Post by John on Jan 16, 2006 20:35:59 GMT -4
This article is from way back on December 9, 2005, but I'm a hound on ABA information, and I thought this was a good read. Hope you like it.
From the Memphis Commercial Appeal...
The Memphis Grizzlies have won six straight games, they're off to the best start in franchise history and they're tied for third in the NBA.
Now comes the true test.
No, not the Dallas Mavericks, silly.
The throwback uniforms.
Can a team wearing the blue and red of the Memphis Pros win an actual NBA game?
"I think they're sharp," said Pau Gasol.
Well, sure. The uniforms look fine. Go buy yours at NBA.com for $74.99.
But what of the karma? What of the losing? What of Wendell Ladner, the 6-2 guard, who was flying into Washington, D.C. one day and saw the Washington Monument outside his window.
"I bet that's the Washington Post," he said.
That's what the Grizzlies are throwing themselves back to, a punchline in short pants, a misbegotten ABA franchise that played five seasons in Memphis, finished dead last in three of them, but did manage to lead the league in nicknames.
The Memphis Pros (1970-72) preceded the Memphis Tams (1972-74) who preceded the Memphis Sounds (1974-75) who preceded oblivion.
"People laughed at them," said Bob Phillips, who works in advertising in Memphis. "I mean, people in Memphis."
Phillips is one of two men who covered the Memphis ABA franchise as a regular beat. The other is ESPN's Woody Paige, which should tell you something.
"We didn't have a lot of wins," Phillips said, "but we had a lot of characters."
Like Johnny Neumann, who was lured out of Ole Miss with two games left in his sophomore year for a five-year deal worth $2 million.
Like Adolph Rupp, who was hired to, well, that's hard to say, exactly.
"They wanted us to say he was scouting," Phillips said. "But he didn't do anything but watch the games and drink back then."
The Pros came to Memphis from New Orleans, where they were called the Buccaneers. Babe McCarthy was the coach. P.L. Blake was the owner.
"He was supposed to be a rich cotton merchant," said Phillips, "but it became pretty clear he didn't have the money."
Enter Charles O. Finley, who bought the Pros after their second year in Memphis. Finley promptly held a contest to rename the team.
"They got bags and bags of entries," said Phillips. "It was like the scene in 'Miracle on 34th Street.'"
The winner was Tams, as in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.
"I remember seeing the winning postcard," Phillips said. "But it came out later that Finley planted the name because he thought he'd be able to sell thousands of tam-o'-shanters."
That's right, tam-o'-shanters, the Scottish hat, only green and gold, and why aren't the Grizzlies giving those away tonight instead of Mr. Potato Heads?
Actual text from a press release under the Finley regime: "Fans attending Tams home games do not have to look long or far to see that Memphis is a first-class operation. It comes at you like Kelly green and California gold usually does. Upon entering the Mid-South Coliseum, a fan is sold a ticket and directed to the main arena by Coliseum staffers outfitted by Charles O. Finley in green blazers, gold slacks and white shoes.
"He is then greeted by a pleasant smile worn by an usherette who is also wearing a gold, form-fitting body shirt, green hotpants and gold boots. He follows quite attentively if not awestruck as he is ushered (or usheretted) to his seat. During pauses in the action, a fan can watch the cheerleaders, or Tamerettes, if you please, kick and dance about in bright gold outfits trimmed in green. They wiggle and twist in step to a variety of musical sounds emitting from a 25-piece band, also decked out in Kelly green, naturally."
Naturally.
But it still didn't work.
"Nothing worked," Phillips said.
Finley offered the players $300 if they'd grow mustaches. He hired Rupp to be team president.
"He was like a cigar store Indian," Phillips said. "If there was a drawing at halftime, he'd be the one who did that."
After two years under Finley, the league took control of the team. The league then sold it to a local group led by Avron Fogelman, Kemmons Wilson and Isaac Hayes.
In Loose Balls, the definitive book about the ABA, former ABA Commissioner Mike Storen -- who resigned as commissioner to run the team -- recalls meeting with Hayes on a Sunday night in Memphis.
"He handed me a bag full of money, I'd say about $50,000," Storen said. "I said, 'It's 10 o'clock on Sunday night. I can't walk out of here into the streets of Memphis with $50,000 in a bag. You're going to have to write me a check.
"He didn't want to write me a check. He said we'd talk about it later and we did, but he never did come across with the check."
The franchise lasted one more inglorious season. Marvin Barnes got 31 rebounds against them in one game and 54 points in another.
The team moved to Baltimore, where it went through two more nicknames (the Hustlers and the Claws) but never even played a game. When a season-ticket drive produced 300 buyers, the team quietly folded.
So that's what the Grizzlies are up against tonight. Phillips isn't sure if he'll stop by and watch.
He'd like to see the uniforms, though. If only for the sake of symmetry.
