In early-1970s, the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

television network aired

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, ...

(ABA) games, specifically league's annual

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

/selected playoff games.

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall announ ...

served as the CBS analyst on some ABA games alongside

Don Criqui Don Criqui (born October 1, 1940) is an American sportscaster. He holds the record for longest-tenured NFL broadcaster in U.S. TV history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons (1967-2013) on NBC and CBS. Criqui's final NFL broadcast came on Dec ...

on play-by-play. Game 5 of the 1970 ABA Finals (

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

vs.

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) was nationally televised by CBS on Saturday, May 23 at 3 p.m

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

. The broadcast was however, blacked out in Indiana. After that league's 1972-73 season, CBS lost its TV airing rights as they started

airing Airing is the practice of hanging or laying out articles and exposing them to air, and sometimes heat and light. This practice is commonly used to dry many types of fabric. One of the most common methods of drying using airing is the clothesline. ...

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) games in its 1973-74 season onward. Had there been a seventh game of the 1975-76 season's championship playoff series it would've been televised by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

, because that network signed contract to a potential seventh game on Sunday, May 16, 1976. Since the ABA Finals ultimately ended in six games, with the

New York Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

triumphing over the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

in what would become the ABA's final game of its nine year existence, NBC's contract was void.

1960s

1967–68

1968–69

1969–70

During the New York Nets ABA years, announcers included

Marty Glickman Martin Irving Glickman (August 14, 1917 – January 3, 2001) was an American radio announcer who was famous for his broadcasts of the New York Knicks basketball games and the football games of the New York Giants and the New York Jets. Glickman w ...

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...

's brothers Al Albert and

Steve Albert Steve Albert (born Stephen Aufrichtig in Brooklyn, New York;April 26, 1952) is a former American sportscaster. He has served as a play-by-play announcer for the New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, Golden State Warriors, New York Mets, and Phoe ...

, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher

Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935October 2, 2020) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–1975). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot" ( ...

, Bob Goldsholl, as well as John Sterling and Mike DiTomasso. The latter two joined the club's move into the NBA.

1970s

1970-71

1971–72

1972–73

1974–75

1975-76

During the mid-1970s,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

aired several basketball games from the

and the

(notably, the last ABA Finals game in 1976, prior to the latter league's merger with the NBA, between the

and the

). In 1976,

sought to establish a postseason playoff between the ABA and NBA, and to win the rights to broadcast those games. During the 1976–77 season, the NBA's first after the

ABA–NBA merger The ABA-NBA merger was a major pro sports business maneuver in 1976 when the American Basketball Association (ABA) combined with the National Basketball Association (NBA), after multiple attempts over several years. The NBA and ABA had entered ...

brought the

into the league, CBS held a

slam dunk contest The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (officially known as the AT&T Slam Dunk) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend. ''Sports Illustrated'' wrote "the dunk contest was the best halftime inventio ...

that ran during halftime of the ''Game of the Week'' telecasts.

was the host of this particular competition. The final, which pitted

Larry McNeill Larry McNeill (January 31, 1951 – December 29, 2004) was an American National Basketball Association player. College career McNeill played at college basketball at Marquette University, with the Warriors. Professional career McNeill was dra ...

of the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

against eventual winner Darnell "Dr. Dunk" Hillman of 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 ...

, took place during Game 6 of the

1977 NBA Finals The 1977 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1976–77 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers played agai ...

. At the time of the final, Hillman's rights had been traded to the

, but he had not yet signed a contract. Since he was not officially a member of any NBA team, instead of wearing a jersey, he competed in a plain white tank top. Then for the post-competition interview, Hillman donned a shirt with the words "Bottle Shoppe" – the name of an

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 ...

liquor store, which is still in existence, and was the sponsor of a city parks softball league team for which Hillman played left field (and the only team he was a member of at the time). Other players to compete in the slam dunk tournament included

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

George Gervin George Gervin ( ; born April 27, 1952), nicknamed "the Iceman", is an American former professional basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Virginia Squires, ...

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

and

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 cent ...

. CBS, anxious for star power, also gave David Thompson the opportunity to be eliminated three times.

References

External links

NBA TEAMS OVER THE AIR STATIONSTHE NBA ON NETWORK TELEVISION - CiteSeerXBAA/NBA/ABA LOCAL OVER-THE-AIR TELEVISION BROADCASTS

Remember the ABATelevision/Radio Age - American Radio History
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Basketball Association broadcasters

CBS Sports HBO Sports Indiana Pacers announcers San Antonio Spurs announcers New York Nets announcers Denver Nuggets announcers

1960s

1970s

See also

References

External links