No love here for Boston's titletown spoils

by Tim Wendel

Put me down as another guy who’s had it up to here with Boston teams winning championship after championship. That’s saying something for a kid who grew up a Red Sox fan. That happened because when they assigned teams decades ago in the Gasport (N.Y.) Little League, my squad was the Red Sox. Gosh, we suffered as much as the big leaguers once did, going winless one season and never making the playoffs in those often interminable games hard by Route 31.

But such anguish, at least on the baseball front, was vanquished in recent years. Boston, of course, has become a beggars banquet of victory with the recent successes of the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. Meanwhile, Buffalo remains at the horse latitudes in terms of championships won. Adrift at sea since the Bills last won in 1965. No, I don’t count trophies by the Buffalo Bandits.

Sports Illustrated called the recent Celtics-Lakers Final the series America had been waiting for. Don’t sign me up for that rodeo, though. Sure, I appreciated Larry Bird as much as the next guy, even though I cheered for Magic Johnson the last time those two teams went around the Finals block.

You see, I’m like many Braves fans. When I see that Celtic green, I flash back to Jo Jo White, Don Nelson, Tom Heinsohn and all those other guys who broke our hearts time after time in the mid-1970s. Enough is enough.

Russert best represented Buffalo

by Tim Wendel

Those of us who root for all things Buffalo lost one of our own with the passing of Tim Russert. I watched ESPN’s tribute to Russert and seeing him hold up Buffalo jersey after Buffalo jersey once again brought a smile to my face. Here was a guy who watched games at the old Rockpile as a kid, who knew the importance of cheering for the hometown teams – no matter what.

Even though Russert lived in Washington, D.C., where I’ve called home for almost 20 years, I didn’t really know him. But since XM Radio got off the ground, I’ve gotten to know his son, Luke. I’ve been a guest on “60/20,” the sports show Luke co-hosts with James Carville, and the son is a chip off the old block. An appreciation for all the Buffalo franchises has been handed down from father to son.

Since my brother, Chris, and I started this blog and word of BUFFALO, HOME OF THE BRAVES got out, we’ve heard from people from all over the country. The thing we all share is this affinity and appreciation for Buffalo sports – the Braves, the Sabres, the Bills.

Just before the Iowa caucuses last year, longtime political columnist Roger Simon was standing in the lobby of the Des Moines Marriott hotel, waiting for a cab that was never going to arrive. As time ticked down, Tim Russert came up, put a hand on Simon’s shoulder and said, “Hey, I’ve got a car. I’ll drive you.”

In a column Simon did for Politico this week, he explained that Russert “was not a creature of Washington. He was a kid from Buffalo, and it showed. People in Buffalo treat each other like neighbors, and that’s the way Tim treated people.”

Despite the economic hardship and tough times of recent decades, Buffalo fans still treat others like neighbors. We may have lost our proudest fan this week, but his passion and zest for life remain as an example for all of us.

Complaints about refs go way back

How much can a referee influence the course of events? Of course, that’s a big question being debated these days. Any Braves fan knows that how a game is called can have a lasting impact.

In Buffalo Home of the Braves, we detail the deciding Game 6 of the 1974 playoff series between the Braves and the Boston Celtics. With time running out, the score tied, Braves star Bob McAdoo was called for fouling Boston guard Jo Jo White.

To this day, McAdoo believes that it was a cheap call. So does former team owner Paul Snyder. So does Van Miller, the Braves’ play-by-play man. (In fact, hours after that game, Miller told Bill Mazur, his friend and fellow WNY announcing legend, as much.) But what Braves coach Jack Ramsay will always remember about the way officials Darrell Garretson, Mendy Rudolph and Manny Sokol conducted themselves that evening at the Aud was that they should have put a second or two back on the game clock. Of course, this was well before the days of checking the courtside monitor.

Even with one second left, the Braves could have taken the ball at mid-court and tried for a desperation play at the buzzer. “That’s what I wanted,” Ramsay told me years later.

“Just one chance. With the way, Mac was shooting the ball.”

The Celtics went on to win the NBA championship that season. The Braves would never really get close again.

Confusion still abounds with Celtics swap

by Tim Wendel, author of Buffalo Home of the Braves

Welcome back the 1980s, as the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics return to the NBA Finals. But Braves fans know that the “wayback machine” can lead to the 1970s. As much as we rooted against the Celtics in those classic playoff matches at the old Aud, the final injustice for the Braves was seeing the team swapped with the Celtics after the team’s final season in 1978. One reincarnation headed west to become the San Diego Clippers, while the new Celtics, headed by former Braves owner John Y. Brown, stayed in Boston and went on to greatness, thanks in large part to landing the draft rights for Larry Bird.

