It's the 50th Anniversary of the Kentucky Colonels ABA Championship

It’s a golden anniversary for the Kentucky boys in red, white, and blue. On this date in 1975, the Kentucky Colonels won the ABA Championship.

The star-studded Louisville team was no stranger to the top spot in the ABA. They were knocking on the door, reaching the ABA Finals in ’71 and ’73, but failed to bring home the title after falling short in a pair of game sevens. In their third appearance, they didn’t need a game seven.

Fans filled Freedom Hall to watch Artis Gilmore and Co. take down the Indiana Pacers. The 7-foot-2 center had 28 points and 31 rebounds in the 110-105 victory. Two former Kentucky Wildcats played their part in the final game. Louie Dampier had 12 points and 12 assists, while Dan Issel tallied 16 points and grabbed 12 boards.

The Pacers had ABA MVP George McGinnis, but they were clearly the inferior team, narrowly avoiding a sweep with a game four victory in Indianapolis. The Colonels had four future Hall of Famers: Gilmore, Issel, Dampier, and head coach Hubie Brown. Brown said the ’75 Colonels were the best he ever coached.

“This was the epitome of what a team should be. It had the power game, it had the fast-breaking game, great perimeter, outstanding defense,” Brown said at a reunion in 2005.

Unfortunately, time was ticking on the franchise. The ABA only lasted for one more season. The Kentucky Colonels were the best team, but Louisville was not the best market for the NBA merger. Will Ferrell’s Semi-Pro satirized the ABA-NBA merger experience. Ironically, the Colonels finished in fourth place in their final season, the same spot the Tropics were seeking in the Flint Michigan Mega-Bowl.

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Odd Kentucky Connections

Following the final season with the Kentucky Colonels, Dampier spent three years with the San Antonio Spurs. Like the Spurs, the Nuggets joined the Pacers and the Nets as the four teams who made the leap to the NBA. Issel was traded to Denver for the final ABA season, then spent the next 10 years becoming a Nuggets legend.

Many players were entered in a pool to be drafted by NBA teams. That’s how Gilmore landed with the Chicago Bulls. He made five NBA All-Star Games before retiring as a Boston Celtic in 1988.

Long before Issel and Artis dominated the paint in the same uniform, the latter played NCAA Tournament spoiler for the former. Dan Issel is the most prolific scorer in Kentucky basketball history, but he never made a Final Four. Kentucky was the No. 1 team in the AP Poll when they faced off against Jacksonville in the 1970 Mideast Regional Finals. Issel out-dueled Art, scoring 28 points, but Gilmore’s Jacksonville squad left with a win 106-100 win, ending Issel’s illustrious college basketball career. I’m sure that was never brought up in the locker rooms at Freedom Hall.