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00:00¡SuscrÃbete al canal!
00:30The league is welcoming those who have not had a chance to shine, including the 22-year-old, who before
00:37the ABA would have had to wait to turn professional.
00:41But thanks to the ABA, the young man has proven himself one of the most valuable commodities in all of
00:48professional sports.
00:50Unbelievable! Julian Garvin, the LBR Cup!
00:57The American Basketball Association played with a bright-colored ball that made you want to salute.
01:04Look at that ball behind the back!
01:08Wow! That's the way the game should be played.
01:13I feel that I wasn't being paid when I should have.
01:16He appealed his case to the United States Supreme Court.
01:20If they don't merge, a lot of these players are going to be out of a job.
01:25There's no tomorrow.
01:43There's no tomorrow.
01:51So it's in the early 70s when Dr. J starts to do incredible things.
01:58And a lot of it had the quality of legend.
02:01Man, I braced up for the doc.
02:04You know, I'm going to take the choice.
02:06When he came in, I braced.
02:08I looked to the right.
02:09All I could see was his size 17 white Converse.
02:16And Doc was like this.
02:21Boom!
02:23Man, look, this dude here, unbelievable.
02:27I don't ever think there'll be another Dr. J.
02:31I think there'll be another Michael Jordan.
02:35Doctor thinks that this is just incredible.
02:38You know, it defies human nature.
02:43Once you get up in the air and you explode, then comes the time when you relax.
02:48You know, and I guess this is where the gracefulness is shown.
02:55I like the bass line.
02:56I like to be creative.
02:59Yeah, if you give me the bass line, you're in trouble.
03:08I remember him going down on the bass line on the right side.
03:12And you had seven-foot artist Gilmore.
03:14And Artis goes up to block his shot.
03:18And it's literally like Doc was up in the air.
03:21And he rose even higher.
03:24I don't know how he did that.
03:26But you thought he was at his full height.
03:29And he wasn't.
03:30He rose higher.
03:32Artis goes up.
03:34Julius goes up.
03:35Artis goes up higher.
03:37Julius goes up higher.
03:39Artis starts to come down.
03:40Julius is still going up.
03:42He swam that ball through on a dunk.
03:45Folks came running all out of the stand.
03:49That's the style of play that they wanted to see.
03:53And they had a lot of that in the ABA.
03:57When he went to the NBA, Julius was great.
04:02Everybody recognized him as being one of the great players ever.
04:06They didn't really see the true group Julius when he was in the ABA.
04:13They were probably the best three years that I had as a professional basketball player.
04:19These three years, 1974, 75, and 76,
04:26that saw Dr. J showcased as the ABA's biggest superstar,
04:31almost never happened.
04:38So most people don't know I played for the Atlanta Hawks.
04:43And every year, it comes up in a newspaper article as a what if.
04:50That lasted about 10 days, maybe two weeks.
04:54And then the Virginia Squires and the ABA obviously sued the Atlanta Hawks
04:59and said, hey, we have him under contract.
05:01What are you doing?
05:03And it went to a judge, and the judge ruled quickly,
05:06because he had to, because they're playing already,
05:08that Julius had to go back to the Squires.
05:12The difference this time with Dr. J was,
05:16the little brother league of the ABA had grown up.
05:24It took a couple of punches when they lost Connie Hawkins
05:28and when they lost Spencer Haywood and Lou Alcindor.
05:31But this time, they would have been around long enough
05:34to understand the game.
05:36And they knew that the court that they needed to play in
05:40was the legal court.
05:41And that's how they were able to keep Dr. J in the league.
05:47This marks the first time that the NBA tries to steal an ABA superstar
05:51and the ABA stops them.
05:54Julius Irving returns to the ABA.
06:03He went back to Virginia for a second season.
06:06He started a little bit late in his second season,
06:09finished up with the Squires, won the scoring title for the league,
06:11and then after that season, then he went on to the Nets.
06:15We made a side agreement with Virginia to rescind their contract,
06:20and we have now entered into an eight-year contract with Julius.
06:24New York has always been my home,
06:26and I'm very pleased and happy that I've signed with the Nets
06:31and I'll be able to play out my career here.
06:40New York City.
06:43The ABA set a team in the nation's largest media market
06:47with the expectation they would be perennial championship contenders.
06:54Six seasons in, and the New York Nets have failed to hang a banner.
06:59They tried to sign Kareem, but failed.
07:03Rick Barry attempted to win the title there, but couldn't get it done.
07:08Now, their native son had returned home.
07:12Well, I didn't go up too far from here.
07:17In 1974, thought by many to be the best basketball player on the planet,
07:24for Dr. J in New York, only one result was to fight us.
07:29The championship.
07:3373-74 season in the ABA was really the changing of the guard.
07:38It was the end of the Utah-Indiana dominance.
07:54In 1974, the Nets were really the first modern team in pro basketball.
08:01They were extremely young.
08:03They were high-flying.
08:05They ran the fast break as often as they could.
08:09And now they have Dr. J.
08:141974's league MVP is Julius Irving.
08:17Dr. J's magical moves performed major surgery on the opposition all year long.
