Richard P. Tinkham (June 24, 1932 – October 14, 2018) was an American sports executive who was the co-founder of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

with Joe Newman.

Biography

Tinkham grew up in

Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...

. He graduated from DePauw University, where he was on the varsity basketball and relay teams, before earning his law degree from the University of Michigan law school in 1957. He later served in the United States Marine Corps, where he reached the rank of captain and served as

general court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

counsel. Afterwards, he started a legal practice in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, and chaired the ABA–NBA merger. In 1967, he co-founded the original ABA and the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

franchise, serving for two years as President of the ABA Board of Trustees. Tinkham was also owner and executive of the Pacers franchise, and was responsible for its early success. He hired Mike Storen, then business manager of the Cincinnati Royals, as the first general manager of the Pacers. Tinkham and Storen had first met while serving in the Marines together. In 1972-75, he was instrumental in the creation of Market Square Arena in

. Tinkham died on October 14, 2018 from

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

at the age of 86.

References

1932 births 2018 deaths American Basketball Association executives Deaths from muscular dystrophy DePauw Tigers men's basketball players Indiana Pacers executives Sportspeople from Hammond, Indiana University of Michigan Law School alumni American men's basketball players {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub