The Carolina Cougars were a basketball franchise in the American Basketball Association that existed from 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Carolina in late 1969 after two unsuccessful seasons in Houston at the Sam Houston Coliseum.
Matthew Edward Fish is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Washington Bullets. He played collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and was drafted in the 1992 NBA Draft to the Golden State Warriors.
Douglas Edwin Moe is an American former professional basketball player and coach. As a head coach with the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 1988.
William John Cunningham is an American former professional basketball player and coach, who was nicknamed the Kangaroo Kid for his leaping and record-setting rebounding abilities. He spent a total of 17 seasons with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, and two seasons as a player with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA.
Alvin Austin Attles Jr. was an American professional basketball player, coach, and executive who spent his entire career with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed the "Destroyer", he played the point guard position.
Samuel Jones was an American professional basketball player who was a shooting guard for the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A five-time NBA All-Star, for his quickness and game-winning shots, especially during the NBA playoffs, he was nicknamed "Mr. Clutch" and "the Shooter". Jones has the second most NBA championships of any player (10), behind only his teammate Bill Russell (11). He was also one of only three Celtics to be part of each of the Celtics' eight consecutive championships from 1959 to 1966. Jones is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Charles Henry Bibby is an American former professional basketball player who played for the New York Knicks, New Orleans Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, and San Diego Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also spent a season as a player-assistant coach for the Lancaster Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA).
Louis Clyde Hudson was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player, who was an All-American at the University of Minnesota and a six-time NBA All-Star, scoring 17,940 total points in 13 NBA seasons.
Robert Kauffman was an American professional basketball player and coach. Kaufmann was a three-time NBA All-Star.
Eugene Scape Littles was an American basketball player and coach. He played six seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Carolina Cougars and Kentucky Colonels between 1969 and 1975. Littles won an ABA championship with the Colonels in 1975. He later coached in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, and Denver Nuggets.
York Bruno Larese was an American basketball player and coach.
Charles Thomas Scott, also known as Shaheed Abdul-Aleem, is an American former professional basketball player. He played two seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Scott was an Olympic Gold Medalist and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. Scott is the leader in most points per game with 24.8 in Suns franchise history.
John Michael Green, nicknamed "Jumpin' Johnny", was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans, earning consensus second-team All-American honors. He was a four-time NBA All-Star.
Charles Hentz is an American former professional basketball player.
Randolph Mahaffey is an American former professional basketball player.
The South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball team represents the University of South Carolina and competes in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Gamecocks won Southern Conference titles in 1927, 1933, 1934, and 1945, and then they gained national attention under hall of fame coach Frank McGuire, posting a 205–65 record from 1967 to 1976, which included the 1970 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship, the 1971 ACC Tournament title, and four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 1971 to 1974. The program also won the 1997 SEC championship, National Invitation Tournament (NIT) titles in 2005 and 2006, and a share of the 2009 SEC East division title. Most recently, the Gamecocks won the 2017 NCAA East Regional Championship, reaching the Final Four for the first time in school history. Lamont Paris is the current head coach, and the team plays at the 18,000-seat Colonial Life Arena.
Rick Wanamaker is an American track and basketball athlete who won the decathlon in the 1971 Pan American Games, and blocked a shot against Lew Alcindor in the 1969 NCAA national basketball semi-finals.
Charlie Yelverton is a retired American professional basketball player. At a height of 1.88 m tall, he played as shooting guard-small forward. He is a member of the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame.
Gregory Jackson was an American basketball player. He won a collegiate national championship at Guilford College and later played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Joseph Daniel Talbott was an American professional football and baseball player. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he was a quarterback for two seasons with the North Carolina Tar Heels football team and was named the ACC Player of the Year in 1966. Talbott also led the Tar Heels baseball team to the College World Series in 1966. He also played basketball for North Carolina on their freshmen team, but gave up the sport to concentrate on football and baseball. He was drafted in the 17th round of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers, but did not sign a contract with the team and played baseball professionally in the Baltimore Orioles's minor league system instead. His NFL draft rights were traded to the Washington Redskins for a 10th round draft pick on March 5, 1968, but during training camp he was called into active service duty for the United States Army Reserve and missed the entire season. He spent the 1969 season on the Redskins' taxi squad, and was released during final roster cuts before the start of the 1970 season on August 10, 1970.
