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Ozzie Silna
Ozzie (December 27, 1932 – April 26, 2016) and Daniel (born August 26, 1944) Silna are American businessmen of Latvian descent best known for their success in the textile industry, as well as being co-owners of the American Basketball Association's Spirits of St. Louis and the lucrative deal cut to fold that team during the ABA-NBA merger. Brothers Ozzie and Daniel Silna made a fortune as pioneers in the manufacture of polyester. In 1974, they wanted to own an NBA team. After an attempt to buy the Detroit Pistons fell short, the Silnas purchased the ABA's Carolina Cougars franchise with the expectation of moving it into the NBA with the impending merger of the two leagues.Spirits of St. Louis - RememberTheABA.com. On April 26, 2016, Ozzie died of cancer at the age of 83.
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Latvian Americans
Latvian Americans are Americans who are of Latvian ancestry. According to the 2008 American Community Survey, there are 93,498 Americans of full or partial Latvian descent. History The first significant wave of Latvian settlers who immigrated to the United States came in 1888 to Boston. By the end of the century, many of those Latvian immigrants had moved on to settle primarily in other East Coast and Midwest cities, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Chicago, as well as coastal cities on the West Coast, such as Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Although most Latvians settled in cities, in most of these (with the exception of the Roxbury district of Boston) they lived dispersed and did not form ethnic neighborhoods. Some immigrants also established themselves in rural areas, but they were few and usually did not form long-lasting communities. The first Lutheran church built by Latvians in the United States was erected in 1906 in Lincoln Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moses Malone
Moses Eugene Malone (March 23, 1955 – September 13, 2015) was an American professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1974 through 1995. A center, he was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times, was a 12-time NBA All-Star and an eight-time All-NBA Team selection. Malone led the Philadelphia 76ers to an NBA championship in 1983, winning both the league and Finals MVP. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2001. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history, Malone is also seen as one of the most underrated NBA players. Malone began his professional career out of high school after he was selected in the third round of the 1974 ABA draft by the Utah Stars. He was named an ABA All-Star as a rookie and played two seasons in the league until it merged with the NBA in 1976. He landed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Green (basketball)
Steven Michael Green (born October 4, 1953) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a 6'7" (2.00 m) and 220 lb (100 kg) small forward and played collegiately at Indiana University where he was first-year head coach Bob Knight's first recruit in 1971. He attended Silver Creek High School in Sellersburg, Indiana. Professional career Green was selected by both the Utah Stars in the 1975 American Basketball Association Draft and by the Chicago Bulls with the 12th pick of the second round in the 1975 NBA Draft. In 1975–76 he played with the Utah Stars and Spirits of St. Louis, with combined averages of 9.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. His NBA career consisted of three seasons with the Indiana Pacers from 1976 to 1979. He holds combined ABA/NBA career averages of 4.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game. After his NBA career he played for one season in Italy. Personal life He entered at the Indiana University School of Dentistry in 1980 an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonnie Shelton
Lonnie Jewel Shelton (October 19, 1955 – July 8, 2018) was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player who played from 1976 to 1985. Early years Shelton played college basketball for Oregon State University. He was drafted by the Memphis Sounds (soon to become the Baltimore Claws) of the American Basketball Association in 1975 but elected to stay in college. He was then selected by the New York Knicks in the second round of the 1976 NBA draft. Professional career Shelton led the NBA in personal fouls in his first two seasons with New York. After the Knicks obtained free agent Marvin Webster from the SuperSonics in 1978, the NBA awarded Shelton and the Knicks’ 1979 first-round pick to Seattle as compensation. In 1979, his first season with the SuperSonics, Shelton was the team's starting power forward. That season, he set a SuperSonics record by going 13 for 13 from the field in a game (17 total consecutive field goals), and helped the SuperSonics win the NBA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caldwell Jones
Caldwell "Pops" Jones (August 4, 1950 – September 21, 2014) was an American professional basketball player. Jones was drafted out of Albany State College by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 14th pick in the 1973 NBA draft. He played three seasons in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), most extensively with the 76ers. Jones led the ABA in blocked shots in the 1973–74 season, and played in the 1975 ABA All-Star Game. He shares (with Julius Keye) the ABA's all-time record for blocked shots in a game with 12. Jones' brothers, Charles, Wil and Major all played at Albany State and in the NBA. The most prominent of the foursome, Caldwell was best known as the least flamboyant member of the high-powered 76ers teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Playing alongside Julius Erving and company, Jones did not need to score much with Philadelphia, so he concentrated on rebounding, shotblocking, and defense. A lanky yet s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maurice Lucas