As I watched the Celtics oust the Detroit Pistons last night, I remembered an interview I did with Randy Smith for Buffalo, Home of the Braves. Smith was the guy caught in the middle of the most confusing team swap in sports history. Here’s how he remembers that bizarre period:

“Once John Young Brown got his hands on the team, Buffalo was the last place he wanted to have it play. He and I used to talk a lot. He’d tell me about the possibility of the team going to Dallas, San Diego, Kentucky -- it was inevitable that the team was going to leave the Buffalo area. Then I woke up one morning to hear that he had made a swap of entire teams.

“I was home in Buffalo. Somebody called me from the Braves’ office to tell me the news. … I started to get checks from the Boston Celtics for deferred payments, even though I was going west to play for this new team, the Clippers. I didn’t know where to expect my checks to come from, but, you know, you don’t care as long as they don’t bounce.”

Were the Buffalo Braves the canary in the Western New York mine shaft?

by Tim Wendel, author of Buffalo, Home of the Braves

Few thought so 30 years when the team switched franchises with the Boston Celtics before heading westward ho to become the Los Angeles Clippers. (The architect of that bizarre deal was a young lawyer named David Stern. But we’ll leave that twisted tale for another day.)

When the Braves left town, some civic leaders predicted that the NBA would be back in a decade or so. Seriously. They said that at the time. But one of the few guys who realized what this bait-and-switch really meant for the fans and the city was Phil Ranallo, the longtime columnist at The Buffalo Courier-Express.

I had the good fortune to sit next to Phil in the old C-E Sports Department in that paper’s last years of existence. He taught me about writing on deadline, how to get to real story and, most of all, how to have a sense of humor.

Phil nailed it when the Braves left town for good. He predicted that it would be a generation or more before the Niagara Frontier had another shot at a team of such stature. Back then we often debated the state of the sports world in late-night bull sessions at the paper. Several times Ranallo wondered aloud if the heyday of Buffalo had already come and gone. How with the economy suffering (this was the early 1980s) that it would difficult to hang on to remaining major-league franchises (The Bills, The Sabres).

Now some like to deride WNY as being behind the times. Unfortunately, when it comes to the impact of globalization, one could argue that Buffalo was cutting edge. It was one of first Rust Belt cities to be sold out by the politicians and see its jobs base flee overseas.

In Buffalo, Home of the Braves, we’re including several of Phil’s insightful takes on the team and the city. The man was ahead of his time and in some small measure our book is a tribute to him and an effort to bring his columns to a new generation of sports fans.

Here's your chance; What made the Braves special?

After uncovering more classic Braves photos, the release of the book "Buffalo Home of the Braves" has been delayed until early this fall. Putting out a publication centering on professional basketball as summer approaches would be tough and there's still work to do. We made the decision to delay the release and do things right rather than sacrifice the quality of what is shaping up to be a true testimony to Buffalo's basketball history.

The respite gives us the quick opportunity to ask for your specific recollections of what it was like to attend a Braves game. Or you can weigh in to assess what role you believe the Braves played in the history of Buffalo history.

Did NBA basketball get a fair shake in Buffalo? Would the Braves have survived in the difficult economy of the 1980's ? What specific event made or broke the Braves fortune in Buffalo? What game stands out in your mind? Answer or comment on these topics or one of your own

Some accounts will be woven into the coffee table book that already includes great vintage photos, newspaper columns and Braves memorabilia. We'll open things up to you the fan until June 1st, 2008.

Just place your input in the comment section below or email: info@sunbearpress.com

Situation in Seattle reopens old wounds

Find out more about: Buffalo, Home of the Braves




Seattle is about to lose its basketball team the Super-Sonics to Oklahoma City of all places. Seattle fans fear the worst and even though the team still has two years remaining on their lease, the odds of the Sonics remaining in Seattle are low. Another owner makes a business decision, another franchise leaves town, fans feel betrayed, and there is likely nothing they can do about it.

The more things change the more they remain the same. The NBA owners voted this week 28-2 to allow the Sonics to move for the start of the 2008-09 season with NBA Commissioner David Stern very much in the fray. 30 years ago Stern negotiated the bizarre deal that swapped the Buffalo Braves franchise with the Boston Celtics and sent what remained to San Diego to become the Clippers.

As much as our nostalgic minds believe that sports weren't dictated by money back in the 70's; they were. The Braves swap/sale/exit from Western New York was all about an out of town owner who sought greener pastures and higher long term revenue.

The Sonics present a situation strangely similar to the Braves prior to their move. An owner from the south purchases the team (Clay Bennett) with the hidden desire to move the team elsewhere (in Bennett's case to his home state of Oklahoma). The out of town owner makes veiled threats and demands of the city to keep the team, when the plan was to move the team from the very beginning.

