In 1969, Jim Kirst was confidently telling everyone that he had the money and the determination to keep his ABA team in L.A. But by early 1970, he proved to have neither. Claiming losses of $1.75 million (a staggering amount for the day), Kirst sold the Los Angeles Stars to Bill Daniels for $850,000. So to recap: Art Kim and James Ackerman purchased the Anaheim Amigos in 1967 for $30,000. After losing $500,000, they sold the team to Kirst in 1968 for $450,000. And then less than two years later, Kirst was forced to dump the team again. The value of the franchise kept climbing steadily, but not nearly quick enough to keep pace with the rising cost of operation. Kind of like an old house in frequent need of costly repairs. Yeah, each year it’s technically worth more money, but is it really?
Luckily, money wasn’t much of a concern for Bill Daniels in 1970. Unlike Kim and Kirst, Daniels had periods of his life where he could be described as being fabulously wealthy. And how he got that money is a rather interesting story. It begins with him being a Golden Glove boxing champion in New Mexico before enlisting in the Navy in World War II. He continued to serve as a pilot through the Korean War before finally returning home in 1952. While visiting a bar in Denver, Daniels became fascinated with the technology that enabled the bar to air an out-of-state boxing match. He quickly learned everything he could about cable television and set up his own cable channel in Casper, Wyoming (where his family was running an insurance business at the time).
From there, Daniels kept growing and expanding until he gained the reputation of being a cable television pioneer. He also wisely diversified his business into brokering and investment banking, which gave him enough money to start buying some fun things. Things like race cars, amateur boxing teams, and, of course, a professional basketball team.
While Kirst believed that moving the Amigos to Los Angeles would save the franchise, Daniels saw it as a fatal mistake. The Stars simply didn’t have the, well, star power to compete with the Lakers’ Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor. And despite Jim Hardy’s “Star trek” of dribbling a basketball 300 miles, the attendance at Stars games was dismal — frequently less than 1,000. Daniels knew he had to move the Stars to save them, especially if the rumored NBA merger were to happen, as he couldn’t envision the NBA accepting a second Los Angeles team.
But where to move the Stars? At this point in time, Daniels was based in Denver, Colorado, which already boasted an ABA team, the Rockets. So he couldn’t go there, but maybe he could go to Kansas City, where the Rockets were originally supposed to go in 1967. But that team moved to Denver before the season began because they couldn’t find a good arena. And that intriguing market still lacked a suitable place to play in 1970, so Daniels moved his search elsewhere.
Believe it or not, but Daniels actually became quite enamored with the idea of moving the Stars to Albuquerque, New Mexico. He spent months floating this idea — even before he officially completed the purchase of the team. Daniels readily admitted that Albuquerque also lacked a decent playing facility, but he just really wanted to return to the state he grew up in, I guess. Rumor has it that the only reason he backed off was because the owner of the New York Knicks protested. He said he’d refuse to merge with a league that had a team in such a small, remote city as Albuquerque. And I don’t think he was the only one.
So that left Daniels with Salt Lake City. I wish I could say it was Daniels’ experience in cable television that taught him Salt Lake was a growing market, capable of supporting a professional sports team. But I don’t think that was the case. In all the newspaper articles I read from 1970, Daniels’ primary focus was on the brand-new, state-of-the-art Salt Palace. He even went so far as to compare it favorably to the Lakers’ Forum and the Knicks’ Madison Square Garden. And I suppose that’s reason enough to justify the move.
Of course, all this negotiating was happening while the 1969-70 season was wrapping up. I didn’t find any quotes of the players grumbling about a potential move — I suppose they were all used to frequent relocations in this era. But I did see some of them praise the arrival of a new owner, as it meant their paychecks would be guaranteed. Apparently Kirst had also fallen into the same practice of Kim of not always paying his players! Anyway, let’s take a look at what these players were able to do this season.
Warren Davis made his second-straight All-Star Game, putting up 16.0 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. He was the only representative from Los Angeles — making it the first time in franchise history that the Amigos/Stars didn’t have two All-Stars. Oddly, Davis was traded away to Pittsburgh just one day after the All-Star festivities in Indianapolis. And with that, the last remaining link to Anaheim was gone.