"They named them the Pros because they wanted to tell the city it finally had a pro team," he said.
Thirty years later, it really does.
From the Memphis Commercial Appeal...
The Memphis Grizzlies have won six straight games, they're off to the best start in franchise history and they're tied for third in the NBA.
Now comes the true test.
No, not the Dallas Mavericks, silly.
The throwback uniforms.
Can a team wearing the blue and red of the Memphis Pros win an actual NBA game?
"I think they're sharp," said Pau Gasol.
Well, sure. The uniforms look fine. Go buy yours at NBA.com for $74.99.
But what of the karma? What of the losing? What of Wendell Ladner, the 6-2 guard, who was flying into Washington, D.C. one day and saw the Washington Monument outside his window.
"I bet that's the Washington Post," he said.
That's what the Grizzlies are throwing themselves back to, a punchline in short pants, a misbegotten ABA franchise that played five seasons in Memphis, finished dead last in three of them, but did manage to lead the league in nicknames.
The Memphis Pros (1970-72) preceded the Memphis Tams (1972-74) who preceded the Memphis Sounds (1974-75) who preceded oblivion.
"People laughed at them," said Bob Phillips, who works in advertising in Memphis. "I mean, people in Memphis."
Phillips is one of two men who covered the Memphis ABA franchise as a regular beat. The other is ESPN's Woody Paige, which should tell you something.
"We didn't have a lot of wins," Phillips said, "but we had a lot of characters."
Like Johnny Neumann, who was lured out of Ole Miss with two games left in his sophomore year for a five-year deal worth $2 million.
Like Adolph Rupp, who was hired to, well, that's hard to say, exactly.
"They wanted us to say he was scouting," Phillips said. "But he didn't do anything but watch the games and drink back then."
The Pros came to Memphis from New Orleans, where they were called the Buccaneers. Babe McCarthy was the coach. P.L. Blake was the owner.
"He was supposed to be a rich cotton merchant," said Phillips, "but it became pretty clear he didn't have the money."
Enter Charles O. Finley, who bought the Pros after their second year in Memphis. Finley promptly held a contest to rename the team.
"They got bags and bags of entries," said Phillips. "It was like the scene in 'Miracle on 34th Street.'"
The winner was Tams, as in Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi.
"I remember seeing the winning postcard," Phillips said. "But it came out later that Finley planted the name because he thought he'd be able to sell thousands of tam-o'-shanters."
That's right, tam-o'-shanters, the Scottish hat, only green and gold, and why aren't the Grizzlies giving those away tonight instead of Mr. Potato Heads?
Actual text from a press release under the Finley regime: "Fans attending Tams home games do not have to look long or far to see that Memphis is a first-class operation. It comes at you like Kelly green and California gold usually does. Upon entering the Mid-South Coliseum, a fan is sold a ticket and directed to the main arena by Coliseum staffers outfitted by Charles O. Finley in green blazers, gold slacks and white shoes.
"He is then greeted by a pleasant smile worn by an usherette who is also wearing a gold, form-fitting body shirt, green hotpants and gold boots. He follows quite attentively if not awestruck as he is ushered (or usheretted) to his seat. During pauses in the action, a fan can watch the cheerleaders, or Tamerettes, if you please, kick and dance about in bright gold outfits trimmed in green. They wiggle and twist in step to a variety of musical sounds emitting from a 25-piece band, also decked out in Kelly green, naturally."
Naturally.
But it still didn't work.
"Nothing worked," Phillips said.
Finley offered the players $300 if they'd grow mustaches. He hired Rupp to be team president.
"He was like a cigar store Indian," Phillips said. "If there was a drawing at halftime, he'd be the one who did that."
After two years under Finley, the league took control of the team. The league then sold it to a local group led by Avron Fogelman, Kemmons Wilson and Isaac Hayes.
In Loose Balls, the definitive book about the ABA, former ABA Commissioner Mike Storen -- who resigned as commissioner to run the team -- recalls meeting with Hayes on a Sunday night in Memphis.
"He handed me a bag full of money, I'd say about $50,000," Storen said. "I said, 'It's 10 o'clock on Sunday night. I can't walk out of here into the streets of Memphis with $50,000 in a bag. You're going to have to write me a check.
"He didn't want to write me a check. He said we'd talk about it later and we did, but he never did come across with the check."
The franchise lasted one more inglorious season. Marvin Barnes got 31 rebounds against them in one game and 54 points in another.
The team moved to Baltimore, where it went through two more nicknames (the Hustlers and the Claws) but never even played a game. When a season-ticket drive produced 300 buyers, the team quietly folded.
So that's what the Grizzlies are up against tonight. Phillips isn't sure if he'll stop by and watch.
He'd like to see the uniforms, though. If only for the sake of symmetry.
"They named them the Pros because they wanted to tell the city it finally had a pro team," he said.
Thirty years later, it really does.