Houston Mavericks

American Basketball Association (1967-1969)

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Background

The Houston Mavericks were a short-lived and spectacularly unpopular franchise in the iconic American Basketball Association (1967-1976). Awarded as one of the league’s founding franchises on February 2, 1967, the Mavs were owned by Texas oilman T.C. Morrow, one the new league’s wealthiest backers.

Things got off to a rough start when Mavs Head Coach & General Manager Slater Martin traveled to Oakland for the ABA’s first college draft in 1967. Martin learned that Morrow and his partners neglected to post the team’s $30,000 performance bond that was required to participate in the draft. Slater, shut out of the draft room, desperately phoned bankers back in Texas to raise the money. By the time he satisfied ABA officials, the draft was in the 5th round. The Mavericks were cobbled together from journeymen and finished 29-49 in 1967-68.

Worse than the on-court mediocrity was the apathy of the Houston citizenry to the city’s first professional basketball team. Houston had the worst attendance in the ABA. Regardless of what the team claimed, reporters often eye-balled crowds in the low triple digits at the 8,900-seat Sam Houston Coliseum.

Pursuit of Elvin Hayes & Don Chaney

In March 1968 the Mavericks sparked a feud with the National Basketball Association as both leagues courted University of Houston star Elvin Hayes. T.C. Morrow offered Hayes a two-year $500,000 contract to sign with the ABA, but Hayes declined to even negotiate with the Mavericks. He took less money to sign with the San Diego Rockets of the NBA, where he was the #1 overall selection in the 1968 draft. Stunned by the rejection, Morrow accused the Rockets of illegally paying Hayes under the table while he was still playing college basketball. The Mavericks also pursued Hayes’ University of Houston teammate Don Chaney, another NBA 1st round draft pick. Like Hayes, Chaney spurned the ABA in favor of the established league.

Morrow lost interest early in the ABA’s second season in 1968-69. He walked away and turned the franchise back to the league in late 1968. The ABA quietly operated the Mavs for several weeks as wards of the league.

Meanwhile, Commissioner George Mikan grew increasingly concerned about the abysmal support for the Mavericks in Houston. Mikan attempted to send players to Houston who might spark more fan interest. The only problem was that Mavs coach Slater Martin, Mikan’s former teammate on five NBA world championship teams with the Minneapolis Lakers, didn’t want the players the Commissioner tried to foist on him. Martin quit midway through the season.

Move To North Carolina & Aftermath

ABA soon officials found a new buyer for the Mavericks in former North Carolina congressman James Gardner. Gardner took over the club in January 1969. He agreed to finish out the season in Houston, but made it clear that the club would move to North Carolina for the 1969-70 season. This left the Mavs to finish the 1968-69 campaign as lame ducks.

The ABA’ brief two-year stay in Houston came to a merciful end on April 2, 1969, when the Mavs defeated the New York Nets 149-132 in their home finale at Sam Houston Coliseum. By this point, what was left of the Mavs’ staff no longer bothered to embellish the attendance figures. The official attendance for the game was 89 fans.

The Mavs franchise existed for the entire nine-season run of the ABA. The club became the Carolina Cougars from 1969-1974 and later moved again to become the Spirits of St. Louis from 1974 to 1976. The franchise folded when the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976.

Seven years after the Houston Mavericks tried to sign him, Don Chaney would sign with the former Mavs franchise, playing the 1975-76 season with the Spirits of St. Louis.

Two years after the Mavs left town, Houston got an NBA franchise when the San Diego Rockets moved to town in 1971. The Rockets brought Elvin Hayes – the player most coveted by the Mavericks – with them.

Trivia

Houston Oilers AFL owner Bud Adams was a minority partner in the original Houston Mavericks ownership group led by T.C. Morrow.

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Loose Balls

The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association

By Terry Pluto

 

What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.

The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today’s NBA is still—decades later —just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.

Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It’s a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports—told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league’s nine seasons..

 

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Links

American Basketball Association Media Guides

American Basketball Association Programs

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