08:22And the playoffs are serving as yet another personal showcase
08:25for basketball's most exciting superstar.
08:28First game, Doc went crazy.
08:30I think he had 47.
08:31Really set the tone for the series.
08:33And Utah, I think, knew they were up against it.
08:36The good doctor fought in 47 points as the Nets won the series opener against Utah.
08:43Then tailed off with a mere 32 in a second game run.
08:49Brian Taylor was the third game hero in Utah with a three-point bomb.
08:53And the Nets are now just one victory away from the ABA crowd.
08:58New York continues to look for Irving, but Willie Wise anticipates the pass and makes the steal.
09:04Willie Wise defended me.
09:06I say Willie Wise did the best job defending me in all my ABA years.
09:12Eventually, they did put Willie Wise on Julius.
09:15Willie Wise was known as the best defensive forward in the league.
09:20Me and Doc had some good battles.
09:23In fact, I remember Doc starts jumping about 8 or 10 feet from the basket.
09:28I thought, oh, this guy, he's jumping too soon.
09:31What's he going to do?
09:33So I nudged him behind the glass.
09:35He reaches back in, torques his body, and somehow dunks it.
09:40I couldn't believe it.
09:42I had him behind the glass, and he did something like this.
09:47We were able to do two things.
09:51Surprise them, and also surprise ourselves.
09:56MVP Irving adds the finishing touches.
09:59And the New York Nets have their first American Basketball Association championship all wrapped up.
10:05We won the first time we went to the finals, and most teams don't win the first time they go
10:09to the finals.
10:14It's one of my greatest thrills in my whole career.
10:20For Julius to be in New York and to go all the way the first year, dominate the finals, and
10:28win it all,
10:29very similar to what LeBron James did going back to Cleveland.
10:32A lot of pressure.
10:33Everybody's looking at you.
10:34You're the guy.
10:37Can you do this?
10:38Are you that guy?
10:40Time to celebrate a title.
10:44When I heard something being done for the first time, I could think back and say, well, I did that.
10:52I did that in the NBA, so it's not the first time it's being done, but it's the first time
10:57being done in the NBA.
11:01He was black cool for the 1970s in every way that we could imagine.
11:06I mean, you know, Gordon Park Shaft comes out in 1971 starring Richard Gowntree.
11:12I mean, this is the look for the era.
11:14And so even thinking about, like, what it meant to have this incredible athlete embodied what people were coming to
11:24see as a fictional character, but in real life.
11:27When I saw Shaft on 42nd Street walking the same streets that I walked as my friends when we went
11:33to the movies, that was impactful because that was black superhero.
11:36And Dr. J is a black superhero.
11:38Dr. J is part of soul power, right?
11:46When you talk about soul power and you talk about that era, the Dr. J particularly and the ABA style
11:53seem to be analogous to that on Sun Lowe.
11:56Even though it wasn't black empowerment, it was soul power, right?
12:00The fact that he was so good and he had such a style about him, and he was also gracious
12:07and eloquent and just a great ambassador, that was very easy for the ABA to get behind.
12:14The ABA, he really kept the league alive for quite a few years.
12:18When Doc rolled in, he'd bring that $15,000 out there.
12:21I mean, the star quality he had was unbelievable.
12:24I mean, it was just amazing to just watch him.
12:29Just the grace that he had on the court, even just like in the layup line, it was unbelievable.
12:34And in some cases, even arriving to the game, he had a style.
12:37He was like the whole deal, you know, on and off the court.
12:43Others had gained mainstream acceptance before him, but Julius Ervin was the first black athlete to do it while maintaining
12:52a distinctly black style.
12:54When he hit, it shifted from suits and ties to this other aesthetic.
12:59If you look at the trailblazer, like Dr. J, who does appeal to everyone, but it is quintessentially, unapologetically himself.
13:09The thing I knew about the ABA is Dr. J, my uncle.
13:12Oh, Dr. J, they dress like that.
13:14They talk, you know, so you see, you know, they idolized him.
13:17There's something about respecting who you are and not being afraid of that.
13:23Standing on that and not feeling like you need to be something that you're not is a courageous position to
13:29take when you're in the public eye.
13:34What's the first thing that hits you when you say ABA, fashion-specific fashion?
13:37Oh, yes!
13:40The decade was glorious for fashion.
13:43The 70s were fantastic.
13:44Like, I know we watch these kids today.
13:46We watch Westbrook, we watch Hardin, we watch Kuzma, and we're thinking, man, they're doing their own thing.
13:51No, they are not the first to do that.
13:54They just happen to be the ones to do it right now.
13:57Look at Freddie.
13:59Oh, my God.
14:00They're the best ever.
14:02That fashion is still the best ever.
14:04It was a magic time.
14:07Bibb overhauls.
14:08That's what Larry would have on.
14:11He wore bibb overhauls to one game, I remember.
14:17You know, it's funny.
14:18For women, all of this fashion from the 70s has come back in cycles.
14:24And I noticed, though, for the guys, it does not come back around.
14:28I would love to see it.
14:32Oh, wow.
14:33Dr. Jaden at the bow tie.
