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42-700: The Houston Mavericks were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA). They played in the upstart league's first two seasons, from 1967 to 1969 . Their home arena was the Sam Houston Coliseum . In 1947–48, there was an unrelated Mavericks franchise based in Houston as part of the Professional Basketball League of America . The Mavericks were one of the first ABA franchises, announced on February 2, 1967, when

84-625: 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 arc , pioneered in the earlier ABL. 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. In

126-426: A financial situation or familial needs, players should be able to leave for professional leagues early. 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.” Haywood paved

168-471: A game in Kansas City due to the lack of a suitable arena. In addition to the four surviving ABA teams, eight current NBA markets have ABA heritage: Utah , Dallas , Houston , Miami , New Orleans , Memphis , Minnesota , and Charlotte all had an ABA team before their current NBA teams. With the ABA cut down to seven teams by the middle of its final season, the league abandoned divisional play. In 1999,

210-593: A member of the United States House of Representatives for just one term from 1967 to 1969 and served as the 30th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina 1989 to 1993. Gardner was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina . He attended public schools and North Carolina State University . Gardner served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955. In May 1961, Gardner, along with Joseph Leonard Rawls Jr., opened

252-511: A new league calling itself the ABA 2000 was established. The new league uses a similar red, white and blue basketball as the old ABA, but unlike the original ABA, it does not feature players of similar caliber to the NBA, nor does it play games in major arenas or on television as the original ABA did. James Carson Gardner James Carson "Jim" Gardner (born April 8, 1933) is an American businessman and politician from North Carolina who served as

294-627: The New York Nets 149–132. The 149 points was an all-time high for the Mavericks; the 89 fans was an all-time low. Another notable mark during the season was the Mavericks hitting 43 consecutive free throws. The streak began with 7 straight in a double overtime victory over the Minnesota Pipers on January 16, 1969. The next night on the road against the New York Nets the Mavericks went 36 of 36 from

336-621: The North Carolina Senate . In September 2011, Gardner endorsed the (ultimately unsuccessful) 2012 candidacy of Wake County Commissioner Tony Gurley for lieutenant governor . As an "elder politician ," Gardner has been called one of the "Four Jims" of the North Carolina Republican establishment, the others being former Governors Holshouser and Martin and former U.S. Sen. Jim Broyhill . (Holshouser died in 2013) In January 2013, Gardner served as master of ceremonies at

378-490: The inauguration ceremony for newly elected Gov. Pat McCrory , Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and other members of the North Carolina Council of State . The ceremony celebrated the return of Republicans to the governor's office for the first time since Gardner's defeat in 1992. Forest also became the first Republican Lieutenant Governor since Gardner (Democrats Dennis A. Wicker , Bev Perdue , and Walter H. Dalton served in

420-564: 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 retains possession and the offended team attempts any free throw. 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

462-463: 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. In 1976, its last year of existence, the ABA pioneered the now-popular slam dunk contest at its all-star game in Denver . The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason. Four ABA teams were absorbed into

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504-627: The ABA was formed. They were owned by businessman T. C. Morrow. One of the minority partners was Bud Adams , who owned the Houston Oilers of the American Football League . Houston native and former NBA great Slater Martin was hired as general manager and head coach. The Mavericks got off to an inauspicious start during the first ABA draft. Martin arrived in Oakland to represent the team, only to find out that Morrow and his group hadn't sent

546-563: The Compaq Center) in 1975. While at The Summit, the Rockets achieved their greatest success in the 1980s and 1990s, winning two championships in the latter decade. Since 2002, the Rockets have played their home games at the Toyota Center . The team's name, Mavericks, would later be used by NBA's Dallas expansion team when they joined NBA during the 1980–81 NBA season . (Coincidentally, Dallas

588-721: The Knicks, the Nets were forced to pay $ 4.3M 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 . Two other clubs, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis , were disbanded upon

630-512: The Mavericks several players in hopes of making them more attractive to fans. Martin, who had teamed with Mikan on the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1940s and 1950s, didn't appreciate this intervention from the league office and resigned a month into the season. Art Becker served as player-coach for a few games until Jim Weaver took over for the rest of the campaign. The team's already dreadful attendance dropped even further. Average attendance

672-577: The NBA after being one year removed from their high school graduation. 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. In 1969, Spencer Haywood left the University of Detroit as a sophomore and signed with the Denver Rockets. The ABA believed that in extenuating circumstances, such as

714-504: The NBA and the Spirits ownership agreed to phase out future payments in exchange for a one-time payment of $ 500M, making the total value for the deal over $ 800M. 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;

756-594: 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. Of the original 11 teams, only the Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers remained for all nine seasons without relocating, changing team names, or folding. However, the Denver Larks/Rockets/Nuggets , a team that had been planned for Kansas City, Missouri , moved to Denver without playing

798-711: 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 Nets, Colonels, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets and Stars, especially in latest seasons, registered higher attendance on average than most of NBA teams at that time (excluding Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, SuperSonics and Bucks). The freewheeling style of

840-649: The United States. Basketball was seen as particularly vulnerable to a challenge; its major league, the National Basketball Association , 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 (ABL) shut down). According to one of

882-468: The final ABA All-Star Game in 1976. 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. The ABA and NBA had begun to discuss a possible merger, and the ABA owners wanted to establish the viability and success of their league. The Dunk Contest operated as a means of unique halftime entertainment that displayed

