Origins
With the formation of the ABA in February 1967 a team was awarded to Oakland, California for $30,000 with singer Pat Boone as primary owner. The team was originally the Oakland Americans but the name was eventually changed to the Oakland Oaks. NBA star Rick Barry signed with the Oaks, as did Steve Jones and Levern Tart. Barry, however, was prevented from playing in the ABA due to a lawsuit brought by his former NBA team (regarding enforcement of the reserve clause in his contract), so he spent the season as the Oaks' radio announcer instead of as a player. The Oaks won the very first ABA game in 1967 (a 132-129 victory against the Anaheim Amigos on October 3, 1967) and the Oaks breezed through the 1969 ABA Playoffs and won the 1969 ABA Championship over the Indiana Pacers. However, the Bank of America was threatening to foreclose on a $1.2 million loan to the team and in August 1969 a group of Washington, DC investors led by Earl Foreman bought the team and moved it to Washington for the upcoming season.
Read more about this topic: Washington Caps
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
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—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)