14:35Listen, it's all about owning it.
14:38We had the flare collars, we had the bell bottoms, we had the platform shoes, and we had the hats
14:43to match.
14:44We had the fro's.
14:44They couldn't grow fro's in the NBA.
14:48You didn't see big afros in the NBA, but you saw it in the NBA.
14:53The best afro.
14:55How about Darnell Hillman?
14:56Darnell had the best, right?
14:58Darnell Hillman.
14:59Boy, that used to be something.
15:01Oh, my gosh.
15:03Darnell's hair.
15:04There was a contest between he and Julius Erwin to see who he had the biggest afro.
15:10Darnell Hillman taught me how to shape it, because it was wild and woolly for a while.
15:15Um, Julius came into town one season, and I brought him over to the house, and everyone
15:21at that time were using the afro forks and picks.
15:25We didn't use any of that.
15:28You ladies will know what this is, an angel food cake cutter.
15:32You can use, like, a cake knife.
15:34Take it away from you.
15:35Take it away, take it away.
15:37Front, middle, back.
15:40And that's where you pull that hair out.
15:42And once he got it out and saw just how big his afro was, I said, go to the barber
15:48and
15:48just have him trim all the ends and clip off the ends, and your hair will get the kind
15:55of shape you want.
15:56And after you got it cut the way you want it, it starts growing out.
16:00Get in front of that mirror, man.
16:02You got to put the time in it.
16:04I remember even white kids, including my brother, teased their hair up into afros.
16:09And I just remember it was all about style.
16:11And that was, that was new.
16:13That was completely new.
16:16Dr. J is somebody who's projecting a particular brand of unapologetic blackness.
16:26But the average white viewer, because he didn't really say much to actually rock the boat,
16:32could embrace that performance on the court.
16:57I think my Converse deal, Spaulding deal, those were door openers, you know, where there
17:06were white parents saying to their kid, I want you to grow up and be like Julius Irving.
17:12Julius Irving walked so Michael Jordan could fly.
17:18Doc kind of held our league together, man, with his notoriety, man.
17:23Doc was nationwide, you know, people knew about Dr. J.
17:28Doc was the ABA back then.
17:30Julius Irving!
17:32In the ABA, let me tell you, when an individual got publicity, the league got publicity.
17:39And all the fellow players, it was like, all right, we're all in this together, one for
17:45all and all for one.
17:46We all applauded.
17:48You know, we all celebrated.
17:52The ABA opened the door, not only for one of basketball's all-time great performers, but also
17:59for one of the sport's all-time great voices.
18:04The jumper, bang, and we're even up at 14.
18:06In 1974, the ABA and the St. Louis Spirits made a young man.
18:14Only weeks out of college, the youngest pro sports broadcaster in the country.
18:27I was 22 years old, right out of Syracuse University.
18:32The Spirit fans, the future guarantees plenty of action and excitement.
18:38So the first game, at home, at the arena in St. Louis, against Memphis.
18:43And the Spirits lead by five, with like a minute to go.
18:46And somehow they blow the game and lose it in regulation.
18:51Two nights later, on a Sunday night, and they're up by like seven, with two minutes to go.
18:56Bob McKinnon's the coach.
18:58He calls timeout.
19:00And I'm cruising along on the broadcast.
19:03Things seem to be going really well.
19:04Well, after the first broadcast, there's lots of good feedback.
19:07People are patting the kid on the back.
19:09And I'm doing the games with a guy named Bill Wilkerson.
19:12And I turn to him at this timeout.
19:14And I say, Bill, Spirits appear to have this game well in hand.
19:19But Coach Bob McKinnon taking no chances.
19:21The last thing he wants to see is a repeat of Friday night's blowjob.
19:27And Wilkerson looked at me.
19:29And he was like, his eyes were wide as saucers.
19:32But he didn't say anything to help me out.
19:35And the engineer looks around him and goes like this.
19:39The universal signal in broadcasting would just keep going.
19:42Now my heart is in my throat.
19:43I think, geez, this is a dream job.
19:45And it's done after two games.
19:48I'm going to get fired.
19:49And I finish.
19:59Perhaps Constance's work environment was so lenient because the boss was only 30 years old.
20:06The ABA's Spirit of St. Louis opened the door, not only for the youngest broadcaster in pro sports, but also
20:15the youngest owner.
20:17Dan Silner convinced his brother Ozzie in 1974 to buy a basketball team less as an investment and more as
20:27an extension of their love for the game.
20:31Spirits of St. Louis, that would be you.
20:34That is me.
20:37I guess you'd call me a basketball junkie.
20:39I love the game of basketball.
20:41I always have.
20:42I started to talk about buying a professional basketball team while I was in college.
20:46We went into the fabric business.
20:48My father was in the embroidered business.
20:50And we were successful.
20:52General Mills bought us out in 71.
20:55That gave us the financial wherewithal.
20:58I started to push the point that we should buy a team, buy a team, buy a team.
21:03And after a while, my brother said, OK, let's see if we can make it happen.
21:10The Silner brothers' first attempt to buy a basketball franchise began in the NBA.
