The renegade ABA league challanged the NBA in the 1970's for the top talent in basketball. The crazy newly formed league was among the last legendary leagues in all of sports. It was filled with colorful characters and rich narratives. Here are my 10 favorite stories about the ABA.
1) John Brisker vs Football Player
John Brisker was less of a player and more of a storm in a jersey. He could score, sure but what he was really known for was fighting. At one point, he was the most feared man in the ABA and probably the NBA too. When he played for Pittsburgh, the team couldn’t control him. Management was so desperate they hired a retired NFL lineman to keep him in line. That backfired fast.
In one early season practice, the two got into it. Words were exchanged. Then came threats. Then came guns. Both men ran to their cars to grab them. Practice was canceled. The lineman never came back.
2) Wendell Latner Poster
Wendell Ladner was the Burt Reynolds of the ABA. Look him up. Women swooned, men wanted to be him. The Kentucky Colonels saw a marketing opportunity and ran with it.
They made a poster Ladner shirtless, wearing only his Colonels shorts, laid across a locker room bench with a red, white, and blue ABA ball in hand. It was a hit. Sold out fast. The team followed up with a special program filled with “artistic” poses and a signature: With love, Wendell Ladner. It worked. He became a fan favorite. Not just for his game but for the mustache, the swagger, and the smirk. They are still a collectors item today.
3) Tweety Threatened Twice By Gun While Sleeping
During the 1970 ABA Finals, one player — let’s call him Tweety — had a very long night. He was rooming with a teammate. Harmless, until he woke up with a gun pointed at his head. The teammate had heard something — thought Tweety was racist — and wasn’t letting it go. Tweety tried to explain it was a misunderstanding. Eventually, the teammate calmed down and went back to his bed.
But just when Tweety was starting to doze off, he heard a click. Then more muttering. The guy wasn’t done. Tweety finally convinced him to hand over the gun. Tweety went 2-for-14 in Game 7. Management thought he threw the game. They called him in a few days later. He told them the whole story. They backed off.
4) Tough Julie The Horse
During the 1975 ABA All-Star Game, Freddie Lewis lit it up with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting, along with 10 assists and 5 rebounds. He took home the MVP award — and with it, something extra: a trophy, a cowboy hat, a hand-stitched saddle, and a live horse named Tuff Julie. The league was putting on a show. Joe Namath gave a speech. Willie Nelson sang the anthem. VIPs took riverboat rides. Sponsors gave out everything from bowling balls to local snacks. But nothing beat the horse.
Lewis, who wore a Stetson over his towering afro, accepted the horse like a champ. The problem? He had no clue how to care for one. Just three weeks later, Tuff Julie died — she hadn’t received the proper vaccinations.
5) Warren Jabali v Rick Barry Feud
In the 1970s, racial tension ran hot in both the NBA and the ABA. Black players were putting up big numbers and carrying teams, but getting paid far less than white stars. Pete Maravich, for example, was making nearly four times more than most of his Black peers.
Nobody symbolized that frustration more than Warren Jabali. And nobody caught the heat of it more than Rick Barry. Jabali hated Barry. Not dislike. Not rivalry. Straight-up hate. It wasn’t just about race — it was about respect, treatment, ego, and the double standards Black players lived with. Every game between their teams felt like a grudge match, with real tension in the air. No fists ever flew, but the energy between those two was heavy — and everyone in the arena could feel it.
6) Original Bad Boys Pacers
People think Gilbert Arenas made history when he brought guns into an NBA locker room. He didn’t. That honor — if you can call it that — belongs to the early '70s Indiana Pacers. That Pacers team was a dynasty, winning three ABA championships. Led by Mel Daniels, Roger Brown, George McGinnis, and Rick Mount, they were a tight group. And weirdly enough, they had a thing for the Old West.
Daniels, a Detroit kid who went to college in New Mexico, fell in love with horses and cowboy culture. After signing with the Pacers, he bought a farm outside Indianapolis and got his teammates hooked. Pretty soon, they were riding through rivers before practice, caked in mud and dust, then showing up still in full cowboy gear — boots, hats, and yes, loaded pistols in holsters. Billy Keller remembers the locker room well.
