
Good morning, Uni Watchers, and a Happy Tuesday to one and all. I hope everyone had a good day yesterday.
Later today (probably sometime this morning), I’ll going to have more site news — this time pertaining to the Ticker, which I hope everyone will read. I’ll explain more in a separate post, but please do check back for some important news.
Now then.
UW pal/contributor/author Leo Strawn, Jr. joins us again today, with his final looks at basketball uniforms from yore. If you missed Part 1, click here, for Part 2, click here, for Part 3, click here, for Part 4, click here, and for Part 5, click here.
Enjoy!
And now, here’s Leo with…

Hoops, Volume 6
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
This edition will wrap up a look at uniforms from the hardwood, and specifically, the ABA.
Before we dig in, I noted in the Nets-specific edition last week that I couldn’t be certain because I don’t have access to photos of every ABA game, but I thought those 1972 uniforms were possibly worn for the first time during the spring of 1972, during the playoffs. Readers J-Dub in Chicagoland and Al said they were first worn when the Nets moved into Nassau Coliseum in February. Good ABA photos are rare, so anyone with knowledge of any photos of pre-playoff Nets from 1972 (February 11-March 28), please link in the comments. We would love to see them!
Picking up where I left off a couple of weeks ago, with more random ABA items: The 1973-74 Utah Stars jerseys looked like they should have been part of an All Star uniform. The Stars played like All Stars after moving from LA, winning the ABA title in their first season in Utah.
Utah abandoned their “All Star” jerseys in 1974 for something a little more ABA-like. That’s hoops legend Moses Malone in this Stars & stripes uniform.
The Colonels added red to their color scheme in 1974.
I’ve always wondered why Adrian Smith was photographed by Topps in a Squires jersey in 1971 for his final season of pro ball (and only one in the ABA) while dribbling a ball stamped with the Carolina Cougars name and logo.
Speaking of the Squires, here’s Dr. J in his familiar #32 during his playing days with Virginia.
Indiana had some great looking unis during the 1971-74 seasons. My friend Chris painted “Pacer stripes” in his bedroom back in the day.
In my opinion, the best ABA uniform was worn by the team with the most innovative name, The Floridians of 1970-72.
I’m not sure why he didn’t own a football team, but Charlie O. seemed to have his fingers in every other sport and the ABA offered him an opportunity to get into hoops. The New Orleans Buccaneers were purchased by P. W. Blake in 1970, who moved them to Tennessee and renamed them the Memphis Pros. By December, the league had to take control of the team. A group of 4600 residents, collectively called Memphis Area Sports, Inc., purchased them in February of 1971 to keep the franchise from folding. The Pros fortunes never improved and Finley purchased the team and its debts prior to the 1972-73 season. First order of business? Change the colors from red, white and blue to green, yellow (gold) and white, of course. He had the team wear every combo of jerseys and shorts from that color scheme. Charlie was, well, Charlie, and the league again stepped in to take control of the franchise in 1974, changing the colors to red/white and renaming them the Memphis Sounds.
The only ABA expansion team was the San Diego Conquistadors. Wilt signed on as player-coach in 1973, but a superior court judge ruled that he could only coach for San Diego during the 1973-74 season because of the Lakers’ lawsuit against him.
In 1974-75, before changing their name to the Sails, their jerseys sported the “Q’s” logo.
The 1975-76 Squires certainly had an interesting look. Also, check out Jan van Breda Kolff’s A.O.B. (abbreviation on back)!
Toward the end of the ABA’s existence, their clubs played a number of exhibition games with NBA teams, including this one between the Colonels and Knicks in early October of 1975, featuring a matchup between Louis Dampier and Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
Along with all of the great uniforms and memories it left us, the ABA also left some raw feelings here and there as part of its legacy. There were 10 teams ready to go prior to the 1975-76 season, hanging onto hopes for a merger, but the wheels started coming off in 1975. San Diego became the Sails but played their last game on November 9 and the Utah Stars played their final game on November 29. The Memphis Sounds moved to Baltimore before the season started. That team was initially named “Hustlers” and it pretty much summed up the franchise.
Under pressure from the league, they became known as the Claws. They purchased Dan Issel from the Colonels for $500,000 and center Tom Owens, but the money never arrived. The man who made KFC what it is today and who went on to become Governor of Kentucky, John Y. Brown Jr., owner of the Colonels, went ballistic. After being ‘hustled’ by the Claws, Brown sold Issel to Denver and the Nuggets sent Dave Robisch to Baltimore to make it look like a trade.