General manager Jim Hardy didn’t really seem to value continuity, as he made several transactions this season that left me scratching my head. Like trading away last year’s top rookie, Larry Miller, after just 21 games. I wonder how much of a role finances had to play with the departures of Miller and Davis. Of course, unlike Miller, Davis’ career plummeted after this trade. He bounced around between four ABA teams and was out of the league by 1973. He then spent six years in the Eastern Basketball Association, where he won two EBA championships with the Allentown Jets. I guess it could have been worse, but I’m sure he dreamed of something much bigger.
Willie Wise may have been one of the reasons why both Miller and Davis were traded. Wise was a 6-5 forward from San Francisco, who played at the City College of San Francisco before transferring to Drake University. He was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors in the fifth round in 1969, but he was unable to make his home team’s roster. Remarkably, he was overlooked in the ABA draft, but he earned a spot on the Stars during their June tryouts.
As a rookie, Wise put up 15.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game, earning a spot on the ABA’s All-Rookie First Team. He also became the first player in franchise history to receive MVP votes, finishing 11th in the contest. Wisely (get it?), the Stars decided to keep Wise so we’ll get to talk more about him later.
Mack Calvin also may have had a hand in Miller’s departure. The 1969-70 Stars media guide hilariously listed Calvin as standing half an inch above 6 feet — I guess they refused to admit he was a 6-foot-nothing point guard. Anyway, Calvin was born in Texas, but grew up in Southern California, where he attended Long Beach City College before transferring to USC. He made the All-PAC-8 First Team in 1969, but wasn’t drafted by the Lakers until the 14th round of the NBA Draft. According to the Stars media guide, he was selected in the “second five rounds” of the ABA Draft. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.
Calvin’s arrival proved most fortuitous to Los Angeles, as Merv Jackson suffered a significant injury that seems to have permanently robbed him of some of the explosiveness he demonstrated as a rookie. Calvin proved remarkably durable, becoming the only player on this roster to appear in all 84 games (it baffles me that this struggling league decided to go from 78 games to 84). Calvin averaged 16.8 points and 5.7 assists per game, joining Wise on the All-Rookie First Team. He eventually went on to have one of the best careers in ABA history — but not with the Stars, as he was traded to Miami in June 1970. However, we will see him again. It’ll just take a while.
Bill McGill joined Merv Jackson as one of two former Utes on the Stars roster this season. He was born in Texas, but grew up in Los Angeles, where he established himself as one of the best high school basketball players in the city. According to legend, he got to play a pick-up game against Wilt Chamberlain. Seeking to find a way to score over the much larger and more experienced NBA superstar, the teenaged McGill created a type of hook shot that proved extremely effective and helped him become a dominant scorer despite being an undersized (6-foot-9) center. Unfortunately, McGill also sustained a major knee injury during his junior year of high school. He ignored his doctor’s advice to have reconstructive surgery, opting instead to periodically have his knee drained in secret. This tactic worked for about five years, but not much longer.
McGill was highly recruited out of high school, and nearly went to Cal, but was denied due to his poor grades. Luckily for Ute fans, coach Jack Gardner had no such qualms about McGill’s academic record and made him the first Black man to play at the University of Utah. McGill thrived with the Utes, leading them to a third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament in his junior season. As a senior, he averaged a mind-boggling 38.8 points and 15.0 rebounds per game. Sadly, the Utes were banned from the Tournament that season because one of their players had accepted free plane tickets from a booster (this was back when the NCAA actually had some teeth).
In 1962, the Chicago Zephyrs made McGill the No. 1 pick in the draft. Unfortunately, he turned out to be a bust. Despite his incredible hook shot, that bad knee of his had rendered him too slow and weak to compete at the highest level. He bounced around between four different NBA franchises and was out of the league by 1965. He then played in the North American Basketball League before he landed with the ABA’s Denver Rockets in 1968. They traded him to Los Angeles in 1969, and he was quite excited at the prospect of returning home.
McGill averaged 11.5 points per game in 27 games before he was traded to Pittsburgh for Craig Raymond (more on him later). The Pipers quickly sent him to Dallas, where he played his final games as a professional basketball player. Sadly, he ended his career deep in debt and homeless until a sportswriter helped him land a job at Hughes Aircraft. Later in life, he assisted with the NBA’s Rookie Transition Program and published an autobiography. He died in Salt Lake City in 2014 at age 74.
