Editing American Basketball Association (section)

== History ==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2013}}
[[File:George McGinnis.png|thumb|[[George McGinnis]] ([[Indiana Pacers]]) attempting a shot against the [[Kentucky Colonels]], 1972–73]]
The league was created as a result of numerous groups coming together in the interest of promotion in sports. Constantine "Connie" Seredin of Professional Sports Management (a company specializing in bringing athletes and advertisements together) had wanted to expand sports marketing and the firm came across the idea of a second pro sports league; noting that basketball had no other professional competition in the 1960s besides the NBA. Seredin called up famed basketball star [[George Mikan]] about potentially being an advisor in this theoretical league. While Mikan made no commitment, Seredin left him his phone number just in case.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kuska |first=Bob |author-link= |date=2024|title=Balls of Confusion: Pro Basketball Goes to War (1965-1970) |url= |location= |publisher=From Way Downtown Publishing |page=55-58|isbn=9798990585102}}</ref> Not long thereafter, Seredin was called by [[Dennis Murphy (sports entrepreneur)|Dennis Murphy]], a marketing executive and sports fan that also happened to have called Mikan as well about a sports league. Murphy had initially come up with wanting to secure a football team in [[Anaheim, California]], which led to a group sponsoring a doubleheader game in the city with the [[American Football League]](AFL). But the war that the AFL had with the [[National Football League]] would soon come to a close with a [[AFL–NFL merger|merger]] with no chance of expansion to Anaheim. Not wanting to waste the effort of people who had money and liked sports, Murphy came up with the idea of starting a second basketball league, as it happened to be his favorite sport.

Murphy soon talked with [[Bill Sharman]], who had coached in the last "second basketball league" with the [[American Basketball League (1961–1962)|American Basketball League]] (1961–62) and they came up with the name of the league. While Sharman could not get involved with the ABA at the time due to coaching matters, he suggested talking to Mikan along with suggesting the use of the three-point play (an ABL staple). The eventual meeting with Mikan led to his interest along with mentioning other names interested in business. Murphy initially was just interested in having a league devoted to Western cities to cut into the pro market that had only recently put NBA teams in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Seredin and Murphy later met in a meeting with potential investors that only made Murphy have doubts. But John McShane, a public relations man of McShane Associates, found common ground with Seredin to serve as a go-between for Murphy to forge an actual meeting in organizational form in Beverly Hills under the prospective name of the "United Basketball League". The first meeting at the Beverly Hills Hilton, was held on December 20, 1966 (with the organization going as the "American Basketball Association") that had seen McShane and Seredin leak the meeting to the press to attract attention while Murphy had a few of his associates pose as potential investors. The meeting resulted in a few legitimate investors and later scheduling. It was later that [[Gary Davidson]] (an attorney in Orange County) expressed interest in joining the league, while Mark Binstein served as acting president. Don Regan, a law school associate of Davidson, also joined in.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-xpm-2004-04-05-export13629-story.html | title=Don Regan | website=[[Los Angeles Times]] | date=April 5, 2004 }}</ref> On January 31, 1967, two days prior to a potential press conference, Mikan expressed interest in potentially being league commissioner if the terms were correct. On the day of the intended press conference, the "roll call" of franchises were not all filled with actual buyers, as was the case with Dallas but merely wishes. Kansas City (as envisioned by Murphy), Honolulu (as desired by McShane) and Cleveland were floated as having interest, but none would play in the league (the Kansas City team instead played for different owners in Denver). It was at this time that Seredin and McShane's proposal to be listed in publicity as founders and organizers of the league was denied despite their clear efforts in developing the league.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://from-way-downtown.com/2021/04/20/the-abas-first-organizational-meeting/ | title=The ABA's First Organizational Meeting | date=April 20, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kuska |first=Bob |author-link= |date=2024|title=Balls of Confusion: Pro Basketball Goes to War (1965-1970) |url= |location= |publisher=From Way Downtown Publishing |page=60-72|isbn=9798990585102}}</ref><ref>https://vault.si.com/vault/1967/02/13/labor-pains-of-a-new-league</ref>