The unfortunate part for Buffalo is that the fans did fill seats when the product on the court was good and finally threw up their hands with frustration witnessing the revolving door of players that paraded in and out of town that final season.

Who could blame the Buffalo faithful for not investing in season tickets when the John Y. Brown circus was wheeling and dealing away the talents of Moses Malone, Adrian Dantley, Marvin Barnes, and John Shumate? Meanwhile the Buffalo Sabres were building a competitive team with players who would spend most of their careers in Buffalo with a stable local ownership.

The irony of all this is if the Sonics end up in Oklahoma City, a metropolitan region with a population base slightly ahead of Buffalo's. We feel Seattle's pain in an all too familiar way.

Most miserble, it's all relative, right?

Forbes Magazine of all publications today announced its list of the "Top Ten Most Miserable Sports Cities". I first heard of the rankings this morning while watching the Mike and Mike Show on ESPN2. I was waiting to see where Buffalo would land, knowing that a maligned reputation based on lost Super Bowls, rust belt economics, and snow would likely garner Buffalo a top position.

Buffalo was third behind Atlanta and Seattle with the rhetorical criteria centering around heartbreak, blown titles, and franchises that left town (i.e the Braves). After a fanfare buildup Mike and Mike's Mike Greenberg went through the rankings and simply stated, "That's not a very good list."

Instead of making apples and oranges comparison between cities and discrediting the sports reporting credentials of Forbes, it may be best to pinpoint why Buffalo and its sports community are an acquired (usually by birth) taste that outsiders don't generally understand. And oh yeah, for the record, the Buffalo Braves left town because of an inept ownership and not because of fan support.

30 days and two days ago the Braves played their last game in Buffalo. The Buffalo News barely took the time to honor the anniversary with a token article that was read like it was written by someone who wasn't even alive on April 8, 1978.

Yesterday Bob McAdoo and Randy Smith did make the final selections in the USA Today "All-time Braves/Clippers Starting Five". McAdoo outdistanced Elton Brand by 20 votes thanks to the last day effort from the Buffalo faithful.

Adrian gets his due

There was some justice in the Braves world today as Adrian Dantley was announced as an inductee to the Basketball Hall of Fame after seven previous attempts. Dantley started his career in Buffalo as the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1976 and twice led the league in scoring.

Justice is simply not prevailing for two other Braves. Hall of famer Bob McAdoo clings to a slight lead over upstart Elton Brand in the ongoing USA Today all-time Braves/Clippers poll. The lack of voting for Randy Smith is borderline pathetic who remains fifth in the voting behind McAdoo, Brand, Ron Harper and Danny Manning. It's worth noting that Smith has almost as many career points with the franchise as Harper and Manning combined.

USA Today, All-Time Clippers Team

The polls are now open to vote for the Los Angeles Clippers' all-time five. At first glance it seems a bit crazy but USA Today has the online poll going until April 10th.

Predictably Bob McAdoo and Randy Smith are the only Buffalo Braves included. Their Clipper competition for the starting five includes Ron Harper, Danny Manning, Elton Brand, World B. Free, Benoit Benjamin, Terry Cummings, Norm Nixon, and Loy Vaught.

At the time of this entry McAdoo is leading the field and rightfully so. Since the franchise moved out of western New York after its ten year run, the Braves abbreviated accomplishments surpass the Clippers' 30 years of mediocrity.

Smith (shown in a 1974 photo) is only fifth in the poll voting although he is the all-time franchise leader in six statistical categories. At this point he trails Clipper players Manning, Harper, and Brand.

I'm amazed how many tried and true NBA hoop fans still don't realize that Smith's record of 906 consecutive games, a streak which concluded on March 13, 1983 is second only to the all-time NBA "ironman" A.C. Green.

Maybe it's his generic sounding name or the era and town he played in but it's time to show the love and vote Randy to the top along side his friend and teammate McAdoo.

Humble Beginnings

Chapter One: 1970-71 Season

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On January 20, 1970, the National Basketball Association voted to expand by four teams. Along with Portland and Cleveland, an NBA franchise was awarded to a group of investors headed by Phillip Ryan and Peter Crotty for Buffalo.

The age of sports expansion had been well under way since the late 1960s. The National Hockey League, for example, had doubled the number of its franchises from six to 12 in one grand move. The NBA had expanded to Seattle and San Diego in 1967; and to Milwaukee and Phoenix a year later. While some contended that the talent pool wasn’t there to support so many new teams, the NBA was eager for new markets in large part because it was at war with the rival American Basketball Association.

