Over And Back: Stories About Nba History

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 Ba