The 1975–76 Spirits of St. Louis season was the second and final season of the Spirits of St. Louis franchise in the American Basketball Association out in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as the ninth and final season of the franchise when including the couple of seasons they played as the Houston Mavericks while in Houston, Texas and the majority of the time they spent as the Carolina Cougars while representing the state of North Carolina as a regional franchise. Early on in the season, the Spirits had discussed the possibility of merging franchises with the Utah Stars, which would have likely saved the Stars franchise at the cost of wiping out the Spirits franchise, but assurances by St. Louis mayor John Poelker that the team would go and finish their season properly ultimately had the Spirits call off the merger plans and subsequently led to the Stars folding as a franchise on December 2, 1975 and have the ABA remove divisions for the rest of the season going forward. Despite the team being led by star players like Marvin Barnes, Moses Malone, Ron Boone and Caldwell Jones, the Spirits would finish their final season of play with a 35–49 record, falling to a sixth place finish (being well ahead of only the Virginia Squires in terms of teams that would actually complete their regular seasons properly (even though the Squires would have a game lost on their schedules during the season)) and being four games behind the Indiana Pacers from taking the final spot available for the truncated 1976 ABA Playoffs. Once the season officially concluded, the team initially planned on moving to Salt Lake City, Utah to become the Utah Rockies for the ABA before the ABA-NBA merger ultimately had them and the Kentucky Colonels be left behind as surviving ABA teams from joining the National Basketball Association (NBA) properly due to their poor attendance as a franchise. Despite the Spirits/Rockies folding operations after many of their best attempts to join the NBA came and went, the Silna brothers would end up receiving a deal that came through the merger that would be perceived as one of the best deals ever made in the process.
Offseason ABA Draft
Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 5 Gus Williams PG United States USC 2 15 Rudy White SG United States Arizona State 3 25 Rudy Hackett PF United States Syracuse 4 35 Tom Roy C United States Maryland 5 45 Larry Fogle G United States Canisius College 5 46 C. J. Kupec PF/C United States Michigan 6 55 Allen Jones SF United States San Diego 7 65 Allen Spruill SG United States North Carolina A&T State 8 75 Ted Hathaway G United States Cleveland State The Spirits of St. Louis also had the opportunity to use a bonus draft pick that they had acquired back when they first lost Billy Cunningham to the Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA back when the Spirits were originally the Carolina Cougars, but they ultimately declined using their bonus pick entirely (likely for monetary purposes).
Preseason transactions Don Chaney of the Boston Celtics, signed in September 1974 to a three-year contract starting with the 1975–76 season, joined the Spirits Rod Thorn hired as head coach M.L. Carr signed as a free agent, July 31, 1975
Preseason exhibition games Like most ABA teams, the Spirits of St. Louis played preseason exhibition games against NBA squads.
On October 8, 1975, the Spirits for the first time faced their in-state rivals, the Kansas City Kings, in Columbia, Missouri. Marvin Barnes had 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Spirits; Nate Archibald had 24 points for the Kings. The Spirits won, 95–90.ABA vs. NBA Exhibition Results at RememberTheABA.com
On October 17, 1975, the Spirits and Kings met again, this time in Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. The Kings won the rematch, 114–108.
On October 18, 1975, in Carbondale, Illinois, the Spirits played the Philadelphia 76ers. St. Louis' Maurice Lucas had 21 points and 15 rebounds; Philadelphia's Billy Cunningham - who had played in the ABA for the team the Spirits displaced, the Carolina Cougars - led the 76ers with 15 points. The Spirits won, 107–91, in what would be their final game against an NBA team.
Roster
Regular season Season standings + Team W L PCT. GB Denver Nuggets * 60 24 .714 — New York Nets * 55 29 .655 5 San Antonio Spurs * 50 34 .595 10 Kentucky Colonels * 46 38 .548 14 Indiana Pacers * 39 45 .464 21 Spirits of St. Louis 35 49 .417 25 Virginia Squires † 15 68 .181 44 San Diego Sails † 3 8 .273 — Utah Stars † 4 12 .250 — Baltimore Claws † 0 0 .000 — Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team † did not survive the end of the season.Bold – ABA champions1975-76 ABA Season Summary - Basketball-Reference.com1975-76 ABA Regular Season Standings at RememberTheABA.com
Month by Month October 1975 On October 24, 1975, the Spirits opened their season before 5,003 fans at home against the New York Nets. New York's Julius Erving led all scorers with 27 points and the Nets won 109–94. The next night in Denver the Spirits lost to the Denver Nuggets 108–101; 12,202 saw David Thompson put in a game-high 33. The following night, October 26, 1975, the Spirits gained their first victory of the season, before only 1,144 fans in St. Louis. Maurice Lucas' game-high 25 points led the Spirits past the San Diego Sails 101–85.