The ABA had been around since 1967 and was developing a strong following in some parts of the country. The ABA, with its distinctive red, white and blue ball, emphasized slam dunks and high scoring. The rival league was driving up player salaries and many owners in the older NBA were becoming increasingly concerned about the bottom-line. New teams to the NBA paid escalating franchise fees. In the case of the new kids on the block – Portland, Cleveland and Buffalo – the entry fee was $3.7 million.

Days after the announcement was made, it became apparent that the Buffalo group didn’t have deep enough pockets to operate a team at the most expensive rung of professional basketball. In looking back on the team’s checkered past, it was the first sign of trouble for a ballclub that would soon rank one day among the best in the league and in the next breath be spirited away from town in the most bizarre bait-and-switch move ever seen in professional sports.

Location-wise, Buffalo appeared to be a solid enough choice for NBA expansion. Even though its metropolitan area population was 1.3 million, the lowest of the new expansion cities, Buffalo’s economy was built upon the rock-solid basics that once made the Great Lakes such a vibrant area – shipping, hydroelectric power and steel. In addition, the area had a rich basketball history at the college level. Niagara, Canisius and St. Bonaventure formed the “Little Three,” and Calvin Murphy (Niagara) and “Buffalo” Bob Lanier (St. Bonaventure) had recently received All-American honors.

The New York Knicks’ Eddie Donovan, who had played and coached at St. Bonaventure, was hired as the team’s first general manager. Besides being a great judge of talent, Donovan was also known as the guy who coached the Knicks the night the 76ers’ Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in Hershey, Penn. That still ranks as top individual scoring night in NBA history.

The team’s nickname, Braves, came from a contest with 14,000 entries. Dave Lejewski of Dunkirk had the winning entry and was awarded season tickets. Neither Lejewski, nor anybody else in Buffalo for that matter, was exactly sure what kind of team would be taking the floor at Memorial Auditorium. In the NBA draft, the Braves had the ninth pick in the first round. Unlike Buffalo’s new hockey franchise, the Sabres, the Braves missed out on top talent their first season. (The Sabres were able to select scoring star Gilbert Perreault with the top pick and they never looked back in building their team.) The first four selections in the NBA draft proved to be bona fide stars. Lanier, the star from St. Bonaventure, went No. 1 to Detroit, followed by Rudy Tomjanovich (San Diego), Pete Maravich (Atlanta) and Dave Cowens (Boston). After that, the draft dropped off, so Donovan traded the franchise’s first draft choice to the Baltimore Bullets for guard Mike Davis. Davis had been on the NBA’s all-rookie team in 1969-70.

The Braves had another pick in the first round – No. 15. Local fans clamored for the new club to take a chance on Niagara’s Murphy. Murphy had proven to be one of the greatest scorers in college history. But he stood only 5-foot-9. For that matter, there was another dynamite guard still available when it became the Braves turn to choose – Nate “Tiny” Archibald from Texas-El Paso. Yet as the moniker indicates, Archibald wasn’t a towering giant, either.

In the end, Donovan played the percentages and selected 6-foot-9 forward John Hummer from Princeton. He was a solid rebounder and played good defense. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a great shooter, even from the free-throw line. It wasn’t until the third round that Donovan threw a bone to the locals by selecting Chip Case of Virginia. Case had played his high school basketball in suburban Lockport, N.Y.

Predictably, the rest of the squad was stocked with rejects from other teams. Besides Hummer, the Braves’ original starting five included Herm Gilliam, Don May, Dick Garrett and Nate Bowman. The best player on the squad that inaugural season proved to be Bob Kauffman, a former first-round pick with Philadelphia. With the new team lacking in height, Kauffman took over the center spot, even though his natural position was forward.

Dolph Schayes, a one-time Hall of Famer for the Syracuse Nationals, was the coach. His expertise was talking up the team to the local media, which was important because the Sabres were already off to head start with the public.

But before the first season got underway, the team needed to add one more individual. When the Braves’ original investment group began to fall apart, the NBA approached Paul Snyder about taking over the franchise. Snyder had made his money in the food industry. Despite his small stature, his firm handshake and riveting gaze soon gained anyone’s attention. In the spring of 1970, Snyder sold Freezer Queen, a frozen-food company, for a generous profit to Nabisco. The time seemed right to try something different, like owning a professional basketball team.

When the NBA called, the Braves had almost completed preseason play. While the team was the usual collection of cast-offs and misfits, it was easy to daydream about greater glory. Next season the team would likely have a top draft choice. Kauffman was somebody to build around. The team was Snyder’s for the asking, but he would have to act quickly. A new season, the Braves’ inaugural one, was about to begin.

To order "Buffalo Home of the Braves" visit www.sunbearpress.com

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.