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The Washington Caps were an American Basketball Association team from 1969 through 1970. The franchise had previously been the Oakland Oaks. From 1970 through 1976 the team played as the Virginia Squires. 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 With the move came a new identity for the team as the green and gold clad Washington Caps. Al Bianchi was the team's coach. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Caps regarding Rick Barry's contract. Barry and Warren Armstrong both played in the ABA All Star game but injuries limited their playing time for the season.In March 1970 the ABA-NBA merger appeared close at hand under conditions that would have required the Washington Caps to relocate, but a subsequent lawsuit derailed the merger until June 1976.
We offer an original ABA basketball program from October 30, 1969 at Washington vs the Indiana Pacers. 3 Original ticket stubs from the game are stapled to the cover of the program. The Pacers won the game 123-121 with an 18 foot jump shot with one second left in over-time by Pacers star, Bob Netolicky. HOF’er Roger Brown led the Pacers with 34 points, followed by Tom Thacker’s 27, and HOF’er – Mel Daniels 25. Washington was led by Warren Armstrong (later Jabali) with 28 and HOF’er – Larry Brown with 16.
The program is in NR MT condition, no missing pages, tears, etc. Comes with the 3 ticket stubs (attached), and a bunch of bonus newspaper clippings. Program is scored and loaded with pictures and articles. Pretty awesome and rare piece! There were less than 2000 fans in attendance for their 4th HOME game in existence. Caps home programs are SUPER scarce!
Item: 6201
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