The NBA, now a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry, looked very different a half century ago. When the league began in 1946, teams included the Providence Steamrollers, the Chicago Stags and the St. Louis Bombers. The New York Knickerbockers were also around back then, but today, few can name the Knicks first starting lineup: Kaplowitz, Schectman, Weber, Militzok, and Hertzberg.

This story originally aired on NPR’s All Things Considered in 1997.