UNCONVENTIONAL ORIGINS MODERN INDIANAPOLIS BOASTS CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS IN BOTH BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL UNCONVENTIONAL ORIGINS 8
In the American Midwest of the early 1800s most cities were settled along major rivers offering ease of transportation for people and goods Indianapolis Indiana was an exception The 1821 settlement lay along the Cumberland Road the first federal highway in the United States and at the time the smoothest overland route from east to west Decades later railroad travel offered the most efficient means of getting to and from Indianapolis With spurs connecting to cities such as Chicago Detroit Louisville St Louis and Cleveland Indianapolis earned the nickname The Crossroads of America The city kept pace with the automobile manufacturing craze by the turn of the 20th century and then it cemented its unique motor car legacy when it introduced the Indianapolis 500 auto race in 1911 However the state of Indiana may be even better known for another sport basketball The term Hoosier ROGER BROWN 9
THE PACERS PLAYED AT CONSECO FIELDHOUSE FROM 1999 TO 2002 WHEN IT WAS RENAMED technically applies to any Indiana resident but to many it has become synonymous with basketball This is largely thanks to the long proud history of the Indiana University Hoosiers basketball program which began in 1900 won the first of its five national titles in 1940 and typically featured homegrown talent So when a new professional league the American Basketball Association ABA was starting up in 1967 Indiana seemed an ideal host for one of the franchises In a nod to the city’s auto racing history the Indianapolis-based team would be called the Pacers The Pacers and the ABA as a whole were taking a big risk An older larger league called the National Basketball Association NBA already had a fan base and employed most of the nation’s best players However success was never in doubt in basketball-crazed Indiana especially since the Pacers had no in-state competition from the NBA When the Pacers took the floor for the first time on October 14 1967 versus the Kentucky Colonels an overflow crowd at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum watched Indiana race away with a 117 95 victory The Pacers would draw larger crowds than any other ABA team that first season despite being a middle-of-the-road club record 10
Championship Number One After reaching the 1969 ABA Finals and losing to the Oakland Oaks the Pacers were primed for a championship run in 1969 70 With center Mel Daniels and forwards Roger Brown and Bob Netolicky leading the way the Pacers rolled to a 59 25 mark Daniels was a rugged force in the middle on both offense and defense but the Pacers real strength was playing a fast-paced high-scoring game The best example of this occurred near the end of the regular season when Indiana humiliated Pittsburgh 177 135 In the 1970 playoffs the Pacers were a runaway train They defeated Carolina in a four-game sweep in the first round and then routed Kentucky four games to one There was no stopping the Pacers in the ABA Finals The Los Angeles Stars had caught fire to advance to the championship series and they rode the hot shooting of guard Mack Calvin to capture two wins in the series But Indiana would not be denied Brown poured in 45 points in Game 6 as the Pacers won 111 107 and celebrated championship number one COURTSIDE STORIES Championship Number One BOB NETOLICKY 11
