Utah Stars’ Golden Anniversary of Title Gold

Zelmo Beaty is surrounded by adoring fans after winning the 1971 ABA title

There was no hotter ticket in Salt Lake than to the Salt Palace on Tuesday May 18, 1971. It was the Utah Stars’ inaugural season in town and a crowd of 13,260 welcomed the Kentucky Colonels to Game 7 of the 1971 ABA Finals. Zelmo Beaty had a night to remember pouring in 36 points and grabbing 16 boards on his way to the ABA Playoffs MVP while co-star Willie Wise scored 22 points to go with his 20 rebounds and 6 assists. For the first time in U.S. professional sports, a team won the title during its first year in a new city and Utah had its first professional title.

ABA Basketball: Utah Stars Willie Wise (42) in action vs Indiana Pacers Mel Daniels (34).
Indianapolis, IN 1/22/1972
MANDATORY CREDIT: Lane Stewart/Sports Illustrated
SetNumber: X16506

It was a long, hard-fought road for the Stars to earn that title. The Stars were a good team when they arrived in Utah, having made the ABA Finals in 1970 as the Los Angeles Stars. Even though they were a good team, the Stars couldn’t compete with the Lakers who arrived nearly a decade before them or the UCLA Bruins who were at the height of the John Wooden years, having already won six of the 10 NCAA titles they would earn under that great coach and in the middle of what would be seven straight NCAA titles.

The Los Angeles Stars had a major free agency victory when Atlanta Hawks’ All-Star center Zelmo Beaty agreed to sign with the team in October of 1969, but the Hawks had an option that prevented him from playing the 1969-70 season. It must have been a shock to Beaty to end up in Utah after the team was sold to Bill Daniels, an early investor in cable television from Colorado, but he seemed to accept Salt Lake as his new home and thrived while with the team.

Over 84 games the Stars saw highs and lows. Fans were thrilled to welcome professional basketball to Utah and attendance was great as the Stars started hot, winning their first eight games and 23 of the first 32 but the Stars started having injury woes in the middle of the season and attendance started to lag. Still, the Stars were at or near the top of the standings and 3 Stars players were selected to go to the ABA All-Star game that year: forward Red Robbins, guard Donnie Freeman and “Big Z” Zelmo Beaty.

Those All-Stars were announced on January 7, 1971 the same day the Texas Chapparals came to Salt Lake for a game. Freeman must have been thrilled to be named an All-Star but he was not thrilled with his Stars contract so Stars general manager Vincy Boryla arranged a trade that would have Freeman go home with the visiting Chaps while a few Chaps stayed in Salt Lake. In addition to Freeman, the Stars said goodbye to defensive stalwart Wayne Hightower and welcomed back two All-Star guards in Ron Boone and Glen Combs, both of whom proved to be valuable in the playoffs that year. Boone would go on to spend six seasons with the Stars and later would return to Utah to spend the final two seasons of his playing career with the Jazz once the NBA club had relocated there.

Despite some rough patches, the Stars would go on to have a successful end of season and get fans back in the seats. They ended the season going 6-4 in their last 10 but with the 2nd best record in the ABA, only one behind the league leading Indiana Pacers. In the playoffs the Stars swept the Chaparrals before facing the Pacers in a hard fought series that would go the full seven. Hopes were low when the Stars lost a close game 6 102-105 at the Salt Palace and had to return to Indianapolis for game 7 but they pulled off a 108-101 victory in Game 7 after brilliant performances from Red Robbins and Willie Wise.

The Finals started out as well as could be hoped with the Stars blowing out the Kentucky Colonels 136-117 in game 1. Game 2 was closer but the Stars still won it handily 138-125 and hopes of winning a title had to have been high heading into game 3. But the Colonels were able to win two games at Freedom Hall in Louisville and the series went back to Salt Lake tied 2-2.

The Stars must have loved playing before those Salt Lake crowds because they took their 3rd win in the series by double digits on May 12. Although the Stars played better at home, they had hopes of putting away the Colonels in 6, another close fought game that the Stars would lose 102-105. Stars starting point guard Merv Jackson was unable to start that game due to a knee injury, although he did his best in limited minutes. Stars All-Star Red Robbins was also more limited after taking a hit to the head and requiring five stitches. Ultimately, the Stars fell short as controversy surrounded a shot by Big Z with 21 seconds to play where Z thought he was fouled but the officials called it a clean block by Colonels star Dan Issel.

Whatever drama surrounded game 6 was replaced with joy as the Stars closed out the series at home with another double-digit victory winning game 7 131-121 at the Salt Palace. The taste of victory had to be sweet as the players and the fans celebrated.

Fifty years later, the Jazz enter the playoffs in sole possession of the best record in the NBA for the first time in franchise history.

Here’s hoping they can honor the 1971 Stars title in the best way imaginable: winning one of their own.

Ron Boone celebrates

Merv Jackson celebrates