The Kentucky Colonels posted the best regular-season record in ABA history, drafted future Hall of Famers, ran a ten-woman board of directors, won the 1975 championship, and beat the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors in an exhibition game. Then the franchise ceased to exist. This episode follows the Colonels from their 1967 founding in Louisville, complete with chartreuse uniforms, lowercase jersey names, a Brussels Griffon mascot named Ziggy, and the one-second appearance of jockey Penny Ann Early, through the ownership overhaul led by Wendell Cherry and John Y. Brown Jr.

We break down the financial arms race that landed Dan Issel and Artis Gilmore on ten-year contracts structured under the deferred-compensation Dolgoff plan, the 68-16 season, the I-65 rivalry with the Indiana Pacers, and Ellie Brown's grassroots, district-by-dis ...