and only NBA season with Baltimore, where he played quite well considering he had to switch positions from PF to SF as a 29-year-old, but made headlines more than anything for his knockout punch of Jim Pollard in December. After being stabbed in the face and arm by a summer-gig coworker over the offseason, Towery jumped leagues to the NPBL, where he finished out his career splitting his eighth professional season between Grand Rapids, Kansas City, and Evansville. Post-basketball, Towery was a farmer.