May 22, 2025 • 12 mins
WHAS Radio legend Van Vance hosted Sportstalk84, called University of Louisville basketball and football games for decades, and also did the play-by-play for the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association.
The Kentucky Colonels won the 1975 ABA world championship 50 years ago today!
Van is still game ready and shared his memories on WHAS Radio with Terry Meiners on the anniversary.
The Kentucky Colonels won the 1975 ABA world championship 50 years ago today!
Van is still game ready and shared his memories on WHAS Radio with Terry Meiners on the anniversary.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fifty years ago today, the Kentucky Colonels won the ABA Championship.
The play by play announcer's name Van Vance.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back, mister Van Vance.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
All right, moving, Van Vance. They told me, they asked
me if I could come on with Terry Miners, that
maybe it would kind of be an audition. I need
work right now pretty bad, and Terry I could come
down and shine shoes every afternoon about three three o'clock
when you come on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
That sounds good.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
What are you not catching any fish anymore to sell
to the fish market?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, well got where. I kissed so many fish they
were kissing me back, and I had to quit fishing.
You know, you remember Jimmy Houston used to be on TV.
He was always kissing the fish and then throwing them back.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's right, are you not fishing theory?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I had a theory that on women and fish and
then to show them back.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The women don't like that if they just got their
hair did and you're throwing them in the lake.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Right. Hey, you're talking about a great a lot of
great memories. I don't have the stat sheet in front
of me. I should have. If I had a little
more warning, I could have been a little better prepared.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
But I did.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I just called you and said, Van, you got to
get on. It's the fiftieth anniversary of the championship. Yeah,
let's talk about that night though.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, it was a packed house at Freedom Hall. And
to show you how popular basketball is in Kentucky and Indiana,
you know that particular year, the Colonels played a game
in Memphis and won, and they and the Mets had
the New York Nets had a playoff the next day.
It was not a scheduled game, it was an extra game.
(01:49):
Freedom Hall was available. The Nets came here. The Final
Four was being played out in San Diego. Kentucky and
Louisville were in the Final four. I went to Freedom
Hall to do that playoff game with the Nets, and
I was listening to the game on the radio because Kentucky, UCLA,
and Louisville were out there, and that's the one that
(02:13):
was Wooden final game. I go to Freedom Hall and
there's hardly anybody there because those games are on TV
and radio. And when those games were over, Freedom Hall
filled up for that playoff game. And I said, this
is amazing people watching and following the Final four out
(02:34):
in the West Coast and now Freedom Hall is full
for the Colonels in a playoff game. Well, they won
the game and went into the championship series against the
Indiana Pacers. They had George McGinnis who was a heck
of a player, let me tell you, and Billy Knight
Don Bussey who had played at Evansville. So those were
the players, and Slick Leonard was the coach of course
(02:57):
of the Indiana Pacers at that time. Darnell Hillman and
artist Gilmore, both of them artists seven foot about seven
foot three or four, and he used to wear a
large afro so he would look taller.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So we went into that series and the Colonels won
the first two games here, and they went up and
won one of the two games at Indianapolis and then
came back in the fifth game and won the championship.
Had Freedom Haul?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Then?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wasn't there a controversial ending to I think Game three
where no one quite knew the outcome for a day
or two.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, yeah, we knew the outcome. But here's here's the deal.
Bill Keller Gilmore hit a shot went in to put
the Colonels ahead I think by two, and they threw
the ball in Hillman stepped out of bounce through it
to Keller. He turned around and let fly before he
got the mid court and the darn ball went in
(03:54):
the basket. The two officials on the floor, one of
them was Ed Rush, and there was a third officials
sitting at the scores table, Ed Middleton. They go over
to Ed Middleton because that's why he was there to
help rule in case something came up or somebody got hurt,
and he said the basket the shot was no good
because it was still in Keller. Keller's hand as it
(04:18):
left the floor, it was almost the length of Freedom
Hall and it went in the basket.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Keller was that type of player. He was always coming
up with a wild play like that. And they had
a brew ha ha. One of the Indiana players swung
at a police officer there when they were arguing. So
what they did is they ruled that Kentucky won. The
(04:42):
officials did that was the second game I think at
Freedom All.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, but it wasn't confirmed for a while.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah. And Budd Olsen was the head of the officials
in the ABA at that time, and so he went
in and they want to this and that well, I
went to the film room and there was like forty
eight sprockets in a second. We had film of that
shot and when it happened, and Keller still had the
(05:14):
ball in his hand, after about fifty sprockets passed when
you ran it through the film machine ran. So when
Bud when Bud Olsen, when I told him about Dad,
he looked at him, put it up on the spock
and he ruled that officially the Colonels had won the game.