21:16Their bid to own the Detroit Pistons ended in defeat when their increasing offering price never met the increasing asking
21:25price of the team owner.
21:28Mr. Zollner wanted $5.1 million for the Pistons.
21:32And we offered him $4,850,000, as I recall it.
21:39And Mr. Zollner turned it down, and that was the end of that.
21:43The ABA league commissioner said, listen, we could use you and the ABA.
21:49Why don't you consider it?
21:50And after a period of negotiation, we bought the team.
21:54I remember standing up on a desk in my office in Munaki, New Jersey, yelling that we did it.
22:00We put the deal together.
22:02And it was great.
22:04It was a childhood dream that had come true.
22:08Ah, I'd be 30 years old again.
22:1130 years old and owning a team.
22:13Yeah.
22:14And I felt more part of it because of my age.
22:18I thought I knew at least as much as everybody else seemed to.
22:22And maybe my ego was that I thought maybe I knew a little bit more.
22:26But I will tell you one of the things I learned after my two years, we had a lot of
22:31talented ballplayers.
22:32And talent is overrated.
22:35The Spirits of St. Louis were a sub-500 team who struggled against the ABA elite.
22:42In 11 matchups against defending champion Dr. J and the Nets, the Spirits lost 11 straight.
22:50Their poor performance on the court did not inspire the fans of St. Louis.
22:56I was proud of our talent.
22:58I was disappointed in the town's response to the team.
23:02We have what is known as a sparse crowd.
23:05We had Marvin Barnes.
23:07We had Freddie Lewis, who's right there.
23:08And look at the stands.
23:11Nobody.
23:15We were at like 20 games under 500.
23:17We were like 30 and 50 for the season with all that talent and barely made the playoffs.
23:22And we had lost every game against the Nets.
23:2511 in a row.
23:27We were 0 and 11 against the Nets, the defending champions with Dr. J.
23:30Very strong team.
23:32When the Spirits of St. Louis made the playoffs, they were less than hopeful to find waiting for them.
23:38In the first round, Dr. J and the Nets.
23:44As usual, the Nets' Julius Erving was giving the Spirits fits.
23:48After losing the opener at New York, the Spirits beat the Nets for the first time ever.
23:53Game 2, retiring the series.
23:55It is an offer that Dr. J out of one of his shot blocks right back in the Kid Doctor's
23:59space.
24:01The charged-up Spirits fans saw a classic in Game 3.
24:05This game is the series' turning point.
24:08The Spirits taking control as the breaks began to go their way.
24:12The Spirits profused to fold, and Nets coach Kevin Lockery was more than a little bit concerned.
24:21As they returned to New York for Game 5, St. Louis held an astonishing 3-1 advantage.
24:28The Spirits, as usual, was astonishing himself.
24:32Battling for their lives in the frantic last minute.
24:35There's Don Adams.
24:35There's Don Adams doing his thing.
24:37The Nets seem to wrap it up as the doctors scored, following an exchange of skills.
24:44But the Spirits got back to within one, and with 18 seconds left, it was Nets' ball out of bounds.
24:50Furving mishandled it.
24:51That's where he falls down.
24:52That's the end.
24:53He loses the ball.
24:54That's the end.
24:54He loses the ball.
24:55And the Spirits had one last chance.
24:58Time ticked away as Freddie looked for an opening.
25:00Freddie never gives the ball up.
25:02There's 16 seconds to go.
25:04Spilling away from Brian Taylor, Freddie popped the do-or-die jumper.
25:10Bingo.
25:11They didn't have any timeouts.
25:13No.
25:15It's Bill Melchione.
25:16Melchione heaving the ball, and he didn't even reach the basket.
25:21There's nothing better than winning.
25:23That day, we put the nail in the coffin of the then-league champions.
25:28The Spirits' victory completed one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
25:32The first-year club had shocked the basketball world.
25:35I'm in the stands behind the Spirits' bench.
25:39I remember vividly celebrating.
25:42The owners were young.
25:44Ozzie and Dan and Harry Weltman, the present thing, are young.
25:48And they wound up in the shower with the players.
25:50And they were celebrating like kids.
25:53I remember the euphoria.
25:55Couldn't believe we had pulled it out.
25:57We won four in a row and eliminated the Nets.
26:00The Spirits won four straight games against Dr. J and the Nets.
26:05And everybody thought that this was the start of something big.
26:09That was the high point.
26:11That was it.
26:12You know?
26:12That was worth it.
26:14Whatever it cost us, was it worth it for that day?
26:16Yes.
26:17Now, I'm going to talk about what happened subsequently.
26:19That day, it was worth it.
26:20Yeah.
26:21That day, it was worth it.
26:22Exactly.
26:25The victory over Dr. J and the Nets was as good as it would ever get for the Spirits of
26:30St. Louis.
26:31They would not win another playoff series in their franchise history.
26:35The two young men for whom the franchise had opened the door
26:39could not have known at the time the greater triumphs that lay in front of them.
26:44One stood on the doorstep of a legendary broadcast career.
26:49The other, 12 months away from making the greatest deal in sports business history.
26:57The ABA wasn't only breaking new ground in St. Louis with the youthful leadership of the Silner Brothers.
