May 12, 1973: Game 7 of the American Basketball Association Finals is played at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Colonels have home court. But the Indiana Pacers win, 88-81, and take their 3rd ABA Championship in the last 4 seasons.
The Pacers had been founded with the ABA in 1967, and played at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum, now known as the Corteva Coliseum. In 1969, they reached the ABA Finals for the 1st time, losing to the Oakland Oaks. In 1970, they reached the Finals again, and, this time, beat the Colonels.
They fell short in 1971, but in 1972, they beat the New York Nets in the Finals. In 1973, they beat the Colonels. After falling short in 1974, they moved into the new Market Square Arena, and got back to the Finals in 1975. This time, the Colonels beat them, for the only championship by a Kentucky team that could, conceivably, be called "major league."
Those 3 titles in 4 seasons, and 4 Finals appearances in 5, made the Pacers look like "The Celtics of the ABA." They hadn't quite dominated the way the Boston Celtics had dominated the NBA -- 13 seasons, 12 trips to the Finals, 11 titles -- but then, the ABA didn't last long enough for that type of domination to be possible. Indeed, when a team does dominate a "rebel league" like that, as the Cleveland Browns did, winning all 4 titles in the All-America Football Conference in the late 1940s, it's bad for business.
While Indiana and Kentucky are both big States for high school and college basketball, they've never really drawn well at the pro level. The 1975-76 season would be the last for the ABA. The Pacers, the Nets, the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs were admitted to the NBA.
The ABA's other 6 remaining teams were not, and went out of business: The Baltimore Claws, formerly the Memphis Pros/Tams/Sounds, didn't even make it to the regular season; the San Diego Sails and the Utah Stars folded early in the season; and the Colonels, the Virginia Squires, and the Spirits of St. Louis all folded after their inability to get into the NBA was confirmed.
From the 1972-73 team, the Pacers have retired the numbers of George McGinnis (30), Mel Daniels (34) and Roger Brown (35), and raised a banner bearing the number 529, the number of games won as Pacers head coach by Bobby "Slick" Leonard.
In the 40 years since, the Pacers have never again gone as far as the rules allowed them to go. Indeed, only once since coming into the NBA have they even made the Finals: 2000, when Reggie Miller and his teammates got swept by the Shaq/Kobe Lakers.
UPDATE: The Pacers do not yet have a team Hall of Fame, but they do retire uniform numbers: 30, for 1970s forward George McGinnis; 34, for 1970s center Mel Daniels; 35, for 1970s forward Roger Brown; and 31, for 1990s guard Reggie Miller. They have also honored Bobby "Slick" Leonard, coach of their ABA Championship teams, with a banner with the number of his coaching wins, 529.
McGinnis, Miller and Leonard have been elected to the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame. So have Bob Netolicky, a forward on their title teams of 1970 and '72, but not '73; Rick Mount, a guard, also on their 1970 and '72 teams but not '73, most likely elected more for his tenure at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana; Herb Simon, owner of the Pacers since 1983; Rik Smits, a 1990s forward who helped the Pacers reach the 2000 NBA Finals; and Larry Bird, the native of French Lick, Indiana who starred for the Boston Celtics, coached the Pacers from 1997 to 2000, served as their general manager from 2003 to 2017, and remains a consultant for the team.
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May 12, 1973 was a Saturday. The NBA season had ended 2 days earlier, when the New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers for the Championship. The NHL season had ended the same day, when the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks for the Stanley Cup. The World Hockey Association had ended 4 days before that, as the New England Whalers beat the Winnipeg Jets for the title.
And these games were played in Major League Baseball:
* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 8-0 at Yankee Stadium. George "Doc" Medich allowed 9 hits, 3 of them by Al Bumbry, but kept the shutout, beating Mike Cuellar. Bobby Murcer and Celerino Sánchez hit home runs. Murcer, Roy White and Horace Clarke each had 2 hits. For the Orioles, Brooks Robinson went 0-for-4.
* The New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Tom Seaver allowed only 2 hits: Singles to Willie Stargell and, oddly, the opposing pitcher, Bob Moose. Wayne Garrett hit a home run. Félix Millán and Ed Kranepool each got 3 hits. Willie Mays, in his final season as a player, did not play.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 14-2 at Atlanta Stadium (later Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium). Hank Aaron went 3-for-3 with an RBI, and Mike Lum went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs, but the only Brave home run was hit by Davey Johnson.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 10-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Buddy Bell went 4-for-5 with a home run. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Al Kaline did not play.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Montreal Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Lou Brock went 0-for-4, but did draw a walk and steal a base.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with a walk, and Rod Carew went 0-for-4, but had an RBI on a groundout.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers, 4-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Pete Rose went 1-for-4. Johnny Bench went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* And the San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
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