“I would say it was gratifying,” Gilmore says now of the title, “sweet, a piece of treasure.” An all-night celebration He cried tears of joy before his teammates retrieved him, bringing him back onto the floor for the celebration. Gilmore would finish his pro career with the best field-goal percentage in ABA/NBA history.Īfter the Colonels topped the Pacers in Game 5 of the finals to win the series, Gilmore retreated to the locker room, overcome with emotion. Gilmore, a smooth, enormous lefty with an unstoppable hook shot, averaged a preposterous 23.6 points, 16.2 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game that season and earned Playoffs MVP honors. “He looked like he was 10 feet tall,” McElwain said. He’d wait around on the floor for players’ autographs, and particularly remembered the 7-foot-2 Gilmore, who would wear a full length fur coat, elevator shoes, and his trademark afro. In 1975, the commonwealth boasted two Final Four college teams - both Kentucky and Louisville made the national semifinals, losing to UCLA - but to McElwain, it was all about the Colonels. That boy would leave, get a stamp on his hand for re-entry, and then stamp a few kids’ hands, who would mimic his move until everyone had access. A group of a dozen kids or so would find a couple dollars to buy a single ticket, and one would enter the game. Tony McElwain was 11 years old, and he recalled scheming to gain entry into the games. “All of these guys - Issel, Gilmore, Dampier - they were all heroes of mine, just like the Lakers were to the kids who grew up in LA,” Higdon said. Steve Higdon, currently the board chair of the NBA 2 Louisville movement, was 12 years old at the time, and he remembers listening to Colonels’ games on a transistor radio, saving box scores and memorizing players’ stats. “Going into that championship season, having not won a championship before that, we were a little bit under-achievers,” Issel said recently. Prior to 1975, though, the Colonels had never taken home the grand prize. In fact, the Colonels won more games than anyone in the league’s nine-year history and, during that stretch, won even more games than the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers. That trio was a previous generation’s Big Three, and since their union in 1971, they’d been among the ABA’s elite. And all of them had been close as Colonels, but had never broken through. So did Gilmore, at Jacksonville, knocking out Issel’s Wildcats on the way. More: Who's on Kentucky's Mount Rushmore of Sports? Here's your chance to voteĭampier played in the NCAA Finals as a UK Wildcat. The Colonels boasted four eventual Hall of Famers that season - Gilmore, Issel, Dampier and the 41-year old coach Brown - and that title was the only one that any of them, or anyone else on the Colonels, for that matter, would win throughout their illustrious careers. The commonwealth has not fielded a major pro team since. The ABA was absorbed by the rival NBA a year later, washing away the Colonels just after they’d reached the pinnacle of the sport. The 1975 title was memorable, redemptive, and, decades later, still singular. "īrown, now an NBA broadcaster, still wears his ABA championship ring when he calls games.įor that season, the Colonels stood alone in the world of hoops. No other team has even come close,” Brown said in Terry Pluto’s book on the ABA,"Loose Balls. “The 1975 Kentucky Colonels were the best team I have ever coached. The following fall, the Colonels defeated the NBA champion Golden State Warriors in a preseason game, and Brown has maintained for decades that his Colonels were the best team on the planet. Brown had their rings engraved with the word “pressure,” for their dominance during crunch time. 1-seed playoff and then running through the postseason, beating George McGinnis and the Indiana Pacers in five games for the title. And they did it here in Louisville, winning 22 of 25 games to close the regular season, beating Julius Erving and the Nets in a No. Return to statistics, team schedules, team rosters, opponents, players, coaches, opposing coaches, officials, games, assistance, Kentucky Basketball Page or search this site.Dampier, Dan Issel and the towering Artis Gilmore led the Colonels to the ABA title 45 years ago, Friday, with a team that the legendary Hubie Brown called the greatest team he ever coached. NCAA Mideast Regional Finals (at Dayton, OH) NCAA Mideast Regional Semifinals (at Dayton, OH) NCAA Mideast Regional First Round (at Tuscaloosa, AL) | Roster | Player Statistics | Game Statistics | Notes: NCAA Runners-Up SEC Champions Participated in the Mideast Region of the NCAA Tournament Manager: Don Adkins, Charlie Allen, Phil Witt, Tripp Ramsey, Bruce Hadden and David Lee ![]() Hall - Īssistant Coach(es): Dick Parsons, Leonard Hamilton, Lynn Nance, Ray Edelman
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