27:04In Kentucky, the ABA would smash stereotypes.
27:08As an unconventional source of leadership would prove, she could not only run a franchise,
27:14but could help them realize previously unmet levels of success.
27:20One of the faces of the ABA ownership was John Y. Brown in Kentucky, the magnet of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
27:28John Y. Brown and Ellie Brown are the people that took over Kentucky Fried Chicken and franchised that to the
27:37world.
27:38I'd call all the players, I'd run in, I'd have 15 meals, Kentucky Fried Chicken loaded up.
27:45In the early 70s, the Colonels, like many other ABA franchises, had been losing money.
27:51Under the financial strain, the Brown family prepared to sell the team.
27:56They were going to sell the team to a couple of guys in Cincinnati.
28:01And supposedly, John Y.'s little boy, John, came down to the breakfast table one morning and said,
28:08Dad, it isn't true that the Colonels are leaving town, is it?
28:14Well, I remember it.
28:15My dad came to the door and I rushed out and just said, you know, it's not true that you
28:20sold the Colonels.
28:22You know, tell me it's not true.
28:26And I was kind of teared up.
28:29And he said later, that was the moment he realized how devastating a loss it would be to the whole
28:36community.
28:39It was more than just a business transaction.
28:42It was a huge loss, emotional loss to the city and the state.
28:46And I just, you know, begged with him to please, you can't sell the Colonels.
28:50And I think he realized it was a mistake.
28:54The Colonels were staying put.
28:57But in 1972, John Y. Brown, who is now the team's majority owner, committed to helping run the Democratic Party's
29:05national convention.
29:07Without the bandwidth to run the team, he turned to an unconventional successor.
29:14One owner that was indicative of this ability to pivot and think outside the box was John Y. Brown.
29:20When faced with running a presidential campaign and running the Kentucky Colonels, he had to pick the campaign, of course.
29:28What did he do to sort of maintain the day-to-day operations?
29:33He said, eh, I'll put my wife in charge.
29:47Oh.
29:51A lot of wonderful memories.
29:54Press was very skeptical in the beginning.
29:59We had regular, almost daily interviews with sports writers from all over the country.
30:08When John bought the Kentucky Colonels with four other businessmen, he asked them how they felt about my being chairman
30:15of the board and maybe getting out into the community and being an active owner.
30:20And the men at that time didn't like the idea.
30:25The first day that I went to my office, I found out that the general manager resigned.
30:36He's a great gentleman, very accomplished man.
30:40He's an ex-Marine.
30:41And he built, you know, a lot of what was the organization.
30:46He said, I just don't want to work for a woman.
30:49And so when he left, the coach said, I'm leaving too.
30:54But that's just kind of the way it was, 1973.
31:03Now you got to think this was the early 70s.
31:07Women had not assumed this type of leadership role.
31:10And this was an indication of the ABA doing whatever it had to do to maintain and to survive.
31:18Women went to work in this country shortly before the turn of the century.
31:22Today, most women are still at the same tedious job.
31:26And the executive ranks are still virtually close to them.
31:30A woman can be a success in the business world.
31:33But it takes an exceptional woman.
31:35Women are definitely the biggest wasted talent and energy in this country.
31:41As you can imagine, in the testosterone-driven world of sports, a woman running the team was not looked at
31:51very kindly, and she was killed in the press.
31:53The first day, very first day, I stand up in front, and they start in with their questions.
32:00What do you know about basketball?
32:02I said, I know as much about basketball as my husband knew about frying chicken when he bought Kentucky Fried
32:09Chicken.
32:11When they say, pretty Ellie Brown, it's discouraging, you know, because they're not taking you seriously.
32:18But I had the confidence that I could do what I had planned.
32:24Step one of Ellie Brown's plan, appoint the first all-female board of directors in pro sports history.
32:33Each one of the members of the board of directors was a woman, and they were all community leaders.
32:39Each one of these girls, eight of them, all have college educations.
32:43Every one of them has work.
32:44Their children are now in school, and they're back at that point, you know, before they started their families, where
32:49they had the time to get involved in something.
32:51We were looking for women who knew their way around the community.
32:56Well, they called me because I was president of the Younger Women's Club.
32:59I thought it would be fun, so I said, sure.
33:03Ellie, she was in the office all the time working.
33:07She loved that team, and she made us love it, too.
33:12Step two of Ellie Brown's plan.
33:15Solve the problem the franchise had been having with low fan attendance.
33:21We already had a winning team, so I didn't have to worry about that.
33:25All we needed was to promote the team, help sell tickets, and help gain an audience.
33:32To build an outstanding team, you have to pay a lot of money, and to offset that, you have to
33:36sell a lot of season tickets.
33:38How we started was, we sat down as a group, the board of directors, and we decided we had to
33:44go to the locally owned businesses first.
33:48We said, you've got to buy these tickets, because we need this team.
33:53You know, we need the team to perform, and we need you all to be there.
33:57There have been ladies' nights as a gimmick of things.
34:01Have you planned as a group of women to have a men's night where you can bring your husband for
34:04half price?
