NBA Expansion: The ABA Kentucky Colonels Have Been Black Balled Long Enough
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The Kentucky Colonels were one of the ABA’s (American Basketball Association)) most exciting teams and they still evoke sentimental feelings from their loyal Kentucky fans. They were left out of the NBA/ABA merger. The two brightest stars on the early Kentucky rosters, of course, were guards Louie Dampier and Darel Carrier. Both Dampier and Carrier were prolific three-point bombers. During their first three seasons together, the two combined to score an average of more than 50 points per game. Kentucky opponents prepared special defenses just to contain the long-range shooting of this pair. Recently, both Dampier and Carrier were named to the 30-Man ABA All-Time Team.
The Colonels are one of two franchises to play in all nine of ABA League existence. They made the playoffs every year, three ABA Finals appearances, and won the 1975 ABA Championship. The franchise has the most regular season wins and the second most playoff wins in ABA history. Louie Dampier leads the ABA in all-time scoring, assist, 3pt field goals made, games played, and minutes played. The Colonels became a dominant ABA team. In fact, many observers believe that the later Colonels teams, anchored by Artis Gilmore in the middle, would have dominated most NBA teams.
Happy birthday Louie Dampier! You know how us old guys always say we have a guy that would kill in today's NBA? Well, here's another one: Louis Dampier.
— Honest☘️Larry (@HonestLarry1) November 20, 2023
pic.twitter.com/NASnhvh8yH
1970-1971
Beginning in the 1970-71 season, Dampier and Carrier were no longer required to shoulder the team’s scoring burden. This was due to the fact that the Colonels managed to sign All-American Dan Issel out of the University of Kentucky. Issel chose to play near his college stomping grounds and never seriously considered playing for the NBA team that halfheartedly drafted him in the eighth round, the Detroit Pistons. Issel was a pure scoring machine and topped the ABA in scoring average during his rookie year (29.9 ppg).
Issel helped lead the Colonels to the ABA Finals in his rookie season. It was a tough, hard fought, back-in-forth series between the Utah Stars. The Colonels were confident going into the decisive Game 7 in Salt Lake City, but Goose Ligon, Kentucky’s most consistent defensive player, was hampered by a back injury. Behind a 41-point game from Dan Issel, the Colonels stayed even with Utah through most of the game. But they simply ran out of time, as the talented Stars (and their fans) overran Kentucky in the 4th quarter. After the final buzzer, it took 30 minutes to clear the court of the hundreds of rabid Utah fans who had come down from the stands to celebrate the Stars’ 131-121 victory.
5th ABA All Star Game – 1972 🏀
— Hoop Fiends 🏀💉 (@hoopfiends) February 17, 2024
Louisville, Kentucky
Attendance – 15,738
East – 142
West – 115
MVP – Dan Issel (Kentucky Colonels) https://t.co/D7OiRSXL73 pic.twitter.com/eYZMSFHA7Z
1971-72
The next season, the Colonels’ front office made a move that guaranteed that the team would be a perennial ABA championship contender. Kentucky signed Artis Gilmore, the best center in the college draft. At 7’1″, Gilmore was the most intimidating center in the ABA. His strength was legendary and when he slam dunked, the other players cringed for fear of being injured by the ball after it flew through the basket. With Gilmore in the fold as a rookie, the team achieved an unbelievable 68-16 record during the 1971-72 season. Gilmore played in all 84 games that season and averaged 23.8 points and 17.8 rebounds per game. To no one’s surprise, he was named the ABA’s overall MVP (over another spectacular rookie, Virginia’s Julius Erving). Despite their all-time ABA-record win total in the regular season, Kentucky faltered in the playoffs. In a shocking upset, the Colonels lost in the very first round to Rick Barry, and the surprising New York Nets.
7th ABA All Star Game – 1974 🏀
— Hoop Fiends 🏀💉 (@hoopfiends) February 17, 2024
Norfolk, Virginia
Attendance – 10,624
East – 128
West – 112
MVP – Artis Gilmore (Kentucky Colonels)
Doc ⬇️ Program ⬇️ https://t.co/MnrjghBXf9 pic.twitter.com/aMf09bF7KY
1972-73
The next two years (1972-73 and 1973-74) were extremely frustrating years for the franchise, despite the team’s continued on-court success during the regular season. In 1972-73, the Colonels won 56 games. Then, they knocked off Virginia and Carolina in the playoffs. The Virginia series was an interesting one because it pitted Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore of the Colonels against Julius Erving and George Gervin of the Squires. Three of these four players (Issel, Erving and Gervin) have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (and Gilmore has only narrowly missed this honor at the present time). Many thought that Virginia would give the Colonels some trouble, but Kentucky shut the door on the Squires, 4 games to 1. The Carolina series was simply a grueling war. The Eastern Division Champion Cougars had Billy Cunningham (another future Hall-of-Famer) and the all-important home-court advantage. In short, the Cougars were expected to advance to their first ABA Championship Series. Still, Kentucky nipped Carolina, 4 games to 3, in a series that went the distance.