There was quite a bit of In fact, I still
have a recording of that, but I don't have it
(05:36):
with me right now. But yeah, that was a very
important part of the the whole series.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So you get the Freedom Hall for this game five
and then was Kentucky in control this night?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The Colonels pretty much so they were coached Hubee Brown
came here. He had been at Milwaukee when that was
when Jabbar and al Cinder was at Milwaukee and the
Bucks were winning champampionships up there. So Huey had come
here and he was our coach, Huey Brown, and that
(06:09):
was quite a team and they pretty well had that game,
although it was a battle, but they pretty well had
it under control most of the way. The championship game,
Marv Roberts, who was the backup forward to Will Jones,
he came in and was quite a star. He got
some offensive rebounds, put the ball back in the basket.
But in that particular series, Terry Dampier was great, Thistle
(06:33):
was great, but Artist Gilmore played the best he had
ever played. I've never seen him as motivated as he
was in that series. You go back and look at
the scores, the official sheets. He was scoring around thirty
points a game and getting twenty five twenty six, thirty rebounds.
When you got a guy who's that awesome, you're going
(06:54):
to win some games. And he was on my Star
at the Game show. Some of the video that I
can remember, with that tall afro haircut, they had thrown,
uh debris, What are you when you throw? Confetti was
in his hair and the photographers took pictures in the
(07:15):
dressing room or on the floor down at the end
and you could see a reflection of the confetti all
mixed up in his afro. But he came out and
was on the Star of the Game Show. After the game,
Big A. It took a while to get him back
out there, because that place was wild. They were celebrating.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Well, I remember, I remember being a fan in the stands.
All the cheerleaders were over kissing you because none of
the players were out there yet, so it became quite
a battle for who was getting all the cheerleaders that
night too.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I don't remember that, but but most to the rest
of the night I do remember pretty well.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Terry, Well you at that game, yes, sir, you know
that's such a big deal. He for us to be
playing for a championship like that, we were all excited.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
About two years prior, we had played in the championship
and we lost at Freedom Hall to the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers they called them the Boston Celtics of the
ABA because they played a fast break style and a
very exciting basketball team. And the Colonels after long struggles
(08:25):
and Ziggy the Dog being their mascot with the Gregory's
when they owned them, the Colonels that had an uphill battle,
but finally they won the ABA championship and Bill Moore,
Dan Essel, Louis Dampier, and HB. Brown, those four people
(08:47):
off that team are all in the National Basketball Hall
of Fame, where.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
They belong for sure. And look at the Indiana Pacers now,
I mean, this is so great to see this franchise
just still up there. I mean what they did last
night Madison Square Garden was a miracle finish. But to
launch off and win game one on on enemy turf
was big. And so who knows what's coming up for
the Pacers this year.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, it's it's great to see part of the you know,
the old A B, A four the teams went in
and that was Denver, of course, San Antonio, Utah Nets
and the Indiana Pacers. But the Kentucky Colonels they didn't
make it.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, back then it was the New York Nets.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Where were they playing? Were they Madison Square Garden? Also
like the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
No, they played at Nassau Coliseum out on Long Island,
and I would have we'd have to go and then
ride a bus out there to Long Island. I think
Nassau Coliseum. They tore it down. The the hockey team,
the famous New York hockey team played out there at
(09:53):
the Nassau College.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Also, that's right, you stayed at Doris Day's house out
on the out in the Hamptons.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I remember, well, I used we used to have a
dinner at Burt bachaas he had a restaurant out there
on Long Island.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Pretty sweet.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And while we would eat Burt Bacha's place, we've seen
some of those famous popular songs that he wrote for
Diane Warwick.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You know you just you're a man of the world.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Dan Vance, Well, it's great to hear your voice here
fifty years from the night of that incredible ABA championship
for the Kentucky Colonels. So glad you're doing well, brother.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
But imagine in one afternoon that playoff day in Kentucky
played a game in the final four, Louisville played a
game in the Final four, and then the Colonel Is
about four o'clock or something or whatever in the afternoon,
three four o'clock or towards the evening they played. Those
three were three major basketball games in one day concerning
(10:50):
all the teams that we followed there.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And we all know what happened with UCLA and the
coach Wooden knowing this was his time to yeah, to
get it done, and so they surprised and beat Louisville
because of a bad play at the end of the game.
And then of course he goes in there after that
game and tells his team, I'm retiring. They got Kentucky
two days later, and we all know what happened.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Well, and Louisville had a player that had not missed
a free throw I think in the whole year, and
he missed a critical free throw at the end of
that game. And he told me one time, he said,
I have people ask me about that every day of
my life.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Kind of sad indeed. Yep, all right, mister van Vance.
Great talking to you, brother.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Okay, Terry, remember you need me for anything, I'll call you.
Don't call me.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Okay, I'm sorry I interrupted you at home today.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I hear her giggling.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You know that.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, love me.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I love you man, Love you too, brother, See you soon.
