The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA) for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did not join the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1976 ABA–NBA merger. The downtown Louisville Convention Center was the Colonels' venue for their first three seasons before moving to Freedom Hall for the remaining seasons, beginning with the 1970–71 schedule.
The 1970 NBA draft was the 24th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on March 23, 1970, before the 1970–71 season. In this draft, 17 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. The first two picks in the draft belonged to the teams that finished last in each division, with the order determined by a coin flip. The Detroit Pistons won the coin flip and were awarded the first overall pick, while the San Diego Rockets were awarded the second pick. The remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. Three expansion franchises, the Buffalo Braves, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Portland Trail Blazers, took part in the NBA Draft for the first time and were assigned the seventh, the eighth and the ninth pick in each round. In the first round, the Cavaliers had the seventh pick, while the Blazers and the Braves had the eighth and the ninth pick respectively. In the subsequent rounds, the Cavaliers and the Braves exchanged their order of selection, while the Blazers had the eighth pick throughout the draft. The draft consisted of 19 rounds comprising the selection of 239 players; it holds the record for the most prospects selected in any NBA draft.
Artis Gilmore Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Gilmore was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August 12, 2011.
Rex Everett Chapman is an American former professional basketball player and social media influencer. Chapman was a high school star in Kentucky, winning many awards for his play. In two seasons at the University of Kentucky, he won further awards and scored more than 1,000 points. Chapman was the first draft pick of the expansion Charlotte Hornets and played on four National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. Over his 12-year career, he averaged 14.6 points per game and appeared in two slam dunk competitions.
Michael Scott Doleac is an American former professional basketball player.
Ronald Bruce Boone is an American former professional basketball player. He had a 13-year career in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Boone set a record for most consecutive games played in professional basketball history with 1,041 and claims to have never missed a game from when he started playing basketball in the fourth grade until his retirement. Boone is the current color commentator on Utah Jazz broadcasts.
Louis Dampier is an American retired professional basketball player.
Warren Jabali was an American basketball player. He played professionally in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1968 to 1975.
Clyde Wayne Lee is an American former professional basketball player who had his most success as an All-American center at Vanderbilt University, where the two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year was among the most heralded players in school history. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1965 NBA draft and a one-time NBA All-Star, playing ten seasons in the league.
Larry Nelson Steele is a former professional basketball player, best known for being on the Portland Trail Blazers team that won the 1977 NBA Finals.
Thomas Porter Thacker is an American former basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cincinnati Royals and the Boston Celtics from 1963 to 1968, and from 1968 to 1971, for the American Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers. He is the only player to have played on an NCAA championship team, an ABA championship team, and an NBA championship team.
Randolph Mahaffey is an American former professional basketball player.
Alan Leroy Hairston is an American former professional basketball player and a college and high school head coach. His high school coaching career has garnered him multiple league, district and state championships, as well as numerous individual awards.
Lawrence T. Cannon is an American retired basketball player. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Cannon was selected in the first round of the 1969 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls with the fifth overall pick. Cannon was an American Basketball Association All-Star, who averaged 16.6 points per game in his ABA/NBA career after his All-American career at LaSalle College. Cannon was forced to retire from basketball due to a chronic medical condition, phlebitis in his legs.
The Florida State Seminoles men's basketball team represents Florida State University in the intercollegiate sport of basketball. The Seminoles compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
James "Joe" Hamilton Jr. is an American former professional basketball player.
John Russell Fairchild is a retired American basketball player.
Michael Price is an American former professional basketball player. He played for three seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. Price played college basketball for the Illinois Fighting Illini and was selected in the first round of the 1970 NBA draft by the New York Knicks. He is the older brother of fellow NBA player Jim Price.
Jim Rose was an American professional basketball player. After playing college basketball for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (1968–1971), Rose was the eleventh overall pick of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association in the 1971 NBA draft.
Joseph Bergman is an American former basketball player and psychiatrist. He was a highly recruited prospect while playing at St. Mary's High School in his hometown of Clinton, Iowa, and is considered one of Iowa's best high school basketball players. Bergman played college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Creighton Bluejays. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA) but elected to pursue a career in psychiatry over playing professional basketball. Bergman worked at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, New Hampshire, for 24 years until his retirement in 2015.