34:05No, but I think that's a great idea.
34:07We might do that.
34:09Ellie has always been very charming.
34:11They'd have rallies, and they'd sell tickets.
34:14And all those parties and all that television coverage, ticket sales were good, and it got the community involved in
34:20the team.
34:24In that first year, she doubled ticket sales and tripled season ticket sales.
34:31Under her leadership, the Kentucky Colonels filled Freedom Hall for the first time.
34:37Her board and members, which was all women, was able to develop something really special in bringing about the fans.
34:48We killed them.
34:50We killed them, and we sold a lot of tickets.
34:56I can tell you, I was a little bit skeptic about this whole thing in the very beginning, but I
35:01certainly am not now.
35:03And I don't know six more harder-working ladies than these seated right here in front of you.
35:10There was skepticism in the beginning, and then front page of the paper, the lady is for real.
35:17I like that.
35:18You know, they were ready, I think, to take on the challenge.
35:24That the men had tried and come up a little short.
35:28We were hopeful that we actually could do what we had set out to do, build a house and win
35:36a championship.
35:37The Colonels had been championship contenders for years.
35:42Kentucky had just fallen short of the ABA title in 1971, 72, 73, and 74, twice losing in the finals.
35:54We knew we had great players, but we had some tough breaks, lost some close games, and it was disappointing.
36:02We were devastated, and the organization was too, because they had a hope pin high that, you know, some really
36:12extraordinary things are preparing to start happening now with this nucleus, this group of players that we have.
36:20But for whatever reason, we were not able to do, but for whatever reason, we were not able to get
36:36it done.
36:43Let's face it, you must come to camp with people who are going to challenge the veterans, so you do
36:48not get a complacency.
36:50Ellie hired Hubie Brown, and that was the real difference.
36:55Good shot of Hubie Brown, first-year coach of the Kentucky Colonels.
36:59I was getting my first opportunity to be a head coach in professional sports.
37:03I'll never forget, I came for my second interview, and we're sitting in the dining room at the hotel where
37:10the offices were.
37:12So we're sitting at the table, John White Brown's over here, she's sitting here, I'm sitting here.
37:16All of a sudden, she taps me on the knee, and I look down, and she has a paper with
37:23three years with the salary for each year.
37:27She's doing it while John White Brown's over here talking up the storm, and he doesn't even know this is
37:33happening.
37:33Okay.
37:35He came in with his plan.
37:38He sat there with a yellow pad and just wrote down every play we ran and how successful it was.
37:45He showed it to us, and showed it to us, and showed it to us.
37:52Wait, stop. Help, help. Wait.
37:54Come on, go, go.
37:55Hubie was one of the first who really worked on defense as much as offense.
38:01Basketball is a game of defense, and I take a lot of pride in my defense, and I enjoy playing
38:07defense.
38:08Artis was blocking his jump shots from the baseline.
38:10Guys are shooting baseline jumpers, and he's blocking them.
38:14I mean, I'd never seen anybody do that.
38:16He was insane, and the officials never saw it either because they kept calling goaltending on him.
38:21But it wasn't goaltending because it was just such an insane thing for this guy.
38:25He was amazing.
38:26I mean, he really was.
38:29That two bigs combination really allows us to be effective.
38:35Dan had the versatility to go out on the perimeter and take those shots.
38:42We got pretty comfortable with knowing how each other was going to play, and it was more of a feel
38:48than really a communication.
38:50I mean, I didn't tell Artis, I'm going to cut or I'm going to do this.
38:53I just did it, and Artis already had a feeling for what I was going to do.
38:57And they complimented each other, and it was a great feeling to be able to pass to two big guys
39:05like that.
39:06Louis Dampier with a three-point bomb for Kentucky.
39:09Louis Dampier is the all-time leading three-point shooter in the history of the league.
39:15He went back to the very beginning of the ABA, and he could get his shot off in a telephone
39:21booth.
39:22I mean, he didn't need any room at all.
39:24Louis Dampier, seven-time ABA All-Star, ever an ABA champion.
39:29We've been a runner-up two years, and it's frustrating.
39:32It's something to think about.
39:34But like I say, I know that one of these days I'm going to have that championship ring.
39:43It is a great feeling.
39:45We've got one more series to go with Indiana, and we've got the home court advantage.
39:50I think we can take them, and we're going to be ABA champs, I feel certain.
39:59The rivalry here is intense.
40:01It's just a natural rivalry.
40:03The state of Indiana is the home of basketball in America.
40:06Hopefully, we can win this series and prove that Kentucky really is the basketball capital of the world.
40:19I'm just so excited to get to see this.
40:22This is really special.
40:23Yes, it is.
40:38The second game, 95-93.
40:42The third game, 109-101, back at Market Square.
40:48It's been on Monday night, Indiana pulled off that 94-86 victory, so it's three games to win right now.
40:53Indiana State, right with Kentucky in this all-important fifth game of the ABA championship series.
40:59Turtles up by a pair.
41:01Three-month-off run!
41:03There's a two-on-one break.
41:05This is Issel down the lane, and he's stuck it.
41:09Big Dang getting down the floor.
