1943–44 Cleveland Chase Brassmen season

The 1943–44 Cleveland Chase Brassmen season was the first and technically only season of the Cleveland Chase Brassmen playing in the United States' National Basketball League (NBL), which would also be the seventh year the NBL itself existed. However, if one were to count the seasons where they played as the Cleveland Chase Copper Brass team in the Amateur Athletic Union starting as early as 1935 back when the NBL technically first began as the Midwest Basketball Conference, then this would officially be their ninth season of overall play. The Cleveland Chase Brassmen franchise would get themselves promoted from the Amateur Athletic Union to the NBL (changing their team name from the Cleveland Chase Copper Brass team name they originally had in the process) in order to help ensure that the NBL would even play another season with four teams again after they previously played their prior season with only four teams for a majority of their season earlier on and one of those teams that season in the Chicago Studebaker Flyers (a team the Chase Brassmen did not take their history from despite some claims made at one point in time) left the league early that offseason period.

Despite the worthwhile intentions made by the NBL, however, their promotion would also showcase the Cleveland squad being a team that was a bit too above their heads in terms of how they'd perform as a professional basketball franchise after previously being an amateur franchise for years, despite the new addition of longtime New York Renaissance center Wee Willie Smith being on their team. While Cleveland ended the 1943 year with only one home win out of four games played against the Oshkosh All-Stars, they would only get two more home games won throughout the rest of the season (with the Chase Brassmen both switching head coach Vito Kubilus with Bill Brownell after their 12th game of the season and being the only NBL team to play 18 games this season when everyone else played the regular 22 games this season) to end the season with a 3–15 season (with all three of their victories being against the Oshkosh All-Stars). Despite Cleveland's poor record and uneven number of games played, the Chase Brassmen would make it to the 1944 NBL Playoffs (albeit by default) with Mel Riebe being the league's leading scorer, though they would end up getting swept by the eventual champion Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in the semifinal round. After participating in the 1944 World Professional Basketball Tournament, Cleveland would return to the NBL, but they would change sponsorship ownership rights from the Chase Brass and Copper Company to the Allmen Transfer & Moving Company to have the team become the Cleveland Allmen Transfers for the rest of their existence going forward.

This season would also be notable for Mel Riebe making his professional basketball career debut after previously playing with the team in their days through the Amateur Athletic Union; he would later be named the NBL's Rookie of the Year and be a member of the All-NBL First Team there.