Bob Dille  was  a 4–time basketball letter winner at Chesterton High Shchool in Indiana. He also captained the team for  3 years, earned 4 baseball and 3 cross country letters. For the next half dozen years, he played amateur basketball on teams in Northern Indiana. In late February of 1941, Dille signed with the Hammond team in the National Basketball League and played in three late-season games. In the fall of 1941, Dille, married,with two small children and working full time, entered Valparaiso University as a freshman. While at the school he became the Indiana collegiate scoring champion,  a PIC magazine and Helms All- American in ’43, and a LOOK magazine All-American in ’43, ’44 and ’45. He was named to the Boston Garden all-star team ithe in 1944, and MVP of college all-star game. Dille played  professionally with the Detroit Falcons in the Basketball Association of America (an NBA forerunner) for one season and then coached high school basketball in Indiana for 31 years. In 1989, Dille was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

In the early 1890’s. George “Mother” Dietrich joined the  23 Third Street YMCA to participate in the gymnastics program, but his attention quickly turned instead to basketball, a new sport that had just been introduced to Y’s a few year earlier. The 23 Street YMCA team rapidly rose to prominence by winning the National AAU title in both 1896 and 1897. When the players decided to turn pro, they were quickly banned from the YMCA.  Unable to find a playing facility, they became known as the 23rd Street Wanderers.  For the next thirteen seasons, Dietrich along with teammate Bob Abadie were the backbone of the defense of the Wanderers, one the greatest teams in early professional basketball.

Joe Diemer attended St.Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey. He starred on both the basketball and football teams  under the tutelage of Vince Lombardi, the future coach of the Green Bay Packers and member of the Football Hall of Fame. Diemar played one season of minor league baseball. He also performed as a professional wrestler in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s as Bobcat Joe Diemar and the Masked Marvel.