Spirits of St. Louis

Spirits of St. Louis
Spirits of St. Louis
Conference	Eastern Conference
Division	East Division
Founded	1967
History	Houston Mavericks; 1967–1969; Carolina Cougars; 1969–1974; Spirits of St. Louis; 1974–1976 ; Utah Rockies ; (proposed)
Arena	St. Louis Arena
Location	St. Louis, Missouri
Team colors	Burnt orange, white, black;
Team manager	Harry Weltman
Head coach	Bob MacKinnon ; (1974–1975) ; Rod Thorn (1975) ; Joe Mullaney (1976)
Ownership	Ozzie and Daniel Silna
Championships	None

The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as a charter member in 1967 as the Houston Mavericks before a shift to the Carolinas in 1969 to play as the Cougars. They were one of two teams still in existence at the end of the ABA that did not survive the league's merger with the National Basketball Association (NBA). They were a member of the ABA in its last two seasons, 1974–75 and 1975–76, while playing their home games at the St. Louis Arena. Under terms of the ABA–NBA merger, the owners of the Spirits continued to receive a portion of NBA television revenue until 2014, when a revised agreement was reached with the league.^[1]

History

The Spirits (who took their name from the

1967-68 season

.

The Spirits were a colorful team featuring a number of players, both on and off the court, who were fairly successful in their basketball careers. Among them were

Basketball Hall of Fame. Maurice Lucas spent most of his time in the ABA as a Spirit, then later became an all-star in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers. Other well-known players that played for the team included former Boston Celtics sixth man Don Chaney, future Celtics head coach M. L. Carr, and Ron Boone, who held the record for consecutive games played in pro basketball for many years. One of the most colorful players on the team was forward Marvin Barnes

, famous for stories about his off-court behavior and lack of understanding of time zones.

A couple of off-court personalities from the team became well known as well. One of the coaches in 1975 was former NBA player Rod Thorn, who became the NBA's vice president of basketball operations (in essence, the league's chief disciplinarian and the number-two man behind commissioner David Stern) for a number of years. On radio, the team featured Bob Costas as its play-by-play announcer on KMOX. Costas would go on to a highly successful career working for NBC television and radio.

After a slow start in their inaugural season, 1974–75, the Spirits reached the playoffs with a late rush, then upset the defending ABA champion

Salt Lake City, Utah as the Utah Rockies

.

NBA merger

In the summer of 1976, with the ABA at the point of financial collapse, the six surviving franchises (the Virginia Squires went bankrupt immediately after the final season) began negotiating a merger with the NBA. But the senior circuit decided to accept only four teams from the rival league: the Nets (the last ABA champion), Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs.

The NBA placated

Plain Dealer, and $255 million as of 2012 according to The New York Times.^[2] (The NBA nearly succeeded in buying out the Silnas in 1982 by offering $5 million over eight years, but negotiations stalled when the siblings demanded $8 million over five.) On June 27, 2007, it was extended for another eight years, ensuring another $100 million+ windfall for the Silnas. In 2014, the Silnas reached agreement with the NBA to greatly reduce the perpetual payments and take a lump sum of $500 million. In the last few years before the lump sum agreement, the Silnas were receiving $14.57 million a year, despite being owners of a team that hadn't played a game in over 40 years. (The Silnas will, however, still be receiving a now much smaller portion of the television revenue through a new partnership with the former ABA teams the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs.)^[3]

Documentary

On October 8, 2013,

streaming video (the Silnas dropped the suit when the NBA bought their rights out). As a result, – and on the advice of their attorneys – the Silnas refused to be interviewed for the program, directed by Daniel Forer

. However, many players, members of management, and Costas – among others – shared their memories of the franchise.

Basketball Hall of Famers

Spirits of St. Louis Hall of Famers
Players
No.	Name	Position	Tenure	Inducted
13	Moses Malone	C	1975–1976	2001
Coaches
Name		Position	Tenure	Inducted
Rod Thorn ¹		Head coach	1975	2018

Notes:

¹ Inducted as a contributor.

Season by season

ABA Champions	ABA Finals Appearance	Division Champions	Playoff Berth

Season	League	Division	Regular Season				Postseason Results
Season	League	Division	Finish	Wins	Losses	Pct.	Postseason Results
Houston Mavericks
1967–68	ABA	Western	4th	29	49	.372	Lost Division Semifinals (Dallas, 0-3)
1968–69	ABA	Western	6th	23	55	.295
Carolina Cougars
1969–70	ABA	Eastern	3rd	42	42	.500	Lost Division Semifinals (Indiana, 0-4)
1970–71	ABA	Eastern	6th	34	50	.405
1971–72	ABA	Eastern	5th	35	49	.417
1972–73	ABA	Eastern	1st	57	27	.679	Won Division Semifinals ( NY Nets, 4-1) Lost division finals (Kentucky , 3-4)
1973–74	ABA	Eastern	3rd	47	37	.560	Lost Division Semifinals (Kentucky, 0-4)
Spirits of St. Louis
1974–75	ABA	Eastern	3rd	32	52	.381	Won Division Semifinals ( NY Nets, 4-1) Lost division finals (Kentucky , 1-4)
1975–76	ABA		6th	35	49	.417
Regular Season				334	410	.449	1967–1976
Playoffs				12	18	.400	1967–1976

References

^ "Silna Settles Longtime NBA Dispute for $500M". The Malibu Times. Apr 16, 2014. Archived from the original on December 19, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
^ Sandomir, Richard (September 7, 2012). "No Team, No Ticket Sales, but Plenty of Cash Former A.B.A. Owners Ozzie and Daniel Silna Earn Millions From N.B.A." The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
^ "Former ABA teams, NBA and Spirits of St. Louis announce conditional settlement". PR.NBA.com (Press release). NBA Media Ventures, LLC. January 9, 2014. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.

External links

[1] "Silna Settles Longtime NBA Dispute for $500M". The Malibu Times. Apr 16, 2014. Archived from the original on December 19, 2017. Retrieved April 15, 2022.

[2] Sandomir, Richard (September 7, 2012). "No Team, No Ticket Sales, but Plenty of Cash Former A.B.A. Owners Ozzie and Daniel Silna Earn Millions From N.B.A." The New York Times. Retrieved January 26, 2018.

[3] "Former ABA teams, NBA and Spirits of St. Louis announce conditional settlement". PR.NBA.com (Press release). NBA Media Ventures, LLC. January 9, 2014. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.

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