41:11Now, to take it back, George needed more than that.
41:14Here is McGinnis, knocked it away.
41:16No!
41:16Goal, goaltend it!
41:19Issel, a little fake, getting in a couple more steps.
41:21He got it.
41:2315 seconds to play.
41:25It's 110-105.
41:27The Colonels have that lead.
41:29Going back into Billy Knight.
41:31Knight down in front, missing.
41:32Rebound to Kentucky in the four seconds.
41:34Three, two...
41:37It's all over in Kentucky, and the Colonels are going to hang their first ABA championship banner from the Raptors
41:45in Guida Ball.
41:46They have won it 110-105.
41:49You see the players congratulating each other.
41:53Oh, that's terrific.
41:55You can see the pandemonium in the end of the floor.
41:58We're talking about waiting a long time for him.
42:01Glad to find him here.
42:03Finally, when we won that championship, we got the monkey off of our back.
42:07All I can say is right now I'm stunned.
42:10Tell me about 4 o'clock tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be able to tell you how I feel.
42:14Finally get that championship.
42:17Finally.
42:18Less than a year ago, owner Ellie Brown commissioned a champ.
42:23That's Ellie Brown being introduced.
42:26Ellie Brown was flying high, savoring the thrill of victory.
42:32It was a wonderful experience in my life.
42:35When I think back now, so happy that I had that experience,
42:40and the other women on the board feel the same way.
42:45Real excitement is for the people here in Louisville.
42:47Now, a lot of these people have been around a lot longer than I have,
42:50and they've been waiting and waiting for this.
42:52And when I looked up and saw every seat in the house for tonight, it was great and real.
42:57Ellie Brown.
42:58Ellie Brown, wonderful woman.
43:00And I just happened to have that championship ring on.
43:04You got it out of here.
43:07Everybody contributed to the cause.
43:09It was really fantastic.
43:12It's just an experience to be champion.
43:17What had taken place after so many years and the struggle to reach that point,
43:23and winning that championship, it was just an incredible night.
43:30The people ran down, and they picked up Ellie Brown and ran her around.
43:40All of a sudden, it seems like yesterday.
43:43I still feel it.
43:44Yeah.
43:47A few times in life, you can say you lived through a magical time.
43:53I'm glad I got two.
43:55And I have the curls of my mom to thank for that.
43:58Oh, that's just what he's trying to say.
44:08It was a great moment when we won the championship for not just us.
44:13We weren't thinking that I'm a trailblazer.
44:17But if it has any influence on any young girls coming up,
44:22trying to find their way in the world, I'd just be thrilled.
44:28The idea of Ellie is the idea of having women in positions to make decisions.
44:35It's not a bad thing.
44:36It's good for business.
44:37At the end of the day, if you're worried more about a woman being in charge
44:41than you are about having success, then I question your business practices.
44:47So shout out to what Ellie Brown was able to do in the ABA
44:50for having such an open mind and a progressive thought.
44:57Ellie Brown and the ladies had their happiness that night.
45:01And the amazing thing is after the game,
45:03John Y. Brown came around and said,
45:05I'm challenging the NBA champions.
45:08I said, John, you just won the championship.
45:10Why aren't you celebrating?
45:11He said, I want to set up a championship with the NBA.
45:15The Warriors have done.
45:16The Golden State Warriors have just won the NBA championship.
45:22When the Kentucky girls won the 1975 championship
45:27and the Golden State Warriors also won the championship for the NBA the same year,
45:33we challenged them to a big amount of money,
45:36winner take all, and they wouldn't play us.
45:39And I think we all knew for sure there's only one reason they'd turn that down.
45:45They didn't think they could win.
45:48The NBA's Golden State Warriors may have had reason to be afraid.
45:53In the past three years, the ABA and NBA franchises have begun playing each other in exhibition games.
46:02The results were not what many had expected.
46:09I think the NBA had a superiority complex, but they started playing the interleague games.
46:15I knew by playing those exhibition games, the way we played was better than the way they played.
46:22And that we proved that.
46:24The ABA has so much more talent and athleticism than the NBA.
46:39Trying to swing down the lane, does, misses.
46:41Off to a small start.
46:44They love it inside, turning, firing, scores.
46:48My come-to-Jesus moment, if you will, was an exhibition game that the Celtics played against the Nets.
46:54I was a huge Dave Cowens fan.
46:58And Dave was, in his second year, on his way to begin an MVP in 1973.
47:03And I assumed he was going to kick Billy Pulse's ass.
47:08I thought he was going to show the Whopper who's who.
47:11Didn't happen.
47:13That really shocked me, that Billy Pulse was able to hold his own against Dave Cowens.
47:18And so that was the beginning of, maybe, Bob, maybe you're not thinking about this the right way.
47:22The Kentucky Colonel is competing against the Milwaukee Bucks.
47:26And I think it'll be a very competitive game that you have two centers with his capabilities and also my
47:32capabilities.
47:34It'll be something very interesting.
47:36Lou Alcindor blocking my shot.
47:39Come by with a dunk shot right in my face.
47:42And then to be able to block that hook shot was just that kind of a personal challenge for me.