That's mister Van Vance's voice of the Kentucky Colonels and
the University of Louisville Cardinals back in the day fifty
years ago. Tonight the Colonel's winning the ABA Championship back
in AFE on News Radio eight forty WHA Yes,
Fifty years ago today, the Kentucky Colonels won the ABA Championship.
The play by play announcer's name Van Vance.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome back, mister Van Vance.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
All right, moving, Van Vance. They told me, they asked
me if I could come on with Terry Miners, that
maybe it would kind of be an audition. I need
work right now pretty bad, and Terry I could come
down and shine shoes every afternoon about three three o'clock
when you come on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
That sounds good.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
What are you not catching any fish anymore to sell
to the fish market?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, well got where. I kissed so many fish they
were kissing me back, and I had to quit fishing.
You know, you remember Jimmy Houston used to be on TV.
He was always kissing the fish and then throwing them back.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
That's right, are you not fishing theory?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
I had a theory that on women and fish and
then to show them back.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The women don't like that if they just got their
hair did and you're throwing them in the lake.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Right. Hey, you're talking about a great a lot of
great memories. I don't have the stat sheet in front
of me. I should have. If I had a little
more warning, I could have been a little better prepared.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
But I did.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I just called you and said, Van, you got to
get on. It's the fiftieth anniversary of the championship. Yeah,
let's talk about that night though.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Well, it was a packed house at Freedom Hall. And
to show you how popular basketball is in Kentucky and Indiana,
you know that particular year, the Colonels played a game
in Memphis and won, and they and the Mets had
the New York Nets had a playoff the next day.
It was not a scheduled game, it was an extra game.
(01:49):
Freedom Hall was available. The Nets came here. The Final
Four was being played out in San Diego. Kentucky and
Louisville were in the Final four. I went to Freedom
Hall to do that playoff game with the Nets, and
I was listening to the game on the radio because Kentucky, UCLA,
and Louisville were out there, and that's the one that
(02:13):
was Wooden final game. I go to Freedom Hall and
there's hardly anybody there because those games are on TV
and radio. And when those games were over, Freedom Hall
filled up for that playoff game. And I said, this
is amazing people watching and following the Final four out
(02:34):
in the West Coast and now Freedom Hall is full
for the Colonels in a playoff game. Well, they won
the game and went into the championship series against the
Indiana Pacers. They had George McGinnis who was a heck
of a player, let me tell you, and Billy Knight
Don Bussey who had played at Evansville. So those were
the players, and Slick Leonard was the coach of course
(02:57):
of the Indiana Pacers at that time. Darnell Hillman and
artist Gilmore, both of them artists seven foot about seven
foot three or four, and he used to wear a
large afro so he would look taller.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
So we went into that series and the Colonels won
the first two games here, and they went up and
won one of the two games at Indianapolis and then
came back in the fifth game and won the championship.
Had Freedom Haul?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Then?
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Wasn't there a controversial ending to I think Game three
where no one quite knew the outcome for a day
or two.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, yeah, we knew the outcome. But here's here's the deal.
Bill Keller Gilmore hit a shot went in to put
the Colonels ahead I think by two, and they threw
the ball in Hillman stepped out of bounce through it
to Keller. He turned around and let fly before he
got the mid court and the darn ball went in
(03:54):
the basket. The two officials on the floor, one of
them was Ed Rush, and there was a third officials
sitting at the scores table, Ed Middleton. They go over
to Ed Middleton because that's why he was there to
help rule in case something came up or somebody got hurt,
and he said the basket the shot was no good
because it was still in Keller. Keller's hand as it
(04:18):
left the floor, it was almost the length of Freedom
Hall and it went in the basket.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Keller was that type of player. He was always coming
up with a wild play like that. And they had
a brew ha ha. One of the Indiana players swung
at a police officer there when they were arguing. So
what they did is they ruled that Kentucky won. The
(04:42):
officials did that was the second game I think at
Freedom All.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Yeah, but it wasn't confirmed for a while.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Yeah. And Budd Olsen was the head of the officials
in the ABA at that time, and so he went
in and they want to this and that well, I
went to the film room and there was like forty
eight sprockets in a second. We had film of that
shot and when it happened, and Keller still had the
(05:14):
ball in his hand, after about fifty sprockets passed when
you ran it through the film machine ran. So when
Bud when Bud Olsen, when I told him about Dad,
he looked at him, put it up on the spock
and he ruled that officially the Colonels had won the game.
There was quite a bit of In fact, I still
have a recording of that, but I don't have it
(05:36):
with me right now. But yeah, that was a very
important part of the the whole series.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So you get the Freedom Hall for this game five
and then was Kentucky in control this night?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
The Colonels pretty much so they were coached Hubee Brown
came here. He had been at Milwaukee when that was
when Jabbar and al Cinder was at Milwaukee and the
Bucks were winning champampionships up there. So Huey had come
here and he was our coach, Huey Brown, and that
(06:09):
was quite a team and they pretty well had that game,
although it was a battle, but they pretty well had
it under control most of the way. The championship game,
Marv Roberts, who was the backup forward to Will Jones,
he came in and was quite a star. He got
some offensive rebounds, put the ball back in the basket.
