Dr. J: the ABA Years

[ghost of miles]

I was listening to Art Blakey's "Dr. J" (on the recent Sesjun Radio shows CD) and found myself searching YouTube for footage of the good doctor, particularly from his ABA years. I still remember being a little kid and listening to Indiana Pacers games on my transistor radio at night in bed as they played the New York Nets or the Kentucky Colonels (Artis Gilmore, paging Artis Gilmore), and I was actually a little bummed when the ABA folded.

Dr. J: the ABA Years

[paul secor]

I was listening to Art Blakey's "Dr. J" (on the recent Sesjun Radio shows CD) and found myself searching YouTube for footage of the good doctor, particularly from his ABA years. I still remember being a little kid and listening to Indiana Pacers games on my transistor radio at night in bed as they played the New York Nets or the Kentucky Colonels (Artis Gilmore, paging Artis Gilmore), and I was actually a little bummed when the ABA folded.

Dr. J: the ABA Years

I remember watching Julius Erving and the Nets back in the day - Larry Kenon ("Dr. K"), John Williamson ("Super John"), Billy Paultz ("The Whopper"). They were a good and very entertaining team.

[JSngry]

The AFL & the ABA were both glorious, and gloriously maverick, ventures, both eventually swallowed up by their larger corporate competitors.

The lesson? Don't kid yourself about the way things end up, but enjoy the hell out of them before they do.

[T.D.]

Well said.

[Noj]

Dr. J had such soft touch around the basket. And he was way over the rim on some of those dunks. What a player.

[ghost of miles]

The 1973 championship series between the Pacers and the Colonels is one I remember listening to on my transistor radio in bed--a real barn-burner, that one. I caught some of the Pacers games on WTTV-Channel 4 as well.

Here's a good website:

Remember the ABA

Edited October 14, 2011 by ghost of miles