Posted on 09/08/2013 12:34:44 PM PDT by EveningStar
Zelmo Beaty, a combined five-time NBA and ABA All-Star and a member of the ABA’s All-Time Team, died Saturday at the age of 73.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Bummer!
Sorry, I misread your headline as being ABBA. Then I thought, there was no one in ABBA named Zelmo!
Heck of a player. Along with Connie Hawkins really brought a new look to basketball.
RIP.
I loved watching him go up against Mel Daniels.
I hate that...RIP - I was an ABA fan, saw many times...the ole Carolina Cougars - playing the Virginia Squires and the NY Nets and the Kentucky Colonels, etc. Zelmo was in the west....great player. Great name.
ABA history: saw only pro game ever to officially have both back boards broken in the same game...by the same guy. (no, it’s not who you think it is)
Was it Marvin Barnes?
I got to see an ABA Championship game in SLC. “Here Come the Stars!”
Sure there was: Anna, Benny, Bjorn, Zelmo, Gummo.
How could you forget?
Charlie “Helicopter” Heinz? I think he was with the Pittsburgh Condors, one of the original ABA teams.
YES indeed - well close...Hentz was his last name. It came against the Carolina Cougars in a tiny building called Dorton Arena, built in the 50's I think and was the prototype for the Capital Centre in DC many years later. The first goal was trashed early in the game, and after 2 hours of delay, an old wooden backboard was installed. Since my group was in the end zone, and we could no longer see through the backboard, they moved us to the other endzone. So I was also under that basket when it was shattered very late in the game. The Cougars were up 20 or so at the time, and they were out of backboards. Game called at that point.
For the longest time, I had pieces from both backboard, including some of the white tape from the basket square. Damned if I know where they are now....
I attended most Pittsburgh Piper/Condors games. Connie Hawkins was a magician for the Pipers. The Condors were just awful. Helicopter Hentz never did much except break those backboards. I remember one game with Chico Vaughn going for a scoring record (I believe 63 points) and another of the Condors who wouldn’t pass to him.
Back on subject, Zelmo was truly a great player.
Zelmo was an icon and a great player, and the ABA had many. That damned Connie Hawkins, who was Dr. J and Michael Jordan before there was either, might be the best dunker ever. And speaking of Dr. J, by the time he joined the NBA, he had lost his legs. He never could fly for the Sixers the way he did for the Squires and the Nets in the ABA. That’s when he could really jump!
As for Helicopter, never heard anything from him but those two busted boards.
LOL! Right! Wasn’t he the drummer?
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