The Claws did not play any regular season games, only two preseason games against the Squires sandwiched around a preseason tilt with the Sixers.
There was at least one other example of raw feelings the ABA left behind, one that lasted for decades. Trivia time: What team was the most hated in the NBA? Without a doubt, it was the Spirits of St. Louis, although they only played two seasons in the ABA after moving west from Carolina and never played a game in the NBA. If you’re not familiar with the story, strap in.
In the summer of 1976, Virginia folded, leaving six teams to haggle with the NBA over the proposed merger. Kentucky took a $3 million+ settlement from the NBA and folded. That left the Nets, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets and Spirits as the potential new NBA teams. The Silna brothers, owners of the St. Louis franchise, struck a deal with the senior league that sounded too good to be true to the NBA in the days before mega-broadcasting contracts: A 1/7 share from the surviving ABA teams of all future TV revenue (roughly 2% of the total amount the NBA was making off television rights), in perpetuity. By the time an agreement was finalized for a $500 million lump sum to end the deal about a decade ago, the Silnas were pocketing over $14 million/year for a team that hadn’t played a game in nearly 4 decades and never played a single game in the NBA.
But, let’s wrap up our look at the ABA by focusing on the good: The red, white & blue ball, the legends, the slam dunk competition, popularizing the 3-point shot and, last but not least, the uniforms. The ABA left an indelible mark on hoops fashion that still resonates throughout the basketball world.
Until next time…
Cheers!
Looking forward to the Celebration!
Readers? What say you? How great are those ABA uniforms???
Great Stuff, Leo. The ABA had some curious (Virginia in wraparound striping) but also some very good uniforms (Pacers, Nets, Spurs, Floridians and Stars are my starting five). That ‘Canes uniform is a nice tribute. The Baltimore Claw is trying to crack a tennis ball? The San Diego Q’s, as in conQuistadores? Creative.
Thanks, Ingmar.
Yes, I guess no one wanted to spell out “Conquistadors” all the time, so it got shortened to “Q’s”. Even on 1973-74 Topps basketball cards:
link
That is a great card!
GTGFTS: Week 10, 11/9/1986, San Francisco 49ers 43, St. Louis Cardinals 17 at the Stick. Jerry Rice had three TD receptions, all 40 or more yards, and Tom Holmoe capped off the Niners’ scoring in the fourth with a 78-yard pick-six.
That’s Cliff Stoudt (longtime Steelers backup, back from the USFL) at QB for the Cards.
this GTGFTU is a tough one! i’ve got it down to two possible games, will let you know when I get it
okay, I’m calling it. 1970 Week 10, 22 Nov 1970. Dallas 45 – 21 Washington. I was trying to decide between this and the game in Dallas two weeks later, but the fans look like they’re wearing more burgundy and yellow. All the commentators in this game are named Frank, which is funny. (Glieber, Gifford, Clarke)
can’t believe I missed number 58 in the background. the correct game is actually 21 Nov 1971, Week 10, Dallas 13 – 0 Washington.
Congrats on solving the gtg.
Here’s the exact quote from Jimmy as he sent me the photo:
Hated or not, I always loved the Spirits’ unis, logos, colors, etc.
Me too. Especially the logo.
GTGFTU:
1971 Week 10
Dallas 13, Washington 10 at RFK Stadium
#29 for Washington, Ted Vactor, did not play for Washington in 1970, so it has to the be the 1971 game at RFK.
pretty sure he did play for them in 1970, i think you need to check again
Almost correct. The score was 13-0 for Dallas.
GTGFTU has to be from 1971-the only year that George Burman (#58 hiding in the background) wore the “R” helmet. The picture looks like it is from the Cotton Bowl (RFK did not have those field level railings) so the game is
3 Oct 1971
Dallas defeats Washington 20-16
That is not the Cotton Bowl. It didn’t (and doesn’t) have the railings seen at the top of that picture
Huh. Must be a Mandela Effect thing.
Then it must be 21 Nov 1971. Skins still lose 13-0.
The cotton bowl had astro turf in 1970
Yes, it is 1971, not an easy one because Vactor is wearing a 1970 Rawlings durene jersey that they wore in 1970. But if you look at #62 and 64, they are wearing the mesh Sand knit jerseys that had different number fonts than the Rawlings jerseys, and they started wearing the mesh Sand Knits in 1971. Billy Kilmer wore the mesh Sand Knit and the durene Rawlings during the 71 season, depending how cold it was.
I love how you keep finding more straight-on kicker photos, Jimmy!
Never saw this Mike Clark photo until today. Does anyone know the Super Bowl record he holds with Jim Turner? Hint: it’s a record that will never be equaled or broken.
