It was the year a team from the state of Kentucky won the only major professional team sport championship in state history, as the 1974-75 ABA season came to an end 45 years ago this week. On May 22, 1975, in front of a nearly packed house at Freedom Hall, the Kentucky Colonels beat the Indiana Pacers 110-105 to take the series 4-1 for the Colonels’ only league title.
The final game saw Artis Gilmore cement his legend in Kentucky basketball history, scoring 28 points and pulling down an amazing 31 rebounds in the game.
Hopkinsville native Bird Averitt was a part of the championship team, scoring just over 8 points per game in the series. In addition to Gilmore and Averitt, the team also featured University of Kentucky legends Dan Issel and Louie Dampier.
Team owner John Y. Brown Jr. reportedly challenged the NBA champion Golden State Warriors to a “world” title game, but did not get cooperation from the Warriors or the NBA.
Sadly, that would be the end of the success story for the Colonels. The league began to lose teams prior to the start of the 1975-1976 season, and after that season, the league merged with the NBA, taking the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, the New Jersey Nets, and the San Antonio Spurs, but leaving the Colonels on the outside.
Watch the title game below.