47:53That was definitely a block shot.
47:55He almost ate that.
47:59The ABA started to win the majority of the games and did the last four years significantly.
48:08Well, they knew that we had better players.
48:11They knew we had a better product.
48:13It was the consensus of opinion by people in the NBA that we had a much stronger direction, even though
48:22we were an A-team league then, than they did.
48:24And frankly, they would like some of our ownership because we have been forceful.
48:29We've been strong.
48:31We seem to have direction.
48:32If we maintain it, we're going to be hell.
48:35We're going to be something else.
48:42The mindset before was, let's just be good enough for them to merge with us.
48:48Now the mindset was, we've got to be better than them if we want to survive.
48:55They looked at every place that they could hurt the NBA.
49:00They took notice when the ABA was taking all the best referees from the NBA.
49:07Somehow, some way, they were coming up with the money to lure those referees.
49:13They looked at the officiating part as, wait a minute, this is a group that's kind of undervalued.
49:18And, you know, and in some cases, underappreciated.
49:22We're going to show them something different here.
49:23Anytime they've got a top young official who's really getting their feet to the point where they're refereeing their high
49:29-level games, we're going to take them away.
49:32So I went to the NBA office, and I walked in, and we sat down, and I told them, I
49:36said, I can't refuse this.
49:41I guess the thought of a Wilt Chamberlain coming to town is a pretty good one for you.
49:45Yeah, we're pleased with it.
49:46We think the ABA is shaping up beautifully.
49:48There's going to be tremendous competition within the league.
49:55And lo and behold, the owner of the team brought in Wilt Chamberlain to be the coach of the San
50:01Diego Conquistadors.
50:02Wilt Chamberlain has been Mr. Everything to basketball as a player, but he himself ruled out the possibility of his
50:08ever-taking-a-coaching job.
50:10Well, the thought of the $600,000-a-year, three-year deal with the ABA San Diego Conquistadors made him
50:16eat those words.
50:18He couldn't play because his contract, the Lakers, had in vain.
50:21If you don't have a break, don't make a break. Take it down yourself.
50:25Coaching an inexperienced expansion club, Wilt has led the cues into the Western Division's cellar.
50:32Mike, about two weeks ago, there was a so-called secret draft held in the ABA.
50:37Is there any purpose in holding a secret draft?
50:41A secret draft, in my opinion, first of all, ought to be kept secret.
50:46The practice was to try to sign college seniors or even college underclassmen to secret contracts while they still were
50:52playing for the NCAA.
50:54They were secret because, of course, they didn't want to have the player or the school forfeit their eligibility,
51:00but they also wanted to make sure that they got their contract in beforehand.
51:04We felt like we were undervalued, not fully respected.
51:09We were also, to a certain extent, battling for our lives.
51:12So that was a bond between us.
51:16I think the owners of the NBA, you know, they felt the threat.
51:22The men of the ABA were driven to challenge and, in many ways, by 1975, surpassed their NBA counterparts.
51:32It was shared faith that kept the league intact.
51:36But one event would occur in the summer of 1975 that would sever the bond that held the ABA together.
51:48The New York Nets and the Denver Nuggets of the American Basketball Association applied for admission to the NBA without
51:55notifying the rest of their league.
51:57The Denver Nuggets and the New York Nets, two of the most successful franchises in the ABA,
52:01petitioned the NBA to be able to be brought into the NBA at that time and basically would have abandoned
52:07their ABA brethren.
52:09No franchise may withdraw from our league without obtaining the consent of the other trustees.
52:14This has not been done.
52:17You know, it comes across like mutiny on the bounty.
52:22I use the word betrayal.
52:24I was betrayed by my partners.
52:32Bear witness to one of the most spectacular events in professional basketball, the Slam Dunk Contest.
52:41That ABA Slam Dunk Contest is one of the most iconic basketball trips we've ever had.
52:48Amid speculation that a merger was near, the two most appealing teams had bashed to the finals in the ABA
52:54playoffs.
52:54Would this be the last hurrah for the red, white, and blue basketball?
52:58Do you see a need for the leagues to merger?
53:01I see a need for basketball and all sports in this country to progress.
53:05I didn't want to see the merger come down like that.
53:08It sort of became like a shark infested water, every man for himself.
53:12I don't think there was fear to a lot of players.
53:14All of a sudden things are crumbling and falling apart.
53:17It was total chaos.
53:21I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:22I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:24I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:26I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:29I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:31I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:32I'm trying to get a lawyer.
53:34Go.
53:35This chopper came with a band.
53:37Losin came in with his 10.
53:39Not dropping no music.
53:40These shit come fans.
53:41Go.
53:42Like how does he do it so clean?
53:44With me off in the skin.
53:45No sippin' no water, no sippin' no lean
53:47I'm tryna get like you
53:49I'm tryna get like you
53:52I'm tryna get like you
53:56I'm tryna get like you
53:57I'm tryna get like you
53:59I'm tryna get like you
54:00I'm tryna get like you
54:04I'm tryna get like you
54:05I'm tryna get like you
54:13I'm tryna get like you
54:15Gracias.
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