Eventually, an array of investors were lined up in several cities: James Ackerman & [[Art Kim]] in Anaheim, Arthur J. Brown in New York (plans fell through to play in the area), the DeVoe family in Indiana, Gabe Rubin in Pittsburgh, T. C. Morrow in Houston, Mamie and Joe Gregory in Kentucky (after the franchise was first founded by Regan), Ken Davidson in Oakland, Charlie Smither (among others) in New Orleans, [[Robert Folsom]] in Dallas, Bill Ringsby in Denver and Larry Shields in Minnesota.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pluto |first=Terry |author-link= |date= 1990|title=Loose Balls |url= |location= |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=39-43|isbn=978-1-4165-4061-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nba.com/nets/news/2016/11/23/nets-history-the-60s | title=The 60s: From Americans to Nets, the ABA Journey Begins {{pipe}} Brooklyn Nets | website=[[NBA.com]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2014/11/26/mamie-reynolds-legendary-asheville-heiress-dies/19540945/ | title=Mamie Reynolds, legendary Asheville heiress, dies }}</ref> Mikan agreed to be commissioner and spearheaded the use of a red-white-blue ball to go along with the three point play. In the press conference on February 2, he stated that while they did not plan to raid the NBA for players, they would invite anyone with no contractual obligations to join and aspired to be a competitor to the league akin to [[General Motors]] competing with [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]. It was Mikan who elected to let players such as [[Doug Moe]], [[Roger Brown (basketball, born 1942)|Roger Brown]], [[Connie Hawkins]], [[Tony Jackson (basketball, born 1942)|Tony Jackson]], and [[Charlie Williams (basketball)|Charlie Williams]] play in the league, stating years later in ''[[Loose Balls]]'' that having investigated their situation of being falsely implicated in gambling, each deserved a second chance in his eyes that Mikan never regretted.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pluto |first=Terry |author-link= |date= 1990|title=Loose Balls |url= |location= |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=81|isbn=978-1-4165-4061-8}}</ref> 

The ABA was conceived at a time stretching from 1960 through the mid-1970s when numerous upstart leagues were challenging, with varying degrees of success, the established [[major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada|major professional sports leagues]] in the United States. Basketball was seen as particularly vulnerable to a challenge; its major league, the NBA, was the youngest of the Big Four major leagues, having only played 21 seasons to that point, and was still fending off contemporary challenging leagues (it had been less than five years since the [[American Basketball League (1961–63)|American Basketball League]] (ABL) shut down); the league, often considered third or fourth in coverage when compared to baseball or football, had just 12 teams at the time the ABA was founded. According to one of the owners of the [[Indiana Pacers]], its goal was to force a merger with the more established league. Potential investors were told that they could get an ABA team for half of what it cost to get an NBA expansion team at the time. When the merger occurred, ABA officials said their investment would more than double.<ref name=encyc>{{cite book |title=The Official NBA Basketball Encyclopedia |publisher=Villard Books |year=1994 |isbn=0-679-43293-0 |page=180}}</ref>
[[File:Roger Brown.jpg|thumb|[[Roger Brown (basketball, born 1950)|Roger Brown]] of the [[Virginia Squires]] dunking a basketball, c. 1973]]
The ABA distinguished itself from its older counterpart with a more wide-open, flashy style of offensive play, as well as differences in rules — a 30-second [[shot clock]] (as opposed to the NBA's 24-second clock, though the ABA did switch to the 24 second shot clock for the 1975–76 season) and use of a [[three-point field goal]], pioneered in the earlier ABL.<ref>[https://www.usab.com/news/2014/01/history-of-the-3-pointer The History of the 3-Pointer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528194833/https://www.usab.com/news/2014/01/history-of-the-3-pointer |date=2023-05-28 }}, USA Basketball, Ryan Wood, June 15, 2011.</ref> Also, the ABA used a colorful red, white and blue ball, instead of the NBA's traditional orange ball. The ABA also had several "regional" franchises, such as the [[Virginia Squires]] and [[Carolina Cougars]], that played "home" games in several cities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Atlanta WildCats - Pro Basketball, Aba Teams, Basketball|url=http://www.atlantawildcats1.com/aba.html|access-date=2021-10-19|website=Atlanta WildCats ABA Pro Men's Basketball Team|language=en}}</ref> The league began with the [[1967-68 ABA season]] on October 13, 1967, with [[Willie Porter (basketball)|Willie Porter]] contributing the first points scored on a tip-in for the [[Oakland Oaks (ABA)|Oakland Oaks]] as they defeated the [[Anaheim Amigos]] 134-129.