On October 29, 1975, the visiting Spirits won at Hampton Roads, Virginia, against the Virginia Squires, 104–100 in overtime. Willie Wise led all scorers with 38. The Spirits closed out the month on October 31 with a road game against the New York Nets which the Spirits won 120–116 in their second overtime game in a row, in spite of Julius Erving's game-best 42 point performance. The Spirits entered the second month of the season with a 3–2 record.
November 1975
December 1975
January 1976
February 1976
March 1976
April 1976 On April 2, 1976, though no one knew it at the time, the Spirits notched the final victory in franchise history with a 110–109 victory over the Virginia Squires. St. Louis' home crowd was only 1,388; Ticky Burden led all scorers with 28. The next night in Louisville the Spirits lost 106–102 to the Kentucky Colonels. 5,190 fans saw Artis Gilmore lead all scorers with 28 points. The next night, April 4, 1976, though unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the Spirits played their final home game, drawing 2,010 fans for a close overtime loss to the Kentucky Colonels, 106–105. Moses Malone led all scorers with 32 points.
On April 6, 1976, the Spirits played the final game in the team's history, losing in the Hampton Roads to the Virginia Squires, 120–116, before 2,448 fans. Mike Green was the game's leading scorer with 25.
Player statistics Legend
Season Player GP GS MPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
ABA Playoffs The Spirits of St. Louis would be one of only two ABA teams to complete their regular season to miss the 1976 ABA Playoffs, as well as became the only ABA team that missed the ABA Playoffs that year to survive their entire season and later officially missed out on joining the NBA entirely after missing the 1976 ABA Playoffs in the first place, surviving up to and including the league's playoff period unlike the Virginia Squires.
Awards and records Awards Marvin Barnes, 1976 ABA All-Star Game Ron Boone, 1976 ABA All-Star Game Maurice Lucas, 1976 ABA All-Star Game M. L. Carr, 1976 ABA All-Rookie Team
Records On November 9, 1975, the homestanding Spirits faced the San Diego Sails in what turned out to be the final game in Sails franchise history. St. Louis won, 95–92, before only 1,194 fans. On November 29, 1975, the visiting Spirits faced the Utah Stars in what turned out to be the final game in Stars history. Utah won, 136–100, before 4,683 fans. On March 5, 1976, David Thompson of the Denver Nuggets, against the Spirits, set an ABA record with 21 points in the first quarter. Denver won at home 137–125; attendance was 13,522. On March 10, 1976, against the Spirits, the New York Nets' Jim Eakins had his consecutive game streak ended at 490. St. Louis won at home, 99–95, before 7,702 fans.
Transactions Draft and preseason signings
Trades Moses Malone, Ron Boone, Randy Denton and Steve Green purchased from the Utah Stars, December 2, 1975 Gus Gerard sold to the Denver Nuggets, December 18, 1975 Rod Thorn, with a 20–27 record, replaced as head coach by Joe Mullaney Maurice Lucas traded to the Kentucky Colonels for Caldwell Jones, December 17, 1975
Legacy and Aftermath In May 1976, due to attendance problems in St. Louis and with the ABA-NBA merger pending, the Spirits announced that they were going to move to Salt Lake City, Utah, to play as the Utah Rockies when a lease agreement for the Salt Palace was first arranged for them.RememberTheABA.com Spirits of St. Louis page This followed an attempted merger of the Spirits and the Utah Stars franchise during the 1975–76 season, a merger that, had it occurred, contemplated the team leaving St. Louis for Utah to likely be a part of the longer-lasting and more successful Stars franchise.Pluto, Terry, Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association (Simon & Schuster, 1990), , pp.386-387 In another effort to be included in the ABA-NBA merger, the Silna brothers proposed selling the Spirits to a Utah group, buying the Kentucky Colonels franchise from John Y. Brown, Jr. (who had met his wits ends with the Colonels and their hopes on them joining the NBA by that point in time), and moving the Colonels to Buffalo to replace the Buffalo Braves, who were then planning to move to Hollywood, Florida.RememberTheABA.com Spirits of St. Louis Detailed Year to Year Notes page A third effort on the Silna brothers' end to have them join the NBA had them propose that they move the Spirits to Hartford, Connecticut (who were home to the New England Whalers WHA franchise at the time) instead, but that was also rejected due to the Boston Celtics being adamant on another franchise encroaching upon nearby territory of theirs that they promote their games under.