Just who is it that signed this ball? Conversations with Len Elmore and Slick Leonard

When Lee Adams offered to trade his 1975-76 Indiana Pacers autographed basketball for my set of poker chips, I extensively researched that season. I was mostly interested in the fact that it was the final season of the ABA before the NBA merger.

I’m not a huge basketball fan, so all I really knew about the ABA was that they played with a red, white and blue ball.

It turns out that the league – and that Pacers team in particular – have a very interesting history.

Imagine playing in a league that you thought could fold at any minute.

“We were pretty confident that the Pacers were a solvent group and could survive,” said Len Elmore, one of the players who signed the ball as a second-year player for the Pacers that season. “But we still kind of peeked over our shoulders and made sure our checks would be cashed.”

“The league had come a long way, and we had some owners that just ran out of cash,” said Bob “Slick” Leonard, who coached the Pacers for 12 seasons, including eight ABA and four NBA seasons. “And we were headed in that direction ourselves. But once you’re out on the basketball floor, you’re out there to win a ball game. I didn’t really pay any attention to it.”

That Pacers team was filled with characters, including Slick Leonard himself.

“He is the prototypical old line coach,” Elmore said. “Former player, roughhouser, carouser, hard-drinking, hard-driving, but nevertheless, a basketball genius.”

With a 51-year history in the game, no one has better perspective than Slick Leonard. And while he doesn’t remember the night that Lee Adams joined his roster for an exhibition game in 1975, he does admit that it was a bit out of the ordinary.

“I wish I could remember that day,” Leonard said. “That was somewhat unusual. (Basketball) was not nearly as promotional as it is today. Today it’s entertainment city in the NBA. They’re doing all kinds of things.”

Leonard led the Pacers to the ABA Finals five times in eight years and helped the team win three ABA titles. He continued to coach the Pacers for five more seasons after the NBA merger, and is now part of the Pacers radio broadcast team, with this season representing his 40th with the team.

“I was raised in the state of Indiana and went to Indiana University,” Leonard said. “We won an NCAA Championship my junior year in 1953. Indiana is home to me, and in 40 years, there have been some great years and there have been some up and down ones.”

Leonard isn’t the only person from that team still in the game. Elmore works as a college basketball analyst for CBS and ESPN, Billy Knight is the General Manager of the Atlanta Hawks and Billy Keller runs basketball camps in Indiana.

“That’s the type of people that came up with the team,” Elmore said. “Guys that understood the game and loved the game. I think in the case of the players, we recognized the value of education and what it could do for us beyond the game of basketball.”

There’s no doubt that this Indiana Pacers team was filled with some pretty amazing guys. This autographed basketball is pretty awesome, and I kind of want to keep it for myself.

But this isn’t www.sixtycent1975-76indianapacerssignedbasketball.com, it’s sixtycentmainevent.com. So I’ve got to trade this bad boy for something that will help put me on the road to trading for an entry into the WSOP Main Event.

Make me an offer, I can’t wait. And if you want ideas on what I’m looking for in trade offers, read this post. It references the chip set, but the same guidelines apply.