MEMORIES OF MARK MAHAGAN: "Cincy Powell, Jim "Goose" Ligon, Walt Simon, Wendell Ladner, Bird Averitt, Les "Big Game" Hunter, Wil Jones, Jim McDaniel, Mike Pratt, Jimmy Dan Conner, Ron "The Plumber" Thomas. 99 out of 100 people would have never heard of any of these former Colonels, but I think of them often. My Dad would tape ABA games (with a tape recorder -- not a VCR, of course) and replay them every morning while he got ready for work. I vividly remember the voice of Van Vance with the call. Van is still around on WHAS radio in Louisville. Freedom Hall was the site of many of my favorite memories. We had season tickets for a couple of years. They were the Colonels glory years with the likes of Little Louie, Big Dan and Artis. I remember the songs the cheerleaders danced to (Free Ride, Fly Robin Fly, etc). But most of all, I can't forget the second saddest day of my young life (the 1st was when the Colonels didn't join in the NBA merger). The Night Dan Issel Was Traded. I'm practically in tears as I recall this. I was out at Louisville Downs when the PA announcer told the stunned crowd that The Horse had been traded to the Baltimore Claws. How could the management betray us loyal fans? To this day, I blame this ill-fated decision as the main reason the Colonels weren't absorbed by the older league."

"Mr. Excitement" Wendell Ladner was one of the Colonels' most popular players. (ABA publicity photo courtesy of Jon Singer)

MEMORIES OF DENNIS OECHSLI: "I was a gym rat growing up in Louisville and was always going to Kentucky Colonels games whenever I could beg, borrow or talk my future father-in-law out of his seats. I remember going to a playoff game one Sunday evening. The Colonels were in a rather tight game when 'Mr. Excitement' Wendell Ladner checked in. He hadn't been in the game but a few minutes when he made one of his patented diving saves of an errant pass directly in front the the Colonels bench. He saved the ball but crashed back first into the water cooler next to the bench. At this time, the bottles on the top of the cooler were made of glass. The bottle smashed to the floor and Wendell landed on the shards of broken glass. He jumped up quickly and tried to get back to the floor but the trainer stopped him because he was bleeding profusely from gashes in his arm. Play was stopped and Wendell was led to the locker room soaked in blood. The crowd was silent figuring that this was the last they would see of Wendell. Thirty minutes later, he came sprinting back to the bench with as I remember over 100 stitches in his arm. He begged to re-enter the game, but sanity prevailed and Wendell was placed at the end of the bench for his own protection."

MEMORIES OF JIMMY WILCOX: "When I was a young boy trying to understand the game of basketball in a roundball crazy state like Kentucky, I saw a televised playoff game between the Colonels and the Virginia Squires. That Virginia team had the Ice Man and the Doctor, both at once. Kentucky was about to win in a blowout when Issel cleared a board and fed an outlet to none other than....WENDELL LADNER! Wendell was wide open for an uncontested layup. Instead he dribbled under the basket from the righthand side, and did not take the shot. He went all the way out to the left corner...the DEEP left corner. From there he heaved up the most ridiculous three pointer I've ever seen! Perfect ABA basketball. Some of the best memories of my life were spent listening to Van Vance late at night on a little radio out in the country. Oh, and by the way, Ladner missed the shot."

MEMORIES OF KIRK A NIENABER: "It was April 1974. I was 9 years old and drove with my older brother to see Game 3 of the Eastern Division final between the Colonels and the Nets. We sat in the upper end of Freedom Hall behind one of the baskets. The Colonels were down 2-0 in the Series, and Dr J. threw in a fall away basket at the buzzer to win the game 90-88 (I think). I'll never forget it. I was so excited because I grew up in Cincinnati and was just starting to become a Royals fan when they left--So the Colonels became my team, and I was disappointed when the NBA didn't bring them in."

MEMORIES OF BILL WETHERBEE: "Kentucky Colonel games were broadcast over WHAS, Louisville, a powerful 50,000 watt clear-channel station whose signal on winter evenings carried all the way to my home in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. The games were done by the legendary Cawood Ledford and Van Vance, in a time well before we had cable television or any other widespread access to televised sports broadcasts. Their calls of Colonels' games brought the ABA to life for a distant fan. They made the ABA a reality to basketball fans in the Northeast, where the league was largely ignored by the local press."

MEMORIES OF SANDY CHESS: "Growing up in Eastern Queens, New York, I was a huge Nets fan from 1969 onward. I attended most Nets home games from 1972 until the end. In following the ABA, I would listen as often as I could to Van Vance doing Colonels games on WHAS. I picked up the broadcasts pretty easily at night. By the way, I was able to meet Van at Nets games. In fact, one time he put me on his "Star of the Game Show" after he talked with Dr.J. Van would do that type of thing with fans around the country from time to time."

MEMORIES OF JIMMY SAND: "I live here in Louisville, home of the Kentucky Colonels. I really don't have one special memory. But I do remember the heated rivalry with the Pacers, how McGinnis could palm a ball like a grapefruit, Gervin's finger roll, and how David Thompson could dominate a game. I also remember all my favorite Colonels: Issel, Gilmore, Dampier, Carrier, and Lucas. And I recall the sadness when Wendell Ladner died; he really hustled every minute he was on the court. But what sticks out in my mind (and I'm not sure how many times it really happened) is that every time we played against Dr. J (whether he was with the Squires or the Nets), he always seemed to beat us with a last second shot."

MEMORIES OF RICK FURLONG: "I'm 38 years old and was born in Louisville. I remember getting floor seats to a Colonels game behind the basket. I was a big Dan Issel fan. On one particular play Issel rolled to the basket but the pass went behind him, and the ball landed in my lap. Dan looked real mad and turned to look where the ball went. He saw me with the ball, gave me a big smile, and I noticed his front teeth were missing. I then held up the ball, and he came over and asked me for it and rubbed my head. I was young then and that was my greatest ABA memory."

The 1975 Kentucky Colonels Championship Ring. (photo courtesy of Broadway Rick's Strike Zone)

MEMORIES OF JOHN HARRELL: "I'm one of a number of young Louisvillians (I turn 31 in February 1997) who grew up considering the Kentucky Colonels the most important part of my team sports life. My favorite Colonels memory was going to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals in 1975, watching the Colonels chew up the Spirits of St. Louis, and going home safe in the knowledge that an ABA championship would finally be ours. I still have most of my Colonels memorabilia, from a pennant which is old and frayed, but is also framed and hanging in my study, to a piece of plaster board my dad cut out for me. I used it to get all the players' autographs at a preseason gathering in downtown Louisville before that 74-75 title season."