The league's practice of luring players with money would spur a war with the NBA. Under the "Dolgoff Plan" (as first used by the [[Indiana Pacers]]), teams would pay a player a certain amount of money over a certain number of years as an annuity (for example, [[Jim Ard]] signed a $1.4 million contract with the Nets that saw him paid $250,000 in total from 1970 to 1974 while the team would put $8,000 a year for ten years where Ard would receive $1.15 million paid to him over the course of 24 years, starting in 1989). Various players such as [[Dan Issel]] and [[Rick Mount]] would be paid in this manner, much to the consternation of jilted executives in the NBA, who even believed the league was paying off agents to help players agree to these contracts, which in select cases was correct. Both leagues went as far as spying to keep tabs on signings.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pluto |first=Terry |author-link= |date= 1990|title=Loose Balls |url= |location= |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=178, 179, 180|isbn=978-1-4165-4061-8}}</ref> Talks of a merger were floated by 1970, with the two leagues even coming to an agreement that would've had ten ABA teams (all except Virginia) merge with the NBA while making payments to the league for ten years. However, the players association sued in the courts (with [[Oscar Robertson]] himself suing [[Robertson v. National Basketball Ass'n|the NBA in 1970]], stating that actions such as the reserve clause (as strongly defended by NBA owners like [[Ned Irish]]) were illegal. The United States Senate Antitrust Subcommittee approved the merger on September 8, 1972, but stated that the reserve clause was illegal. The two leagues soon went back to suing each other and bidding for players.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pluto |first=Terry |author-link= |date= 1990|title=Loose Balls |url= |location= |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=424|isbn=978-1-4165-4061-8}}</ref> 

In the 1973–74 season, the ABA also adopted the no-disqualification foul rule: instead of fouling out after six infractions, when a player is charged with his seventh or succeeding fouls, the opposing team attempts a free throw and retains possession.<ref>{{Cite news |title=A.B.A.: New Chief, New Nets, New Rule |work=The New York Times |date=14 October 1973 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/14/archives/aba-new-chief-new-nets-new-rule-western-division.html |access-date=2024-03-07 |language=en |last1=Goldaper |first1=Sam |archive-date=2024-02-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229172044/https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/14/archives/aba-new-chief-new-nets-new-rule-western-division.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The ABA also went after four of the best referees in the NBA: [[Earl Strom]], [[John Vanak]], [[Norm Drucker]] and [[Joe Gushue]], getting them to "jump" leagues by offering them far more in money and benefits. In Earl Strom's memoir ''Calling the Shots'', Strom conveys both the heady sense of being courted by a rival league with money to burn — and also the depression that set in the next year when he began refereeing in the ABA, with less prominent players performing in inadequate arenas, in front of very small crowds. Nevertheless, the emergence of the ABA boosted the salaries of referees just as it did the salaries of players.

However, ABA teams like the Nets, Colonels, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets, and Stars, especially in later seasons, registered higher attendance on average than most NBA teams at that time (excluding the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, SuperSonics and Bucks).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.apbr.org/attendance.html|title=NBA/ABA Home Attendance Totals|website=apbr.org|author=|date=March 7, 2024|access-date=2024-03-07|archive-date=2024-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201001051/https://www.apbr.org/attendance.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The freewheeling style of the ABA eventually caught on with fans, but the lack of a national television contract and protracted financial losses would spell doom for the ABA as an independent circuit. Before the 1975–76 season, the Nuggets and Nets filed applications to join the NBA, but their overtures were rejected. The Robertson suit was finally settled in February 1976 that removed a stumbling block for a merger talk. In 1976, its last year of existence, the ABA pioneered the now-popular [[slam dunk contest]] at its [[all-star game]] in [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pluto |first=Terry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VrBVzp8aRBYC&dq=History+of+Aba+book+slam+dunk+all+star+game&pg=PA9 |title=Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association |date=2007-11-06 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4165-4061-8 |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Ollie Darden and Doug Moe.jpeg|thumb|[[Doug Moe]] of the [[Carolina Cougars]], 1969–70]]