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924-621: The first Republican elected lieutenant governor since Charles A. Reynolds , who served from 1897 to 1901. Gardner served from January 1989 to January 1993, during the second term of Republican Governor James G. Martin . In response to the election of Republican Gardner, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly transferred many of the powers of the Lieutenant Governor over to the President Pro Tempore of

966-665: The first franchise store of the fast food restaurant Hardee's in Rocky Mount, North Carolina . Later, in 1969, he bought the troubled Houston Mavericks of the American Basketball Association and moved them to North Carolina a year later as the Carolina Cougars . Active in Republican politics from the days the party barely existed in North Carolina, Gardner first made a splash when he ran for Congress in 1964 and nearly defeated 30-year Democratic incumbent Harold D. Cooley ,

1008-452: The four teams absorbed by the NBA were allowed to choose players from this draft. 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

1050-423: The franchises disbanded, its players put into a dispersal draft. Houston would have a more successful attempt at big-time basketball when the NBA's Rockets arrived from San Diego . However, the Rockets were consigned to vagabond status for their first four years in Houston after declaring Sam Houston Coliseum unsuitable even for temporary use. They finally moved into their new arena, The Summit (later known as

1092-497: The last three months of the season, they attracted well under 400 fans per game. Not surprisingly, the Mavericks were wretched on the court, finishing with a record of 23–55, second-worst in the league. However, the season was not without individual highlights. Willie Somerset again played in the ABA All Star Game. The Houston Mavericks played their final game on April 2, 1969, before only 89 fans (announced attendance), defeating

1134-429: The line. The streak ended with the team's first free throw against the Kentucky Colonels on January 18, 1969. The free throw streak and mark for a single game remain to this day as unbroken professional basketball records. During the 1968–69 season, the league sold the team to a group led by Jim Gardner , who intended to move the team to North Carolina . However, he agreed to finish the season in Houston. Shortly after

1176-402: 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 negotiated a cut of the other ABA teams' television revenues in perpetuity. This deal netted the ownership group of the Spirits over $ 300M over nearly four decades due to a large increase in television revenues. In 2014,

1218-480: 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

1260-519: 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. The ABA distinguished itself from its older counterpart with a more wide-open, flashy style of offensive play, as well as differences in rules —

1302-749: The powerful chairman of the United States House Committee on Agriculture . Gardner was a former Democrat in his early life, but took advantage of the time at American politics where the GOP were gaining momentum in the South. In 1966, Gardner (by then chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party ) toppled Cooley by a shocking 13-point margin to represent a district that included Raleigh, North Carolina as well as his home in Rocky Mount. He

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1344-636: The required $ 30,000 bond. By the time Martin was able to get the money through other channels, he'd missed the first four rounds and was forced to recruit players from the Eastern Basketball Association (later known as the Continental Basketball Association ). Not surprisingly given the rough start, the Mavericks had a somewhat mediocre season, finishing 29–49, good for fourth place in the Western Division. However, this

1386-577: The season ended, Gardner moved the team to North Carolina as the Carolina Cougars . After a few years in North Carolina the team moved to St. Louis and competed as the Spirits of St. Louis . After the 1975–76 season, the Spirits announced that the franchise would move to Salt Lake City to play as the Utah Rockies , but the ABA–NBA merger did not include the Spirits/Rockies or the Kentucky Colonels and

1428-591: 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. One of the primary contributions of the ABA to modern NBA was the introduction of the Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule , which would later become the framework for the current NBA draft eligibility system that allows players to declare for

1470-494: 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 , Larry Kenon , and Julius Erving . The winner of the contest received $ 1,000 and a stereo system. 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

1512-452: The team was lucky to attract 500 fans on most nights. Morrow made a considerable effort in the offseason to improve the team, aggressively pursuing Houston Cougars stars Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney . However, when they both opted for the NBA instead, Morrow turned the team back over to the league. ABA commissioner George Mikan was concerned enough about the situation in Houston that he sent

1554-458: 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 Hawks franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1968. NBA great George 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. Mikan resigned in 1969. Dave DeBusschere , one of

1596-424: 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. The ABA pioneered the advent of the now popular NBA slam dunk contest at

1638-557: Was actually enough to make the playoffs. They went down rather meekly to the Dallas Chaparrals in the Western Division semifinals, losing three games to none. Willie Somerset and DeWitt Menyard of the Mavericks played in the ABA All-Star Game. Houstonians viewed the Mavericks largely with indifference. Average attendance was listed as 1,543, easily the worst in the league. It took some effort to get even to that low figure;

1680-471: Was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 1968, 1972, and 1992. In both 1968 and in 1992, he won the Republican nomination, but lost to Democrats Robert W. Scott and Jim Hunt , respectively. In 1972, he lost the nomination to James Holshouser , the first of only two Republican governors of North Carolina in the 20th century. In 1988, Gardner defeated Democrat Tony Rand and became

1722-447: Was officially reported as 1,147, the worst in the league. However, it was almost certainly lower than that; many observers reported seeing "crowds" in double digits. According to most reliable sources, the Mavericks padded the gate for most of the early-season games to make the attendance figures look more respectable than they actually were. As the season wore on, however, the Mavericks were less willing to embellish their attendance. During

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1764-477: Was the hometown of the ABA's Dallas Chaparrals , who later became the San Antonio Spurs .) Notes: Note: W = wins, L = losses, % = win–loss % American Basketball Association 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

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