1951 Rochester Royals

Rochester went 41-27 and finished second in the Western Division. Les Harrison coached. The Royals spread the ball around: six players averaged between 7 and 17 points, and they had the league's most efficient offense.

Risen, a 6-9 center, led the team at 16.3 points and grabbed 12 rebounds a game. Bob Davies, a quick ball-handler, added 15.2 and made the All-NBA first team. Bobby Wanzer and Jack Coleman gave them two more steady scorers. Red Holzman, who later coached the Knicks to two titles, came off the bench.

Rochester beat Fort Wayne, then knocked out the Minneapolis Lakers in the Western finals. In the championship round the Royals won the first three games against New York, watched the Knicks win three straight to force a Game 7, then took the last one 79-75.

No team had ever come back from down 3-0, and the Knicks nearly did it here. The title stands alone in the franchise's long history. The Royals became the Cincinnati Royals, then the Kansas City Kings, then the Sacramento Kings, and have not won since.

The starting five was Bob Davies, Bobby Wanzer, Jack Coleman, Arnie Risen, and Arnie Johnson. Les Harrison coached the group with Pep Saul as the primary bench scorer.

The full roster ran deeper than the headline names. Role players who mattered included Red Holzman (later coached the Knicks to two titles); Ed Mikan (George Mikan's younger brother).

The 1951 playoffs ran through divisional rounds before the Finals. The Rochester Royals still needed four series wins in many years, but the league had fewer teams than the 30-franchise map used today.

The Rochester Royals have only this one title in the record covered on Ring Holders Club. That makes the 1951 run the whole of the franchise's championship story in our archive.

Looking back, the Rochester Royals won the 1951 NBA Finals over the New York Knicks in seven games, the only championship in a franchise that has run from Rochester to Sacramento. Arnie Risen and Bob Davies led a balanced team with no real weak spot. Rochester won the first three games, then held on after the Knicks pushed it to a deciding seventh.

For the full roster beyond the featured starters, see the table on this page. For other Rochester Royals titles, use the franchise hub linked below.