What happened to the Kentucky Colonels?

We look at the history of the Kentucky Colonels, who won more regular season games than any other ABA team but continuously failed in the postseason until finally winning a championship in 1975 with Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and coach Hubie Brown.

We are joined by Adam Johnson of Basketball Pantheon and talk about the wacky early history of the Colonels, including their show dog mascot Ziggy and a publicity stunt involving jockey Penny Ann Early becoming the first woman to play in a pro men’s game, and  discuss the dynamic backcourt of Darel Carrier and Louie Dampier, the original Splash Brothers who were early pioneers of 3-point shooting. 

We go through the key points of the team’s 1971 through 1976 seasons, the recruitment of University of Kentucky star Dan Issel, a surprise run to the Finals under Boston Celtics legend Frank Ramsey, adding premier big man Artis Gilmore and his giant Afro, storming to the greatest regular season in ABA history in 1972 but falling to an upstart New York Nets team led by Rick Barry, the infamous Wendell Ladner poster doing his best Burt Reynolds imitation, classic seven-game playoff battles with Billy Cunningham’s Carolina Cougars and interstate rival the Indiana Pacers in 1973

We also discuss new owner John Y. Brown putting his wife and a 10-woman board of directors in charge, the wonderful sayings of coach Babe McCarthy, how ahead of the times Hubie Brown was as a coach, the Colonels finally delivering under pressure and winning the 1975 title, how it took a bit of luck for them to do it, how the 1976 season went sour, a fight between Hubie Brown and Maurice Lucas, and why John Y. Brown decided to fold the team rather than try to get the Colonels into the ABA.