The team's roots can be traced back to 1932 when the original amateur Nuggets were formed as a member of the
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) as the
Denver Piggly Wigglys (sometimes shortened to the
Denver Pigs and other times expanded to the
Denver Safeway-Piggly Wigglys due to
Safeway sponsoring (and later buying out) the team that was owned by the local Piggly Wigglys
grocery store). After Safeway bought out the Piggly Wigglys franchise and had it essentially be a part of its own franchise, the Denver team was rebranded to the
Denver Safeway Perisianas (sometimes shortened out to just the
Denver Safeways instead) from 1935 before Safeway's sponsorship removal forced them to rebrand themselves to the
Denver Nuggets for the first time in their history. Led by player-coach
Jack McCracken, the Nuggets were one of the most powerful amateur athletic basketball teams in the country, winning the 1939 AAU championship and losing the 1940 championship to the
Phillips 66ers. Not playing professionally, its players were given extra jobs by team sponsors. Featuring players such as McCracken,
Ace Gruenig and
Vince Boryla, the Nuggets continued as an AAU power throughout their existence, and the AAU has been credited by historians for helping put Denver on the national sports map. Entering the 1940s decade, the Nuggets would rebrand themselves to the
Denver American Legion due to them being sponsored by American Legion until 1943 (with the Denver squad winning their third and final AAU championship in 1942 while using the American Legion name), when Ambrose Jelly took over sponsorship duties for the team and rebranded the team to the
Denver Ambrose Jellymakers until 1946 when the ABL subsection in the AAU folded operations early. Despite that ABL subsection folding operations, however, the Denver team would survive by returning to the AAU properly, with them returning to the famous
Denver Nuggets they used from 1938–1940 for the rest of their AAU tenure until 1948. After the 1947–48 season, the Nuggets decided to step out of their amateur status. Rather than join the
National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL), which was founded in 1947 and remained amateur, the Nuggets' general manager,
Hal Davis, secured a franchise in the nine-team
National Basketball League to play in the 1948–49 season. The Nuggets finished last in the Western Division in the 1948–49 season. In the 1949–50 season, the team played in the newly-formed
National Basketball Association (NBA). The Nuggets were led by player-coach
Jimmy Darden, a star shooting guard who joined the Nuggets after leaving the Army as a
World War II veteran in 1946. The Nuggets started the 1949–50 season with a record of 0–15, and finished the season 11–51. In 1950, the Nuggets were one of seven teams, including the
Anderson Packers,
Chicago Stags,
Sheboygan Red Skins,
St. Louis Bombers,
Washington Capitols, and
Waterloo Hawks, that dropped out of the
National Basketball Association altogether. Briefly, in the 1950–51 season, the
Denver Frontier Refiners played in the
National Professional Basketball League (NPBL), which was made up of franchises that left the NBA. That team moved to become the
Evansville Agogans the last six games of the season. After the demise of the Nuggets and the Refiners, Colorado was without any major league sports teams until the
American Football League's
Denver Broncos began play in
1960. Despite the original Nuggets and Frontier Refiners meeting their demise as a professional team, the Nuggets would end up returning for a third and final time (coming back to their roots in the Amateur Athletic Union) for the 1951–52 season, though their return would be short-lived, as that version of the Nuggets would end up folding operations following the conclusion of the AAU's season there. ==Arena==