Great ABA Uniforms

The ABA is a league that is so ripe for columns about sports design. The league featured the greatest ball design of all-time, some of the craziest logos in all of sports history, great characters who played in the league, and some really great uniform designs. Today I wanted to take a look at some of my favorite ABA uniforms. The website RememberTheABA.com is a great source for information on the ABA and has some great uniform galleries to check out. Here are a few of my favorites from the ABA:

Kentucky Colonels 1975:

I have to include the Colonel on my list, simply because I hail from the Bluegrass State and the Colonels are the closest thing to professional sports my great state has had in its history. The Colonels 1975 uniform set featured the team's trademark red, white and blue colors. The striping pattern on these jerseys was a unique design that stretched up under the arms and completely over the top, around the neck and back down the other side. This striping created a very unique look for the Colonels 1975 uniform set.

New York Nets 1976:

Next up is the New York Nets uniform from 1976. This uniform is one of the more familiar from the old ABA, as it is forever burned into our minds because of Dr. J, Julius Erving. The Doctor spent his best years in the ABA sporting this classic American uniform design. Many images come to mind of the Doctor taking the ball to the hoop with that trademark afro while playing for the Nets. The jersey featured a stars and stripe pattern down the left side front panel. It is another great example of the unique ways some teams in the ABA used striped patterns on their jerseys. Of course, this design made the transition to the NBA when the Nets joined the league, making it a look that spanned both leagues. Definitely one of the true ABA classics.

San Antonio Spurs: 1975:

The Spurs jersey from 1975 is another classic jersey from the ABA that made its way into the NBA. This jersey is on my list, mainly because the Spurs current unifrom set isn't all that different than this classic design. The arched Spurs logo with a spur in the middle has undergone some modifications since then, but still remains based on this classic look. The team wore a throwback set a few years ago that were based on this look. The Spurs colors of black and silver are classic (forgetting the Fiesta years) and have been with the team since these uniforms debuted. This uniform was worn by one of the team's all-time greats, George "The Iceman" Gervin.

Denver Nuggets 1976:

This Denver Nuggets look from 1976 is a very unique style from the ABA. What made this jersey unique from any other is the fact that the front of the jersey featured the team's logo above the numbers, rather than the traditional team name. Your eyes are not trained to see a logo like that on a jersey in that spot. This classic look was worn by Nuggets greats like David Thompson and Dan Issel. This is definitely one of the more unique jersey designs in basketball uniform history.

The Floridians 1972:

This classic ABA look of the Floridians is definitely like no other in basketball history. The jersey was unique in many ways. First, the jersey had no lettering or team name of any kind on the front. The jerseys only graphics were the wild colored stripes that spanned the left side of the jersey. The number was placed high up on the right chest, in another unique style choice. The team was once known as the Miami Floridians, but were referred to as simply "the Floridians" in their last season since they played games throughout Florida. In addition to being remembered for these classic uniforms, the team was also famous for their scantily clad ball girls and unique promotions. You can find more info on the Floridians here.

Comments

[marc]

You're right, Jim... you don't have to dig too deep to strike design gold in the ABA. The fact that the ABA was a league struggling to compete with the NBA made it necessary for many teams to change locations in order to survive which made for a plethora of logo, color and uniform changes. Geez, cities even had as many as 3 different team names, for Pete's sake (Memphis went from "Pros" to "Tams" to "Sounds" between 1970 and 1974!). It's great that there were alternative leagues like the ABA to push the envelope, but it's also sad that the stranglehold the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL have now makes it nearly impossible for a start-up league to compete on a level playing field.

[Zubaz is zu-back!]

I love how the U in the Spurs logo is a spur! It's pretty brilliant. Did you know the business end of the spur, aka the spinning wheel with the spikes, is called a rowel? I know this from an episode of Jeopardy! from last year or so. The final Jeopardy! question, er, "answer," was in the category of NBA Team Logos. Since I'm a logo freak, I knew I had a pretty good chance of getting it correct. The "answer" was, "This team has a rowel in its logo." I had no idea what a rowel was, so in my mind I visualized all the NBA logos to find ones that had small unusual details. I narrowed them down to the Celtics, thinking a rowel might be what Lucky the Leprechaun's pipe or cane are called, and the Spurs, thinking a rowel might be the name for the U-shaped device that attaches to one's heel. For some reason, my final choice was the Spurs, and sure enough, I got it right. I completely blew myself away that I guessed it correctly without knowing what a rowel really was, and even though a rowel isn't the U-shaped device but actually the pointy spinning star at the end of a spur. Too bad I wasn't a contestant on the show; I coulda been the next Ken Jennings.

As far as the Floridians, I wonder if they were the first male athletic team to have pink in their uniforms?

[marc]

rowel.. nice. now i'll never forget what a rowel is. thanks!

[DJ]

Perhaps the Floridians were the first American team to use pink, but U.S. Palermo, a soccer team in the Italian league, first wore pink and black in 1905:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Citt%C3%A0_di_Palermo

[Daniel J Leonard]

Jim,
Your Kentucky Colonels (How exactly, does that get pronounced, Ker'nols?) uniform was very cool. Did you check out the character who was a little too into his favorite player, sporting Woody Harrelson's, Monnix-Colonels jersey in 'Semi-Pro'?
The other hoops jerseys you described are all absolutely, classic. Dr J's NETS, I own, though with Buck William's #52 and the Floridians is my all time favorite.
Interesting take on the Denver Nuggets jersey, I never thought about it but our eyes weren't 'trained' to see the logo where it was on that 1976 version. I also owned the city in front of the rainbow Nuggets jersey back when you had to purchase them through NBA league catalogs in the 80's.
What made the Spurs so unique,
back in the day, in addition to their 'clean' arched SPURS logo was the their color combination.
Seems most all teams now sport some black alternative uniform option. Didn't used to be like that.
Now, with your design abilities, the internet, and competition, we shouldn't have to suffer through anymore of those unimaginative, blase, Sand-Knit dominated designs.