Maurice Lucas (February 18, 1952 – October 31, 2010) was an American professional basketball player who played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a four-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977. He was named to the ABA All-Time Team. Lucas played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles. He began his pro career with two years in the ABA with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels. He then played twelve seasons in the NBA with the Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knickerbockers, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Seattle SuperSonics. The starting power forward on the Trail Blazers' 1976–77 championship team, he was nicknamed "the Enforcer" because of his primary role on the court which was best exemplified in Game 2 of the NBA Finals that season. College Lucas played college basketball for head coach Al McGuire with the then- Marquette Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Barr (basketball)
Michael J. Barr (born October 19, 1950) is a retired American basketball player. He played collegiately for the Duquesne Dukes. He was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 13th round (180th pick overall) of the 1972 NBA draft, and played for the Virginia Squires (1972–74) and Spirits of St. Louis (1974–76) in the ABA and for the Kansas City Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division ( ... (1976–77) in the NBA for 307 games. External links * 1950 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Canton, Ohio Chicago Bulls draft picks Duquesne Dukes men's basketball players Guards (basketball) Kansas City Kings players Spirits of St. Louis players Virginia Squires players {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, an arena they share with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City; the other team is the Brooklyn Nets. Alongside the Boston Celtics, the Knicks are one of two original NBA teams still located in its original city. The team, established by Ned Irish in 1946, was one of the founding members of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which became the NBA after merging with the rival National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949. The Knicks were successful during their early years and were constant playoff contenders under the franchise's f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Denton
Randall Drew Denton (born February 18, 1949) is an American former professional basketball player. Denton graduated from William G. Enloe High School in 1967. A 6'10" center from Duke University, Randy holds the all-time Duke record for average rebounds per game at 12.7. Denton played six seasons (1971–1977) in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association as a member of the Carolina Cougars, Memphis Pros / Tams, Utah Stars, Spirits of St. Louis, and Atlanta Hawks. He averaged 11.5 points and 8.6 rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ... in his ABA/NBA career. References External links * 1949 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kansas City Kings
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest team in the NBA, and the first and only team in the major professional North American sports leagues located in Sacramento. The team plays its home games at the Golden 1 Center. Their best seasons to date in the city were in the early 2000s, including a very successful 2001–02 season when they had the best record in the NBA at 61–21 (a winning percentage of ). The franchise began with the Rochester Seagrams (a semi-professional team) from Rochester, New York, that formed in 1923 and hosted a number of teams there over the next 20 years. They joined the National Basketball League in 1945 as the renamed Rochester Royals, winning that league's championship in their first season, 1945–46. They later jumped with three other NBL teams ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron Boone
Ronald Bruce Boone (born September 6, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player. He had a 13-year career in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA). Boone set a record for most consecutive games played in professional basketball history with 1,041 and claims to have never missed a game from when he started playing basketball in the fourth grade until his retirement. Boone is the current color commentator on Utah Jazz broadcasts. High school career Boone grew up in the Logan Fontenelle housing project and attended Technical High School in North Omaha, Nebraska. In high school, Boone played basketball for Coach Neal Mosser, who had led Tech to the 1963 State title and had coached Basketball of Famer Bob Boozer and Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson before Boone. Boone stood only 5'7" when he graduated from high school and didn't become a starter in basketball until his senior season. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team played its home games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to the Moda Center in 1995 (called the Rose Garden until 2013). The franchise entered the league as an expansion team in 1970, and has enjoyed a strong following: from 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports at the time, and only since surpassed by the Boston Red Sox. The Trail Blazers are the only NBA team based in the Pacific Northwest, after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis and became the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001 and the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008. The team has advanced to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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