LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The lunch invitation came one summer day in the 1990s, after one of the overblown, false-alarm flirtations between Louisville and folks trying to secure a National Basketball franchise.
Which flirtation? I don’t remember.
There have been so many between the mysterious Chinese investors and the expansion franchises that landed in basketball hot beds like Orlando and Vancouver as Louisville sat helplessly on the sidelines.
What I do remember is two of the most influential business leaders in town summoned me to an iconic location for lunch.
The reason?
I learned that at lunch.
I got the message several bites into my sandwich: Politely, but firmly, the two men suggested that I stop writing about my (then) fantasy of Louisville landing an NBA franchise.
It was not going to happen.
They politely and firmly explained why it was not going to happen. First, Louisville was not Indianapolis. Never would be Indianapolis or Nashville.
Indianapolis is the state capital. People in Indiana want Indianapolis to thrive. Nashville is the state capital. People in Tennessee want Nashville to thrive.
Louisville is not the state capital. People outside Jefferson County don’t care if Louisville thrives. Their words, not mine. But these guys understood Kentucky politics much better than I did.
Secondly, those were larger metropolitan areas, home to more companies with more corporate citizens capable and interested in supporting professional sports.
Thirdly, there was not a facility an NBA franchise would find desirable in Louisville. This was years before the KFC Yum! Center was built at Second and Main streets. David Stern was not going to bring the NBA to Freedom Hall.
Fourthly, John Y. Brown, the Colonels' primary owner, did not help the cause in 1976. Rather than fight for Louisville’s inclusion in the NBA/ABA merger, Brown did the right thing for himself, not the city.
He took the $3 million buyout, purchased the Buffalo Braves and later traded the Braves for the Boston Celtics. Shrewd move by Brown. Terrible move for Louisville.
Finally, this was a college sports town as well as a college sports state. The afterglow from the national championships Denny Crum won at U of L in 1980 and 1986 remained powerful. Freedom Hall and Rupp Arena were packed all winter. College basketball is the sports heartbeat here.
After that lunch, I generally stopped writing about Louisville making the leap back into professional basketball with Indianapolis, San Antonio, Denver and New Jersey.
The Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets and Nets were the four franchises that successfully transitioned from the ABA in 1976. The ABA attendance numbers showed that Louisville was as rabid for pro basketball as any of those places. John Y. Brown had his doubts — and his own ideas.
Back to lunch. The two business titans said it was not happening. Stop raising false hopes by writing about it.
Time, circumstances and politics have proven them correct. It has not happened, even as the NBA expanded to 30 franchises, growing into Miami, Memphis, Charlotte, Minneapolis and other locations. The Grizzlies, Hornets and Rockets all flirted with Louisville. Nothing to see here.
Memories of that lunch danced in my mind this week because of the contrasting vibes flashing in Louisville and Indianapolis.
Thursday was the 50-year anniversary of the ABA championship won by the Kentucky Colonels. Lloyd Gardner, the team’s trainer and most persistent keeper of the Colonels’ flame, hosted a celebratory remembrance at the Frazier Museum.
What a terrific team it was. Artis Gilmore. Louie Dampier. Dan Issel. Bird Averitt. Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown.
The Colonels’ locker room was not the only place where you could find people convinced Kentucky was more talented than the Golden State Warriors team that won the NBA championship that spring.
Somebody put up a $1 million challenge for the Colonels and Warriors to decide it on the court. The Warriors declined. We’ll never know.
What we do know is this: The team the Colonels defeated in the ABA Finals was the Indiana Pacers.
Over the last 50 years, Indianapolis has dunked on Louisville as a sports town at every opportunity.
Fetch an NFL franchise? Done, while building, not one, but two domed stadiums.
Host a Super Bowl? Eli Manning and the Giants topped Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen and the Patriots in the 2012 Super Bowl at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Host the Pan-American games, the Olympic track and field trials and the Olympic swimming trials? Check, check and check.
Recruit NCAA headquarters from Shawnee Mission, Kansas? Happened officially in 1999.
Replace Louisville as the city most likely to host the NCAA Final Four?
Let the record show that Louisville hosted a half-dozen Final Fours, starting in 1958, ending in 1969 with John Wooden and Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) winning another title for UCLA. The Final Four has not been back — and won’t be back.
Indianapolis did not join the Final Four fun until 1980 at Market Square Arena (where, coincidentally, Louisville toppled UCLA for the title). That was the first of eight Final Fours the Circle City would host — one at MSA, four at the RCA Dome and three more at Lucas Oil Stadium.
A ninth will be played in downtown Indianapolis next April as well as a 10th in 2029.
Which city is host to the hottest WNBA franchise with the world’s most famous women’s basketball player? Any Caitlin Clark fan can answer that question.
Then there is the party Indianapolis will celebrate Sunday.
The fun will begin with the Indianapolis 500, which will air on Fox and WDRB. But, for basketball fans, the main event will be Sunday at 8 p.m. when Tyrese Haliburton and Pacers try to stretch their advantage to three games to none in the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks.
The surging Pacers’ have already thrashed Cleveland, the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They have outplayed the Knicks, the team that eliminated the defending champion Boston Celtics.
The Pacers certainly appear to be on track to dispatch the Knicks and proceed to the NBA Finals, where Indiana is likely to find the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In a year when Louisville celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Colonels’ ABA triumph, the Pacers are a serious threat to win their first NBA title.
And once again, while Louisville reminisces, Indianapolis takes center stage.
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