Jigsaw Puzzle

Here it is, late February and we're still putting this jigsaw puzzle together. The release date date has now offically changed from March to May. The most difficult part has been gathering photos from the franchise's early days and the final two seasons. Any help in this area would be appreciated. Robert L. Smith the Braves official photographer has been helpful and other photos have already come from interested fans. Stay tuned.

The book wil be published in a limited large hardcover version in a quanity of 1500. The pre-publication price is $99. After April, 1 2008 the price will be $125.

To order visit sunbearpress.com.

SunBear Press

The book is slowly coming together with a scheduled release date of March of 2008. We've put up a web site that can take orders at a prepublication price of $99.99.
www.sunbearpress.com

With a limited edition printing of 1500 copies, the retail price will be $125 after the book's release. We are also showing short exerts of the book on this site starting now with the 1971-72 season:

Buffalo, Home of the Braves
Season Two, 1971-72

Heading into their second year, the Braves had nowhere to go but up. Elmore Smith, a shot-blocking specialist out of Kentucky State University, was taken with the team’s first-round pick, third choice overall. Then general manager Eddie Donovan selected guard Fred Hilton, a one-man scoring machine out of Grambling, in the second round.

Yet drafts, regardless of sport, are capricious, often humbling enterprises. Super Bowl MVP quarterback Tom Brady, for example, was a sixth-round choice of the New England Patriots. Often drafts are better remembered for the first-round flops and those who somehow come out of late-round obscurity to become superstars. Such was the case with Randy Smith.

A tremendous all-around athlete, Smith excelled at basketball, soccer and track and field at obscure Buffalo State University. When the Braves took him in the seventh round it appeared to be little more than a sop to local fans. After all, the organization had been roundly criticized for passing on Niagara University All-American Calvin Murphy the year before. A decision that John Hummer, the previous year’s first-round pick, the one taken instead of the popular Murphy, would spend the rest of his time in Buffalo trying to live down. So, why not take a chance on another local hero? After all, it was only a seventh-round pick.

At first glance, it was easy to underestimate Smith. Despite his athletic ability, he was so soft-spoken that his manner often bordered upon the laconic. Even though he was the greatest athlete in Buffalo State history, the school wasn’t a stop with many scouts. In fact, Smith won national honors for his soccer ability rather than his basketball play.

At Buffalo State, Smith was primarily a forward until his senior year when new coach Don O’Brien shifted to the backcourt in hopes of drawing any attention from professional scouts. It didn’t really work. As the Courier-Express’ Jim Baker pointed out, others chosen in the seventh round that year’s NBA included “such luminaries as Tom Bush, Gene Knolle, Mike Jordan, John Duncan, Eric Hill, Dennis Hogg, Skip Young, Steve Kelly, Curtis Ford, Gene Gathers, Ralph Brateris, Danny Davis and Gene Phillips.” None became a household name.

During his senior year at Buffalo State, Smith said he didn’t show as well as his junior year. Most of his baskets came on drives to the basket, which most scouts didn’t think would happen with any regularity in either professional league. Smith said he was surprised that “the ABA never drafted me at all, although they did when I was a junior.”

Most scouts felt Smith lacked a dependable jump shot. So, in the weeks before the Braves’ training camp at Paul Snyder’s resort in Darien Lake, New York, Smith worked to develop more confidence in it. He realized that too often he was releasing the ball at the very top of his jump, even on the way back down to the floor. Before attending the Indiana Pacers’ rookie camp, one of the few invitations he received from the rival league, he reworked the mechanics of his shot. He started to let the ball go on the way up. Right away Smith saw the jumper had better arch and rotation.

The Return of the Buffalo Braves

Work has been underway for several months on a book featuring the history of the Buffalo Braves, the National Basketball Association's forgotten team of the 1970's. The publication will include plenty of pictures, player interviews, and stories. My brother Tim Wendel is writing the majority of the content, and the research on my end has been a long, arduous but rewarding trip down memory lane.

Who remembers Danny Neavereth's voice booming "That's two for McAdoo!" thundering upwards into the upper reaches of the Aud's oranges? Or nights when throngs of Buffalo fans piled in 17,000 strong to see the Braves take on Wilt, Kareem (or was it Lew Alcindor?), Oscar, Pistol Pete, or the hated Celtics?

What we need are great stories and memories of the Buffalo Braves from fans and season ticket holders. They can be recollections of favorite players, memorable game situations or the exciting atmosphere that existed at the Aud when Braves were on their meteoric rise to the top of professional basketball.

So please send us your input and if we use it you will be acknowledged in the book and receive a discounted copy as well.

Tell us your story in the comments section below or email your Braves stories to: cwendel@chartermi.net

Where have you gone Randy Smith?

Gone but not forgotten, that's the theme of this site. I'm looking for stories, accounts and memories of the Buffalo Braves, the NBA's lost franchise.

I have some stories of my own, but this is your chance to remember time when the Braves were an up and coming new team. Coached by Dr. (as he's known now) Jack Ramsey, and featuring players like Bob McAdoo, Randy Smith, Adrian Dantley, John Shumate, and Ernie DeGregorio, the Braves reached their apex in the early 1970's, before they sold to and moved by KFC magnet John Y. Brown (Mr. Phylis George) to San Diego.