Milo Komenich, was a star athlete at Lew Wallace High School in Gary, Indiana. In a basketball crazy state, he stood out for his 6’7″ size and his unstoppable left-handed hook shot.  He attended college at the  University of Wyoming. Alongside All-American guard Ken Sailors, Komenich led the Cowboys to the 1943 NCAA championship. Komenich was also named an All American in 1943 and 1946. Komenich started his professional basketball career with the Fort Wayne Pistons in the National Basketball League, but couldn’t dislodge veteran center Jake Pelkington as a starter and was traded to the Anderson Packers midway through his second pro season. On his new team, he emerged as one of the better frontcourt players in the NBL.  In 1949, Komenich was a key factor in Anderson capturing the NBL championship.

Horance “Pip” Koehler was a baseball and basketball star at Penn State University. In 1923, Koehler signed with the Second-Story Morrys, a powerful independent basketball team in Pittsburgh. It was the first stop on professional basketball career that would span 14 seasons.  For a dozen years (1925 -1937) , Koehler was a year around professional athlete,  splitting his time between basketball and baseball. In his very first season of professional baseball, he made it to the majors, playing 12 games for the New York Giants, but  the  remaining 17 years of his career were all spent in the minors. In the late twenties and early thirties he played year around in Toledo, Ohio. In five seasons in the American Association he batted .299 for the Toledo Mud Hens. During the  same period, he was the player-coach of the Toledo Red Men,  a regional pro basketball  powerhouse. In the 1929-30 season, the Red Men won the  National Professional Basketball League  championship.