ABA 1974 Playoffs Eastern Division Finals Game 1
— Yvan Montgury, The Gravedigger (@YvanMontgury) February 15, 2024
Kentucky Colonels 🆚 New York Nets
Interview of Julius Erving before the game 🎥 pic.twitter.com/so3jgVK4cZ
At this point, the Colonels appeared to be on the verge of capturing their first ABA title. But the Indiana Pacers and George McGinnis had other plans. For the second straight series, the Colonels were involved in a seven-game marathon. In Game 1 of the 1973 ABA Finals, the Pacers served notice that they were, indeed, the defending ABA Champions. In a game filled with physical play and controversial calls (two Kentucky points were taken off the scoreboard after the referees huddled and determined that a 30-second violation had occurred), the Pacers took the Colonels to overtime in Freedom Hall and won 111-107. Kentucky did manage to recapture the home court advantage by winning Games 2 and 3. In the decisive Game 7 at Freedom Hall, the Pacers beat Kentucky 88-81.
1973-74
In the 1973-74 season under a new coach the Colonels went 53-31 in the regular season. Again, Colonels fans expected that an ABA title would be upcoming. In the first round of the playoffs, Kentucky crushed the troubled Carolina Cougars, 4 games to 0. But in the second round, the Colonels had no answers for Julius Erving and the New York Nets. In Game 3 of that series, played at Freedom Hall, Erving hit an unbelievable fall-away bank shot at the final buzzer to win the game for the Nets (90-88) and give New York a 3-0 series lead. Erving’s shot simply broke the Colonels’ spirit. New York ran away with Game 4 (played at Lexington) and swept the series 4-0.
🚨 REMINDER-
— Louie Rabaut (@RadioLouie) May 21, 2023
Tomorrow is the 48th Anniversary of the Kentucky Colonels winning the ABA title at Freedom Hall!@DanIssel44 & I will be joined by Hubie Brown, Artis Gilmore, & Louie Dampier.
Join us tomorrow starting at 10 on @ESPN680! pic.twitter.com/gJBaIXLAch
The 1975 Championship
Kentucky’s 1974 playoff failure resulted in a new coach selected to step into this pressure-packed situation, Hubie Brown, who had previously been an assistant coach with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. Brown understood the expectations surrounding his hiring and accepted the challenge. For most of the 1974-75 season, the Colonels were in second place in the Eastern Division, behind the ABA defending champion New York Nets. But amazingly, Kentucky won 22 out of its last 25 regular season games, including 10 in a row to close the regular season. That was enough to tie the Colonels with the Nets for first place at 58-26. A special one-game playoff was played at Kentucky to determine the division champion. The red-hot Colonels beat the Nets, 108-99.
In the 1975 ABA Playoffs, the Colonels finally found redemption. The first two rounds posed no challenge to the Colonels. In the Finals, Kentucky’s opponent was its familiar foe, the Indiana Pacers. This year, however, the ending was much different than in 1973. In Game 1, the Colonels blew out Indiana, 120-94. The Colonels only lost one game in Indiana (Game 4). In Game 5, before 16,622 screaming fans in Freedom Hall, the Colonels knocked off the Pacers 110-105, to capture the series. After the final buzzer, almost all the fans in attendance stayed to celebrate, and saw Artis Gilmore win the ABA Playoff MVP award. Gilmore had dominated the lane throughout the playoffs. And with the scoring punch of Issel and Dampier, the Colonels had finally broken through.
The legendary Ellie Brown celebrated her 84th birthday over the weekend! Ellie was the Chairperson of the Kentucky Colonels when the team won the 1975 ABA championship.
— ABAthrowbacks (@abathrowbacks) February 12, 2024
Happy birthday to a special person! pic.twitter.com/cb6imRlgdC
Being Left Out of the ABA/NBA Merger
It was clear to everyone that the Colonels had the talent and the fan support to join the NBA for the 1976-77 season. However, during the merger negotiations in June 1976, the NBA made it clear that it would accept only four ABA teams, not five. With Denver, San Antonio, New York and Indiana being the clear front-runners to make the cut, John Y. Brown decided that it was better to fold the team for their cash offer, instead of continuing to fight. To the great disappointment of long-time Colonels fans, Kentucky was left out of the merger and the Colonel’s players were placed in a special dispersal draft of ABA players (along with players from the Spirits of St. Louis). Artis Gilmore went to the Chicago Bulls (as the number one pick), Maurice Lucas went to the Portland Trail Blazers, Bird Averittt went to the Buffalo Braves, Wil Jones went to the Pacers, Jan Van Breda Kolff went to the Nets, and Louie Dampier went to the Spurs.
Kentucky Colonels were the best team in the world in 1975. Louisville was top 5 in attendance between the combined NBA/ABA. It’s a shame the Colonels aren’t in today’s NBA. @nba2lou @COLCOMEBACK
— Lance Edwards (@502lance) February 18, 2024
NBA Exclusion
The NBA is currently planning on expansion and have reportedly narrow it down to six possible cities that does not in Louisville, Kentucky, the home of the Kentucky Colonels. After being left out of the merger and being one of the best ABA franchises, almost 50 years of not recognizing Kentucky’s basketball traditions is enough. Dan Issel has spent decades after retirement attempting to lead the effort to bring professional basketball back to Kentucky. It is time that the NBA brass steps up and moves past the black balling of one of the most storied franchises, states, and cities in basketball history.
Why Dan Issel says all of Kentucky should get behind drive to bring NBA to Louisville #BBN https://t.co/z5Ct84wCdh
— Herald-Leader Sports (@KentuckySports) September 8, 2019
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