Memphis Tams Totally Explained

Everything about The Memphis Tams totally explained

The Memphis Tams were an American Basketball Association team during the 1972-1973 and 1973-1974 seasons. The team had previously been the New Orleans Buccaneers and the Louisiana Buccaneers for three seasons (1967-1970) before moving to Memphis, Tennessee where it became the Memphis Pros from 1970 through 1972. The team later became the Memphis Sounds in 1974-1975. They then moved to Baltimore intending to play as the Claws, but folded before playing another game.

Origins

The New Orleans Buccaneers were a charter member of the ABA and played for three seasons, 1967-1970, winning the Western Division championship in 1969. After the 1969-1970 season the team was rechristened as the Louisiana Buccaneers, with home games scheduled in several cities in that state. However, the team was sold to a new owner in August, 1970 and moved to Memphis, Tennessee to play as the Memphis Pros, reportedly because the already purchased 'Bucs' uniforms could easily be converted to 'Pros' uniforms at little expense.
   In their first season, the league took control of the team after its owner walked out in December. However, it was able to stay afloat by selling stock to its fans. This served as only a temporary stopgap, and by the middle of the team's second season, the ABA was forced to take over the team again.
   By the end of the 1971-72 season, it was almost certain that the Pros would have to move elsewhere. However, on June 13, 1972, Charles O. Finley, owner of Major League Baseball's Oakland A's and the NHL's California Golden Seals, bought the team and promised to keep it in Memphis. Finley hired legendary former University of Kentucky head coach Adolph Rupp as team president. Finley also took over the team's debts.
   Prior to the 1972-1973 season Finley held a name-the-team contest, which yielded the nickname "Tams." The name was taken from the three states that are near Memphis - Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The team changed its colors to the "kelly green, California gold and polar bear white" color scheme of Finley's other teams. It also adopted a green, white and gold tam o'shanter hat as its logo.

1972-1973 season

Former coach Babe McCarthy was succeeded by Bob Bass. The Tams landed George Thompson in a dispersal draft of Pittsburgh Condors players. Gerald Govan was traded to the Utah Stars for Merv Jackson. George Thompson played in the ABA All Star game but the Tams finished the season with only 20 wins compared to 64 losses. It was the worst record in the ABA and put them in fifth (last) place in the Eastern Division, 33 games behind the Carolina Cougars. The Tams didn't make the playoffs, in part due to heavy roster turnover (they made 28 roster moves in the first two months of the season alone). Despite their poor play they averaged 3,476 fans per home game.
Finley had the team wear all possible combinations of green, white and gold tops and trunks. However, he'd little to no involvement with franchise operations. Despite his earlier promises, he was already in negotiations with officials in St. Paul, Minnesota to move the team there. When word got out of this, Finley went from savior to pariah almost overnight. He didn't help his own cause by instituting several cost-cutting moves. For instance, he cut one veteran player before Christmas, and another on New Year's Day.

1973-1974 season

The Tams picked up draft picks Larry Kenon and Larry Finch. The Tams also used a draft pick to select underclassman David Thompson but Thompson stayed in college. Finley had asked the ABA to look into his claims that ABA president Bill Daniels had a conflict of interest due to asking Finley to pay him a finder's fee for helping Finley find potential buyers for his team. The ABA declined to investigate Finley's charges.
   Finley tried to sell the team to a group of investors from Providence, Rhode Island but no sale was forthcoming. For much of the summer, the Tams' status was up in the air. Bass had resigned to take a position with the league, and the team offices had been closed since mid-June. It wasn't until late August that Finley sent word that the Tams would play. In the process, he'd held up almost all of the league's radio and TV contracts. Even then, the team had no coach and virtually no front office when training camp opened in September. Finally, two days before the team's first preseason game, Butch van Breda Kolff was hired as general manager and head coach.
   The Tams signed Charlie Edge, traded Larry Kenon to the New York Nets for Jim Ard and John Baum and traded Johnny Neumann to the Utah Stars for Glen Combs, Ronnie Robinson, Mike Jackson and cash. George Thompson played in the ABA All Star game but the team had another poor season, finishing with 21 wins and 63 losses--the worst record in all of pro basketball.
   With their poor play the team's home attendance dropped by about one third from the prior season as the Tams averaged 2,331 fans per home game. This was largely because Finley seemed to lose whatever interest he'd in the Tams. He went weeks without communicating with van Breda Kolff about team business or roster moves. He also stopped putting out programs, replacing them with free typed mimeographed lineup sheets. Van Breda Kolff was visibly frustrated with the situation, telling Basketball News that the Tams would be a solid franchise if they'd solid backing.

Aftermath

After the season, Finley turned the team back over to the league, which paid him $1.1 million to buy him out. Later that summer, ABA commissioner Mike Storen found a local ownership group led by Isaac Hayes, Avron Fogleman and Kemmons Wilson to buy the team. He then resigned as commissioner to take over day-to-day control in Memphis. Storen had previously been a successful executive with the Indiana Pacers and the Kentucky Colonels. Bill Van Breda Kolff was dismissed as the Tams' head coach and general manager. Former head coach Bob Bass became the new general manager. Joe Mullaney became the team's head coach. The team signed free agent Wil Jones from the Kentucky Colonels. On July 17, 1974 took over the team and it was renamed the Memphis Sounds.
The Sounds continued in Memphis for one more year, finishing in fourth place in the Eastern Division but losing in the Eastern Division semifinals to the eventual ABA champion Kentucky Colonels 4 games to 1. The Sounds averaged 3,879 fans per home game, a two thirds increase on the prior season. Despite the substantial improvement in the team's fortunes it was sold on August 27, 1975 to a group who moved the team to Baltimore, Maryland where it became the Baltimore Hustlers and then the Baltimore Claws. The Claws briefly obtained superstar Dan Issel from the Kentucky Colonels and played three exhibition games but lost Issel, all three games and eventually the franchise itself due to financial problems. The team was folded on October 20, 1975 and its teams were put into a dispersal draft.

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