David Vance has interesting background
In a previous life, former Remington Park general manager David Vance was with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association.
David Vance is going to have an enjoyable few days. His old Kentucky Colonels are getting back together.
Vance is the long-time Oklahoma City resident who was general manager of Remington Park when pari-mutuel horse racing came to OKC in 1988. Vance now is owner of Vance Management LLC.
But in a previous life, Vance was with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association. He started out in public relations and ended up as general manager.
The ABA was a startup league that rivaled the NBA from 1967-76. It finally folded, with four teams merged into the NBA— the Spurs, Nuggets, Nets and Pacers. The Colonels were the marquee franchise of the ABA— fabulous players like Artis Gilmore, Dan Issel and Louie Dampier; they were coached by Hubie Brown— but owner John Brown took a $3 million buyout rather than pay $3 million to join the NBA. Brown took that $3 million and bought the Celtics for $1.5 million. Sounds like a deal.
Anyway, this week in Louisville, the Colonels are staging a 50thanniversary celebration.
“They are bringing everyone who ever wore a Colonels uniform or worked for the Colonels in for three days, concluding with us serving as Honorary Parade Marshals for the Kentucky Derby Festival Pegasus Parade on Thursday,” Vance wrote me. “I told a friend in Louisville he couldn't miss our float; 40 or so oversized old farts wheezing and slobbering and waving like a beauty queen. I'm really looking forward to it. Haven't seen some of those guys for 40 years.”
Gilmore, Issel and Dampier are in the Basketball Hall of Fame. All three are scheduled to attend.
“FYI, there is a group in Louisville that is totally committed to getting an NBA franchise,” Vance wrote. “Dan has even moved to Louisville from Denver to help.”
Brown, still calling NBA games for ESPN, won’t be able to join the reunion. He’s needed elsewhere.
Vance was prompted to write after I blogged about my friend Brad Fees being a part owner of My Boy Jack, who is running in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.
“An interesting aside,” Vance wrote. “Our rooms, if we were paying, would be $139 a night. If we stayed Thursday night, the room would go to $1,899x3 (required) = $5,697. Your friend needs to hope that My Boy Jack at least finishes in the money. Artis and my wife and I are driving to Cincinnati after the parade, spending the night and heading home so I can watch the Derby on TV. I figure I've been to 20 or more and that's enough.”
Over the years, I’ve written some about the ABA. They had no television contract and little newspaper coverage. So what I learned about the ABA came from basketball cards. But the Colonels were a solid franchise. In the four years that Gilmore and Issel played together, 1971-75, the Colonels averaged 8,213 fans in Louisville’s Freedom Hall.
If Louisville ever indeed gets an NBA franchise, it has to be called the Colonels.