But in that particular series, Terry Dampier was great, Thistle
(06:33):
was great, but Artist Gilmore played the best he had
ever played. I've never seen him as motivated as he
was in that series. You go back and look at
the scores, the official sheets. He was scoring around thirty
points a game and getting twenty five twenty six, thirty rebounds.
When you got a guy who's that awesome, you're going
(06:54):
to win some games. And he was on my Star
at the Game show. Some of the video that I
can remember, with that tall afro haircut, they had thrown,
uh debris, What are you when you throw? Confetti was
in his hair and the photographers took pictures in the
(07:15):
dressing room or on the floor down at the end
and you could see a reflection of the confetti all
mixed up in his afro. But he came out and
was on the Star of the Game Show. After the game,
Big A. It took a while to get him back
out there, because that place was wild. They were celebrating.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Well, I remember, I remember being a fan in the stands.
All the cheerleaders were over kissing you because none of
the players were out there yet, so it became quite
a battle for who was getting all the cheerleaders that
night too.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
I don't remember that, but but most to the rest
of the night I do remember pretty well.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Terry, Well you at that game, yes, sir, you know
that's such a big deal. He for us to be
playing for a championship like that, we were all excited.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
About two years prior, we had played in the championship
and we lost at Freedom Hall to the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers they called them the Boston Celtics of the
ABA because they played a fast break style and a
very exciting basketball team. And the Colonels after long struggles
(08:25):
and Ziggy the Dog being their mascot with the Gregory's
when they owned them, the Colonels that had an uphill battle,
but finally they won the ABA championship and Bill Moore,
Dan Essel, Louis Dampier, and HB. Brown, those four people
(08:47):
off that team are all in the National Basketball Hall
of Fame, where.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
They belong for sure. And look at the Indiana Pacers now,
I mean, this is so great to see this franchise
just still up there. I mean what they did last
night Madison Square Garden was a miracle finish. But to
launch off and win game one on on enemy turf
was big. And so who knows what's coming up for
the Pacers this year.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, it's it's great to see part of the you know,
the old A B, A four the teams went in
and that was Denver, of course, San Antonio, Utah Nets
and the Indiana Pacers. But the Kentucky Colonels they didn't
make it.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, back then it was the New York Nets.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Where were they playing? Were they Madison Square Garden? Also
like the Knicks.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
No, they played at Nassau Coliseum out on Long Island,
and I would have we'd have to go and then
ride a bus out there to Long Island. I think
Nassau Coliseum. They tore it down. The the hockey team,
the famous New York hockey team played out there at
(09:53):
the Nassau College.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Also, that's right, you stayed at Doris Day's house out
on the out in the Hamptons.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I remember, well, I used we used to have a
dinner at Burt bachaas he had a restaurant out there
on Long Island.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Pretty sweet.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
And while we would eat Burt Bacha's place, we've seen
some of those famous popular songs that he wrote for
Diane Warwick.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
You know you just you're a man of the world.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Dan Vance, Well, it's great to hear your voice here
fifty years from the night of that incredible ABA championship
for the Kentucky Colonels. So glad you're doing well, brother.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
But imagine in one afternoon that playoff day in Kentucky
played a game in the final four, Louisville played a
game in the Final four, and then the Colonel Is
about four o'clock or something or whatever in the afternoon,
three four o'clock or towards the evening they played. Those
three were three major basketball games in one day concerning
(10:50):
all the teams that we followed there.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And we all know what happened with UCLA and the
coach Wooden knowing this was his time to yeah, to
get it done, and so they surprised and beat Louisville
because of a bad play at the end of the game.
And then of course he goes in there after that
game and tells his team, I'm retiring. They got Kentucky
two days later, and we all know what happened.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Well, and Louisville had a player that had not missed
a free throw I think in the whole year, and
he missed a critical free throw at the end of
that game. And he told me one time, he said,
I have people ask me about that every day of
my life.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Kind of sad indeed. Yep, all right, mister van Vance.
Great talking to you, brother.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Okay, Terry, remember you need me for anything, I'll call you.
Don't call me.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Okay, I'm sorry I interrupted you at home today.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I hear her giggling.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
You know that.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yeah, love me.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
I love you man, Love you too, brother, See you soon.
That's mister Van Vance's voice of the Kentucky Colonels and
the University of Louisville Cardinals back in the day fifty
years ago. Tonight the Colonel's winning the ABA Championship back
in AFE on News Radio eight forty WHA Yes,
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