“We had a valuables bag — watches, wallets, all that. And in there, you’d see holsters and six-shooters, like it was the O.K. Corral.” Guys would jump out from behind lockers and shout “Bang! Bang!” like kids playing pretend. Sometimes they’d wrestle on the floor, guns still in hand. Coach Slick Leonard thought it was funny. “They’re not loaded,” he said. Until one day, one was.
A shot went off. Nobody got hurt — by some miracle — but that was enough. From then on, if you brought a gun to the game, you had to check it at the locker room door.
7) John Brisker vs Sam Smith
In the early 1970s, the ABA was known for its high-flying action and colorful personalities, but it also had its share of intense on-court brawls. One of the most infamous altercations occurred between Pittsburgh Condors' John Brisker and Kentucky Colonels' Sam Smith. Brisker, known for his fiery demeanor and powerful left hook, clashed with Smith during a game, resulting in a confrontation that left a lasting impression on the league.
The incident began when Brisker and Smith exchanged words and physical jabs during the game. Brisker, who had a reputation for not backing down from any challenge, responded with a devastating left hook that floored Smith. The punch was so powerful that it became a defining moment in ABA history, highlighting the intense rivalries and physicality that characterized the league. The altercation between Brisker and Smith highlighted the no-holds-barred nature of the ABA, where rivalries often turned into physical confrontations. In a league known for its high-flying action and creativity, toughness was just as vital as skill.
8) The Red, White and Blue Ball
The iconic red, white, and blue ABA ball didn’t just stand out it messed with players' minds. Some swore it was slippery, heavier, or even lopsided. Complaints poured in. But in truth, it was manufactured just like the traditional orange ball, same materials, same process. Sure, it could be slick right out of the box, but once it was broken in, it played just fine. Over time, that colorful ball became a staple of the league and found its way onto playgrounds and courts across America.
9) Dime Beer Night Spurs
The ABA was wild and the Spurs might’ve been the wildest of all. At one of their Dime Beer Nights, the crowd was already rowdy, buzzing off ten-cent brews, and the team decided to add even more chaos. That night’s entertainment? A man wrestling a bear.
Yes, a real bear. On a basketball court. In front of drunk fans.
The first person who tried it lost a limb. And somehow, somehow a second person still stepped into the ring and got injured too. That’s the kind of logic only cheap beer and Texas heat can explain. The night lives on as part of ABA lore. It was like the Waste Management Open on a bender with a little Semi-Pro mixed in. Because in the ABA, it was never just about basketball.
10) Dancing Harry, Pacers Fan Club
Back in the '70s, you didn’t need a contract to become a legend — just a cape, a weird little dance, and a vibe. Enter Dancing Harry. He wasn’t on the team. He wasn’t on payroll. He came out of the crowd in street clothes, sometimes a funky hat, sometimes a cape and during timeouts, he’d walk over near the visiting team’s huddle. He’d spread his legs, crouch down, stick his arms out, and shake his fingers at the other team like he was casting a spell. He called it “putting a whammy on ’em.”
The crowd loved it. Players loved it.
“It was fun stuff,” said Billy Knight, a rookie when Harry was around. “We loved it.”
And Harry? He loved the attention.
“I know I had a little influence,” he said. “I could move a crowd.”
He wasn’t wrong. For a while, Dancing Harry was one of the most famous fan mascots in the game. He even made the jump from the ABA to the Knicks. But when the time came to move on, he didn’t take the hint. The league kept evolving — and the whammy didn’t work like it used to.
The ABA wasn’t just a league — it was a wild experiment that somehow worked. It gave us legends, chaos, and stories that still feel too wild to be true. From locker room shootouts to beer-fueled bear fights, the ABA lived on the edge and didn’t apologize for it. The NBA may have absorbed the teams, but it never fully captured the spirit. That scrappy, unpredictable, anything-can-happen vibe? That was pure ABA.
ABA Stories:
10 Greatest ABA Teams of All Time
NBA vs ABA - SuperGames