Dallas Chaparrals

The Dallas Chaparrals were a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA).<ref name="si671023"/> The team moved to San Antonio, Texas, for the 1973–74 season and were renamed the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs joined the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the 1976–77 NBA season as a result of being one of four chosen ABA teams to be absorbed by the elder league following the completion of the ABA–NBA merger.

Origin

The team's founding owners, unable to agree on a name for the franchise during an early organizational meeting at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, named it for the Chaparral Club in which they met.<ref name="si050629"/> The primary owner, Robert Folsom, was later the mayor of the City of Dallas. Minority owner, William Cothrum, was later Deputy Mayor Pro Tem of the City of Dallas. The team drew poor attendance and general disinterest in Dallas.<ref name="dmn130528"/> They were lucky to attract crowds in the hundreds. During the 1970–71 season, the team became the Texas Chaparrals and an attempt was made to make the team a regional one, playing games in Fort Worth, at the Tarrant County Coliseum, as well as Lubbock, at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum, but this proved a failure and the team returned full-time to Dallas in time for the 1971–72 season, splitting their games at Moody Coliseum and Dallas Convention Center Arena.

Decline and the move

After missing the playoffs for the first time in their existence in the 1972–73 season, the team was put up for sale. After no credible offers surfaced, the team's original owners leased it to a group of 35 San Antonio businessmen, led by Angelo Drossos and Red McCombs. The deal included a three-year option to buy the team outright, after which it would revert to the Dallas group.<ref name="si720210"/> The Drossos-McCombs group moved the team to San Antonio for the 1973–74 season and renamed them the San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio embraced its new team with open arms; the Spurs surpassed the Chaparrals' entire 1972–73 attendance in only 16 games.Template:Citation needed Realizing they had a runaway hit on their hands, Drossos and McCombs tore up the lease and completed the purchase after only one year, and the franchise has stayed in San Antonio to this day. However, Dallas would get its own NBA franchise in the form of the expansion Mavericks, who began play in the 1980–81 season.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Basketball Hall of Famers

colspan="5" style="Template:NBA color cell;"|Dallas Chaparrals Hall of Famers
colspan="5" style="text-align:center; Template:NBA color cell2;"|Players
No.	Name	Position	Tenure	Inducted
16	Cliff Hagan 1	SF	1967–1969	1978

Notes:

• ¹ Also served as head coach (1967–1970).

Season-by-season

Season	League	Division	Finish	Wins	Losses	Win%	GB	Playoffs	Awards	Head coach
Dallas Chaparrals
1967–68	ABA	Western	2nd	46	32	.590	2	Won Division Semifinals (Mavericks) 3–0 Lost Division Finals (Buccaneers) 4–1<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	—	Cliff Hagan
1968–69	ABA	Western	4th	41	37	.526	19	Lost Division Semifinals (Buccaneers) 4–3<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	John Beasley (ASG MVP)
1969–70	ABA	Western	2nd	45	39	.536	6	Lost Division Semifinals (Stars) 4–2<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	—	Cliff Hagan Max Williams
Texas Chaparrals
1970–71	ABA	Western	4th	30	54	.357	28	Lost Division Semifinals (Stars) 4–0<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	—	Max Williams Bill Blakeley
Dallas Chaparrals
1971–72	ABA	Western	3rd	42	42	.500	18	Lost Division Semifinals (Stars) 4–0<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Tom Nissalke (COY)	Tom Nissalke
1972–73	ABA	Western	5th	28	56	.333	27	—<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	—	Babe McCarthy Dave Brown

See also

• Bill Blakeley
• San Antonio Spurs

External links

• Dallas Chaparrals on RememberTheABA.com