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Verga3
05-07-2008, 09:51 PM
Here's a link from the SI Vault that will put a smile on your face. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1083246/index.htm

The Carolina Cougars were the first regional franchise in professional basketball history. What a rich article. I can just see (and hear) Bones pacing the sidelines.....complete with references to Cunningham, Moe, Miller, Maravich and Verga. Every Bones anecdote I've ever heard is a classic and there a a couple of gems in here. Plus, a great Bones/Verga "communication."

Thanks, SI.

IStillHateJimBain
05-08-2008, 09:47 AM
Sixteen years old with a driver's license and $15 bucks in your pocket, enough to get in the game and get something to eat. If you lived in Virginia near the border like I did, you could be in Greensboro or Roanoke in about an hour and see the most exciting basketball in the world at the time. Choose between the Cougars or the Virginia Squires. Did you want to see "Pogo" Joe Caldwell and the Kangaroo Kid or how about the young Dr. J when he could really elevate before his knees went bad? I don't remember all the names, but I saw John Brisker score 56 for Pittsburgh one night in Greensboro. Some others were Willie Wise and Ron Boone for Utah, Mel Daniels and Roger Brown for Indiana; Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore for Kentucky; Rick Barry for Oakland. These guys could have been and many wound up to be superstars in the NBA. Never been so disappointed as the year the Cougars were supposed to play the Boston Celtics in an exhibition in Greensboro. The players -- including the great John Havlicek -- came out to warm up but could not get any traction on the floor because of condensation from the hockey ice underneath. The Hornets and Bobcats might have brought the NBA to North Carolina but there's no way it's as fun as the ABA was. Get a copy of "Loose Balls" by Terry Pluto. It tells some great stories including one on the late Wendell Ladner of the Nets, who once took out a glass water cooler and wound up with a hundred or so stitches. The team was en route to a game and flying over Washington D.C. He looked down at the 550-foot Washington Monument and said, "Oh, that must be the Washington Post."

Verga3
05-08-2008, 06:27 PM
SI had a seriously talented stable of writers in those days. This article was written by the best, in my mind, Frank Deford. Glad they opened up the Vault.

Anybody else have some old Carolina Cougar anecdotes or memoriies?

Verga3
02-03-2012, 11:16 PM
Just reread Frank Deford's classic SI article again tonight....those were the days.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1083246/index.htm

jv001
02-04-2012, 03:10 PM
I was blessed to help keep stats for the Cougars one game. A couple of friends owned a printing company that had the contract with the team and they got me the job. I was able to meet Caldwell, larry brown, Cunningham, Verga to name a few. Got to eat lunch with Bones, brown and Carnessaca(sp?). As someone mentioned the ABA was much better than the NBA. Great talent and great guys. GoDuke!