The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason, albeit at a high price. Four ABA teams were absorbed into the older league: the [[New York Nets]], [[Denver Nuggets]], [[Indiana Pacers]], and [[San Antonio Spurs]].  As part of the merger agreement, the four teams were not permitted to participate in the [[1976 NBA draft]]. The merger was particularly hard on the Nets; the [[New York Knicks]] were firmly established in their arena, [[Madison Square Garden]], and would not permit the Nets to share dates there. For drawing audience away from the Knicks, the Nets were forced to pay $4.8 million to the Knicks organization. The Nets offered league superstar [[Julius Erving]] instead, but the Knicks declined. The Nets had to settle for an arena in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]], and to meet expenses were forced to sell the contract of Erving to the [[Philadelphia 76ers]]. The four teams were also denied national television cotnract money for the next three seasons. 

Two other clubs, the [[Kentucky Colonels]] and the [[Spirits of St. Louis]], were disbanded upon the merger, with each getting a buyout: the Colonels received a one-time buyout that owner [[John Y. Brown, Jr.]] used to purchase the NBA's [[Buffalo Braves]], while the Spirits owners (most significantly lawyer [[Donald Schupak]]) negotiated a cut of the other ABA teams' television revenues in perpetuity. This deal netted the ownership group of the Spirits over $300 million over nearly four decades due to a large increase in television revenues. In 2014, the NBA and the Spirits ownership agreed to phase out future payments in exchange for a one-time payment of $500 million, making the total value for the deal over $800 million.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2014/01/07/the-nba-finally-puts-an-end-to-the-greatest-sports-deal-of-all-time/#65d11a51acd8|title=The NBA Finally Puts An End To The Greatest Sports Deal Of All Time|last=Burke|first=Monte|newspaper=Forbes|access-date=2016-12-11|archive-date=2016-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161218022519/http://www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2014/01/07/the-nba-finally-puts-an-end-to-the-greatest-sports-deal-of-all-time/#65d11a51acd8|url-status=live}}</ref> The seventh remaining team, the [[Virginia Squires]], received nothing, as they had ceased operations shortly before the merger.  The players from the Colonels, Spirits, and Squires were made available to NBA teams through a dispersal draft; the four teams absorbed by the NBA were allowed to choose players from this draft, albeit with all NBA teams picking by the inverse order of their win-loss percentages.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PmIsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hooFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2750,1122551|title=Barnes, Malone Top Dispersal Draft List|date=August 4, 1975|newspaper=Herald-Journal|access-date=July 26, 2010}}</ref>

One of the more significant long-term contributions of the ABA to professional basketball was to tap into markets in the southeast that had been collegiate basketball hotbeds (including [[North Carolina]], [[Virginia]], and [[Kentucky]]). The NBA was focused on the urban areas of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. At the time, it showed no interest in placing a team south of Washington, D.C., other than the [[Atlanta]] metropolitan area where the NBA's [[Atlanta Hawks|Hawks]] franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1968.

=== Commissioners ===
* [[George Mikan]] 1967–1969
* [[James Carson Gardner]] 1969 ([[Interim management|interim]])<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sportsecyclopedia.com/aba/carolina/cougars.html |title=Sports Encyclopedia |access-date=2012-07-19 |archive-date=2018-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003033121/http://sportsecyclopedia.com/aba/carolina/cougars.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Jack Dolph 1969–1972
* Bob Carlson 1972–1973
* [[Mike Storen]] 1973–74
* Tedd Munchak 1974–75
* [[Dave DeBusschere]] 1975–76

