Carolina Cougars

The former Houston ABA franchise was relocated to North Carolina in 1969 and this was when the history of Carolina Cougars began. From 1969-70 season the team existed till 1973-74. In the initial seasons the record of this team was not very impressive. In the 1969-70 season it was 42-42 in the 1970-71 season it was 34-50 and in 1971-72 the record was 35-49. The home arenas were Winston Salem Coliseum, Charlotte Coliseum, Reynolds Coliseum, Dorton Arena and Greensboro Coliseum.

In 1969-70 and 1970-71 the coaches of this franchise were Bones McKinney and Jerry Steele while in the year 1971-72 the coach was Tom Meschery. In 1972-73 the team has talented players like Mack Calvin, Joe Caldwell and Billy Cunningham and it hired Larry Brown and Doug Moe as coaches. There were also some veteran leaders like Ed Manning Gene Littles and Steve Jones in the team and among the younger players were Steve Previs, Ted McClain, Tom Owens and Dennis Wuycik. In the 73-74 season the Cougars created a 47-37 record however in the Eastern Division semi-finals by defeated by Kentucky Colonels by a score of 4-0. Amongst the ABA franchises the Cougars had more supportive fans and were moderately successful. In 1974 the Carolina Cougars were shifted to Missouri and became the Spirits of St. Louis.

The Spirits of St. Louis and the Kentucky Colonels were the only two teams that survived till the end of the league but did not join the NBA. During the ABA-NBA merger the owners of the team planned to move the team to Salt Lake City, Utah and play as the Utah Rockies.

Major Achievements

Cunningham was named as the league's Most Valuable Player in 1972-73 and Carolina created a 57-27 record which was the best in the ABA.

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