Until they return the goalposts to the goal line…
If only…
I can dream but I don’t see it ever happening.
I always thought it was odd the way Clarke would fold his right arm in when he kicked. I asked my father why he did that and got the same answer that I did to every football related question he didn’t know ” I don’t know, why the hell are you asking me Jimbo”
That’s the first time I noticed that! All the other pictures I have of him are facing the other direction.
The NBA had let the ABA know that any merger plan that included Kentucky would be rejected – Chicago’s owner at the time sat on the merger committee and since they owned the rights to Artis Gilmore they would kill any proposals. There was absolutely no desire for the NBA to include St.Louis. Brown took the lump sum payout and used it to buy the Buffalo Braves; the Silnas brothers negotiated that TV revenue deal. Brown would later trade the Braves to the majority owner of the Celtics Irv Levin in 1978; Levin moved the Braves to San Diego and renamed them the Clippers.
I never quite understood the Bulls’ demand that the Colonels not be a part of the merger due to them holding his NBA rights. This had been talked about for a couple of years. Even though they held his rights, they still had to draft him in the Dispersal Draft, which they did by having the worst record in the league. It’s like they KNEW they were gonna suck for a while just to get him. And about that draft, lots of mistakes were made, but not by Portland. They drafted Moses Malone, Maurice Lucas, AND Dave Twardzik, the latter two quickly led them to a title.
Gilmore was considered to be a generational talent at the time; I suppose the Bulls thought that he would help them turn around more quickly. But if Kentucky would have been allowed in the merger then they would have kept Gilmore and the Bulls wouldn’t have had a shot at him in the dispersal draft.
But in all honesty Kentucky was only marginally more stable than Indiana – and that was because the Brown was willing to sell off some of the Colonels players for cash.
Loved the ABA uniforms and my two favorite players as a kid were Dr. J and David Thompson with Moses Malone third. In the mid 80’s I am home from college for Christmas in Potomac MD, my mother asked me to go pick up her dry cleaning. The place was cramped when you walked in and people were kind of shoulder to shoulder, someone came in after me and they were literally right on my back, I am 6’2 220, I took a step forward then I turned around to give the person a look. When I turned around, I was staring at a belt buckle, I looked up and saw a guy who was twice the size of any of the football players I met, it was Moses Malone. I turned around and moved up to try to give him some more room. When I got home, I told my father that I just ran into Moses Malone, he said, yea I see him around town now. With Sugar Ray Leonard living just down the street, my father said I am now the third most famous jock in Potomac Jimbo.
A very good story, I would call it a tall tale if it wasn’t true.
Believe me it happened. when I turned around Malone shot me a dirty look, I just wanted to get out of his way at that point LOL!
popularizing the 3-point shot
I used to praise the ABA for that, but these days when everyone thinks they’re Steph Curry (you’re not) and basketball has turned into nothing but dunks and threes, I’m starting to regret it.
Loved the uniforms, though. Especially the Stars and the Nuggets. I can still hear the distinctive sound of the substitution buzzer at McNichols Arena.
link
A few other arenas had that sound, including the Richfield Coliseum, but McNichols was the last one, if I recall correctly.
Great stuff as always, Leo!
Thanks, Jim!
The Spirits’ play-by-play announcer was Bob Costas, who was then actually as young as he has always looked.
I was too young to remember the ABA but love reading all these stories and seeing the uni photos. It sure sounds like the other owners were angry about the St. Louis deal but maybe they were just angry about not cutting such a good deal. The Spirits owner seemingly had the foresight! Would love to read more about this if anyone has a recommendation.
In 1976 they probably thought the Salinas brothers were total idiots for taking that deal. The NBA was so small potatoes that most of the 1977 Championship series was shown on tape delay instead of live. The NBA didn’t start to take off until Bird and Johnson entered the league for the 1979-80 season. And it didn’t become what it is now until Jordan was drafted.
Sorry; I forgot to mention a good book on the ABA – “Loose Balls” by Terry Pluto. I am pretty sure it’s out of print but you can still find it on Amazon.
One of the best sports history books ever, I totally agree.
My military family happened to return from overseas to San Francisco on the weekend of the NCAA final four that featured Bird and Magic. Everyone was talking about it. Yet the tournament had still been so small-time that it was being held in Albuquerque. That pair elevated both the NCAA Tournament and the NBA into top-tier events with no looking back.
The reason Charlie Finley never owned a football team is that he was too stingy to pay for the equipment and only get 14 games a year out of them.