NBA great Mikan was the first commissioner of the ABA, where he introduced both the 3-point line and the league's [[trademark]] red, white, and blue basketball.<ref name=espn>{{cite web |title=ESPN Classic: Mikan was first pro to dominate the post |url=https://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2005/0602/2074322.html |access-date=2007-12-04 |archive-date=2017-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802025809/http://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2005/0602/2074322.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Mikan resigned in 1969. DeBusschere, one of the stars of the New York Knicks championship teams, moved from his job as vice president and GM of the ABA's New York Nets in 1975 to become the last commissioner of the ABA and facilitate the [[ABA–NBA merger]] in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nba.com/history/players/debusschere_bio.html |title=Dave DeBusschere Bio |access-date=2008-03-09 |work=[[National Basketball Association|NBA.com]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411151339/http://www.nba.com/history/players/debusschere_bio.html|archive-date=11 April 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule ===
One of the primary contributions of the ABA to modern NBA was the introduction of the [[Haywood v. National Basketball Association|Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule]], which would later become the framework for the current [[Eligibility for the NBA draft|NBA draft eligibility]] system that allows players to declare for the NBA after being one year removed from their high school graduation.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.draftsite.com/nba/rules/ |title=NBA Draft Rules |website=DraftSite.com |access-date=2018-05-04}}</ref> The origin of the Hardship Rule was a result of the NBA prohibiting players from joining the league until they had completed their four years of college eligibility.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Loose balls : the short, wildlife of the American Basketball Association |last=Pluto |first=Terry |date=2007 |publisher=Simon & Schuster Paperbacks |isbn=978-1416540618 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=153578380}}</ref>

In 1969, [[Spencer Haywood]] left the University of Detroit as a sophomore and signed with the Denver Rockets.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |url=http://extras.denverpost.com/spencer-haywood/index.html |title=Spencer Haywood: Denver's greatest forgotten star |work=The Denver Post |access-date=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2018-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506211828/http://extras.denverpost.com/spencer-haywood/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ABA believed that in extenuating circumstances, such as a financial situation or familial needs, players should be able to leave for professional leagues early.<ref name=":0" /> While the NBA and NCAA initially contested the rule, after the courts ruled in favor of Haywood playing in the ABA, the NBA followed suit and relaxed the four year rule to allow players to enter the league if they qualified as a hardship on the basis of "financial condition...family, [or] academic record."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.espn.com/classic/s/moment010624four-year-rule.html |title=NBA modifies "four-year rule" for hardship |website=ESPN Classic |author=Larry Schwartz |date=November 19, 2003 |access-date=2018-05-02 |archive-date=2018-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505070055/http://www.espn.com/classic/s/moment010624four-year-rule.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Haywood paved the way for other players to enter the ABA before they had completed their collegiate careers such as [[George McGinnis]] and Julius Erving. Today, the "one-and-done" rule in the NBA can be traced back to the ABA's decision to allow players to leave college early and pursue a professional career before they had completed their collegiate careers.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/sports/basketball/spencer-haywood-rule-nba-draft-underclassmen.html |title=Early Entry? One and Done? Thank Spencer Haywood for the Privilege |last=Rhoden |first=William C. |date=2016-06-29 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-05-02 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2018-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505071524/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/sports/basketball/spencer-haywood-rule-nba-draft-underclassmen.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Slam Dunk Contest ===
[[File:Julius Erving Nets (3).jpeg|thumb|[[Julius Erving]] performing a [[slam dunk]] against the [[Spirits of St. Louis]], 1974]]
The ABA pioneered the advent of the now popular [[Slam Dunk Contest|NBA slam dunk contest]] at the final ABA All-Star Game in 1976.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nba.com/allstar2005/dunkcontest_76.html|title=The One That Started It All|website=www.nba.com|access-date=2018-05-02|archive-date=2012-04-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423212902/http://www.nba.com/allstar2005/dunkcontest_76.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The game was held in Denver, and the owners of the ABA teams wanted to ensure that the event would be entertaining for the sellout crowd of 15,021 people.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> The ABA and NBA had begun to discuss a possible merger,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/nba-aba-merger/|title=The ABA is long gone, but it remains the soul of the NBA|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-05-04|archive-date=2018-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180505070434/https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/nba-aba-merger/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the ABA owners wanted to establish the viability and success of their league.<ref name=":0" /> The Dunk Contest operated as a means of unique halftime entertainment that displayed the style and excitement that the ABA players brought to the game. The dunk contest was held at halftime of the All-Star game and the contestants were [[Artis Gilmore]], [[George Gervin]], [[David Thompson (basketball)|David Thompson]], [[Larry Kenon]], and [[Julius Erving]].<ref name=":3" /> The winner of the contest received $1,000 and a stereo system.<ref name=":0" /> Julius Erving went on to win the competition by completing the now famous free throw line dunk. The Slam Dunk Contest would make its way to the NBA in 1976–77 as a season-long competition for that season only, and on a permanent basis as a standalone event as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend in 1984.