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Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonel. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history. However, the team did not join the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1976 ABA–NBA merger. The downtown Louisville Convention Center (now known as The Gardens) was the Colonels' venue for their first three seasons before moving to Freedom Hall for the remaining seasons, beginning with the 1970–71 schedule.
The Kentucky Colonels and the Indiana Pacers were the only ABA teams to play for the entire duration of the league without moving, changing team names, or folding. The Colonels were also the only major league franchise in Kentucky since the Louisville Breckenridges left the National Football League in 1923.
The Louisville-based Colonels started their time in the ABA. They were known for their "mascot" Ziggy, a prize-winning Brussels Griffon dog that was owned by original team owners Joe and Mamie Gregory, daughter of former U.S. Senator Robert R. Reynolds
They were equally famous for publicity stunts. In 1968, the team signed Penny Ann Early, the first licensed female horse racing jockey. In a game on November 27, 1968, Early inbounded the ball to Bobby Rascoe, making her the only woman to ever play in the ABA or NBA. A timeout was immediately called, and she was taken out of the game.
The team's biggest rival was the Indiana Pacers, reflecting their states' prominent college basketball programs. The two teams played in the same Eastern Division for the first three seasons before Indiana was reassigned to the Western. It was referred to in some circles as the "I-65 Series", referring to the Interstate that connected the two states; the two met five times in the playoffs, with each being the most common opponent played in the postseason.
In 1970, the team was sold to a group led by Wendell Cherry and future Governor of Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr., who appointed Mike Storen as general manager. Storen fired Gene Rhodes, who had worked as the head coach since the early games of the 1967–68 season, saying Rhodes "is not in the best long-term interest of the team". In that year, the team signed another Wildcat star in All-American Dan Issel. They also dropped the chartreuse uniforms in favor of a blue and white scheme similar to that of the Wildcats. Another abnormality to the Colonels uniform change was that the players' last names on the back had only the first letter capitalized, as opposed to all capital letters, which are almost universally featured on the back of nearly every professional or collegiate basketball uniform where names are featured on the back. Issel's signing helped the Colonels become well known as a legitimate basketball team. Despite an average record in the regular season, they made a serious run at the 1971 ABA championship. They fell just short, however, and lost to the Utah Stars in seven games.
They proved to be even better in 1971, with the signing of Artis Gilmore with a ten-year deal of $1.5 million that saw him receive $150,000 a year for ten years with a $50,000 bonus and a Dolgoff Plan that would pay him $40,000 a year for 20 years starting in 1981. Gilmore's signing would help make the Colonels a legitimate powerhouse for years to come. The Colonels won 68 games in his rookie campaign under coach Joe Mullaney; their record turned out to be best in the league's entire history. Yet, in the playoffs, they were upset by the New York Nets in the first round. Kentucky recovered and made another championship run during the 1972–73 playoffs and faced the Indiana Pacers in the third rendition of the "I-65 Series". In a physical series that went the maximum seven games, the Pacers defeated the Colonels in Kentucky to win the championship.
After the season, the franchise was nearly moved out-of-state to Cincinnati when a group headed by Bill DeWitt bought it. However, spurred by his family (most notably John Y. Brown III), Brown Jr., who owned Kentucky Fried Chicken for years, swooped in to buy the team and have it stay in Kentucky. He also stated that his wife Ellie was distinctly a co-owner with him. In fact, several women would be hired to serve on the board for the team, which helped significantly with tickets. Brown helped increase interest in the team, and looked to improve its on-court performance by hiring popular ABA coach Babe McCarthy. But after they were swept in the second round of the playoffs by the Nets, Brown gave McCarthy his walking papers.
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Kentucky Colonels
The Kentucky Colonels were an American professional basketball team based in Louisville, Kentucky. They competed in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonel. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history. However, the team did not join the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1976 ABA–NBA merger. The downtown Louisville Convention Center (now known as The Gardens) was the Colonels' venue for their first three seasons before moving to Freedom Hall for the remaining seasons, beginning with the 1970–71 schedule.
The Kentucky Colonels and the Indiana Pacers were the only ABA teams to play for the entire duration of the league without moving, changing team names, or folding. The Colonels were also the only major league franchise in Kentucky since the Louisville Breckenridges left the National Football League in 1923.
The Louisville-based Colonels started their time in the ABA. They were known for their "mascot" Ziggy, a prize-winning Brussels Griffon dog that was owned by original team owners Joe and Mamie Gregory, daughter of former U.S. Senator Robert R. Reynolds
They were equally famous for publicity stunts. In 1968, the team signed Penny Ann Early, the first licensed female horse racing jockey. In a game on November 27, 1968, Early inbounded the ball to Bobby Rascoe, making her the only woman to ever play in the ABA or NBA. A timeout was immediately called, and she was taken out of the game.
The team's biggest rival was the Indiana Pacers, reflecting their states' prominent college basketball programs. The two teams played in the same Eastern Division for the first three seasons before Indiana was reassigned to the Western. It was referred to in some circles as the "I-65 Series", referring to the Interstate that connected the two states; the two met five times in the playoffs, with each being the most common opponent played in the postseason.
In 1970, the team was sold to a group led by Wendell Cherry and future Governor of Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr., who appointed Mike Storen as general manager. Storen fired Gene Rhodes, who had worked as the head coach since the early games of the 1967–68 season, saying Rhodes "is not in the best long-term interest of the team". In that year, the team signed another Wildcat star in All-American Dan Issel. They also dropped the chartreuse uniforms in favor of a blue and white scheme similar to that of the Wildcats. Another abnormality to the Colonels uniform change was that the players' last names on the back had only the first letter capitalized, as opposed to all capital letters, which are almost universally featured on the back of nearly every professional or collegiate basketball uniform where names are featured on the back. Issel's signing helped the Colonels become well known as a legitimate basketball team. Despite an average record in the regular season, they made a serious run at the 1971 ABA championship. They fell just short, however, and lost to the Utah Stars in seven games.
They proved to be even better in 1971, with the signing of Artis Gilmore with a ten-year deal of $1.5 million that saw him receive $150,000 a year for ten years with a $50,000 bonus and a Dolgoff Plan that would pay him $40,000 a year for 20 years starting in 1981. Gilmore's signing would help make the Colonels a legitimate powerhouse for years to come. The Colonels won 68 games in his rookie campaign under coach Joe Mullaney; their record turned out to be best in the league's entire history. Yet, in the playoffs, they were upset by the New York Nets in the first round. Kentucky recovered and made another championship run during the 1972–73 playoffs and faced the Indiana Pacers in the third rendition of the "I-65 Series". In a physical series that went the maximum seven games, the Pacers defeated the Colonels in Kentucky to win the championship.
After the season, the franchise was nearly moved out-of-state to Cincinnati when a group headed by Bill DeWitt bought it. However, spurred by his family (most notably John Y. Brown III), Brown Jr., who owned Kentucky Fried Chicken for years, swooped in to buy the team and have it stay in Kentucky. He also stated that his wife Ellie was distinctly a co-owner with him. In fact, several women would be hired to serve on the board for the team, which helped significantly with tickets. Brown helped increase interest in the team, and looked to improve its on-court performance by hiring popular ABA coach Babe McCarthy. But after they were swept in the second round of the playoffs by the Nets, Brown gave McCarthy his walking papers.