New York was to be the home of one of the first eleven teams to play in the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967, the year that league debuted. However, the franchise, awarded to trucking magnate Arthur J. Brown, had trouble finding a home in the Big Apple and wound up in New Jersey. Island and became the New York Nets. They eventually moved back to New Jersey,
The Kentucky Colonels were the 11th and final team to join the ABA in 1967. They, along the Indiana Pacers, were the only team to play in the same city with the same name for all nine ABA seasons.
The Spirits of St. Louis originated as the Houston Mavericks, a charter member of the ABA in 1967. In 1969, they became the Carolina Cougars. In 1974 they moved to St. Louis. They folded when four fellow ABA members were accepted into the NBA in the summer of 1976.
The Spirits of St. Louis played just two losing seasons in the defunct American Basketball Association during the mid-1970’s. The team was never particularly successful in the standings or popular at the box office. Nevertheless, the Spirits retain a dedicated cult following thanks to a fantastically talented collection of players and an outrageous deathbed settlement with the NBA that may just be the greatest financial deal in the history of professional sports.
The Tams were the middle entry of three Memphis entries in the American Basketball Associations during the early 1970’s, taking the floor at the Mid-South Coliseum from 1972 through 1974. The team’s odd name was an acronym for Tennessee-Arkansas-Mississippi and the club used a tam o’ shanter cap as its logo. Charles O. Finley, the outspoken owner of the Oakland A’s of Major League Baseball and the NHL’s California Golden Seals, owned the club but seemingly took little interest in it. Like the A’s and the Golden Seals, the Tams wore Finley’s preferred colors of green, gold and white.
*Like our new look? Next up: site speed. You can help with a tip for our Speed Fund today. Thank you!
