I grew up watching Artis Gilmore in the ABA with the Colonels. He was the best center in the game -- either league -- during 1974 through '76. Better than Kareem. Better than Dave Cowens. Better than Willis Reed. In the ABA title game against the Indiana Pacers and George McGinnis, Artis scored 28 points and grabbed 31 rebounds. That's not a typo -- THIRTY.... ONE...REBOUNDS. An unstoppable force. Best post season performance by a center ever. Decades later, I became a feature writer for a newspaper and interviewed Artis in the 1990s as he visited with children at the elementary school where his own children had attended. Absolutely nicest, most enjoyable person I ever interviewed. The children loved Artis (even though they were 5 and 6 and had never heard of him) and he loved them back. Artis was a great family man and had a gentle temperament that no one who watched him own the boards would have figured. :)
Ironically, it would've been in 1975! The same year Kentucky won the ABA title, the Chicago Bulls lost in the Western conf. finals to eventual NBA champion Golden St Warriors in 7 games(the Bulls were up 3-2 in that series). If Artis was a Bull from the start, they would've been the 75 NBA champs. They would have easily beaten the Washington Bullets(East champs in 75).🏀🏀