Craig Raymond was a 6-11 center from Washington state, who attended Brigham Young University. He was drafted with the 12th pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967, but he didn’t make the team right away, forcing him to play in Italy for a season. He then returned to America to play with the Wilkes-Barre Barons in the EPBL before he finally got called up by the Sixers at the end of the 1968-69 season. But he only lasted 27 games before he was traded to Cincinnati. The Royals didn’t want him, but the ABA’s Pittsburgh Pipers did … until they decided to trade him to Los Angeles for Bill McGill in January 1970.
The trade turned out to be the best thing for Raymond, who put up a career-high 15.4 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. Sadly, Raymond was unable to build on this momentum, as he was traded to Memphis in September 1970. Raymond then bounced around between four different teams before falling out of the ABA in 1973. I find it interesting when several players have breakout seasons with one team, then drop completely off the map once they’re traded away. I wonder if head coach Bill Sharman can take some credit for maximizing the potential of some of these players. Anyway, Raymond’s story ended in 2018, when he died in Provo at age 73.
The Stars really had a turbulent season. Their big acquisition, Zelmo Beaty, was forced to sit out the entire year. The team was sold and rumors of relocation immediately spread. Attendance lagged and revenue dropped. Injuries and trades required 18 different players to suit up, including former Anaheim Amigo Les Selvage for four games. But despite all that, Bill Sharman led the Stars to a 43-41 record, which was just barely good enough to get them into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Los Angeles then put together a miracle playoff run, upsetting Dallas in six games before stunning Denver in five games in the Western Division Finals. But the Stars met their match in the ABA Finals, losing to Indiana in six games.
And while all this was going on, the relocation talk had finally solidified on Salt Lake City. It was the most logical choice, as it was the only city on Daniels’ short list to have a suitable arena. But then something interesting happened. The Stars were forced to play most of their playoff games away from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, as Kirst hadn’t scheduled the dates out that far. Some people say he never expected the Stars to reach the playoffs, but others speculate that he did this intentionally out of spite. Whatever the reason, the result was that the Stars played their two Finals games back in their original home at the Anaheim Convention Center.
The Convention Center officials suddenly saw how fun it was to host big-time basketball games in front of thousands of people — as opposed to the small-time games the Amigos had played in front of hundreds. They actually requested for the Stars to return to Anaheim and probably even revive the Amigos nickname. And Daniels strongly considered this offer.
I think he had good reason for this. At this point in time, the Stars were the ABA’s only team in California, or even the entire West Coast. It would severely weaken the league to abandon such a large market. Leaving Southern California would also alienate the fan base that had finally begun to grow — making the Finals can do wonders for a team. Daniels was also oddly concerned with the cost of the Salt Palace transitioning between ice hockey games and basketball games — a challenge the Convention Center wouldn’t have had to deal with. Ultimately, though, Daniels chose to take a rather hands-off approach to his team and leave the final decision on relocation to his brand-new team president.
Vince Boryla was a 6-5 forward from Chicago, who played at Notre Dame while serving in the Army. When the Army transferred him to Denver in 1946, he began playing basketball at the University of Denver. In 1948, he helped Team USA win the gold medal in the London Olympics. After graduation in 1949, he signed with the New York Knicks and became an All-Star in 1951. But a wrist injury and a knee injury quickly robbed him of his effectiveness on the court, and he retired in 1954.
Boryla became the head coach of the Knicks in 1956, then moved to the general manager role in 1959. He only held that role until 1961, which probably indicates he was fired, but I can’t say for certain. What I can say for certain was that he returned to Denver in the 1960s and met Bill Daniels through his amateur boxing club. When Daniels purchased the Stars, he decided to make Boryla the team president and general manager.
That picture above is from the Deseret News on June 10, 1970, showing Boryla excitedly signing the contract to bring the Stars to the Salt Palace. He said Salt Lake was always his first choice because of its amazing new arena. So this really feels like a “if you build it, they will come” situation. The Salt Palace failed to land the Winter Olympics, but it did bring in a hockey team and a basketball team.
Boryla explained that they were keeping the Stars name because they just had a lot of success with that name. And I agree — you shouldn’t change your team name after you reach the Finals (I also think you shouldn’t relocate your team after a Finals trip, either, but there you go). Daniels explained that they named the team the Utah Stars instead of the Salt Lake Stars because he intended to play home games in the arenas of Utah State, Weber State, and BYU. The five-year contract he signed with the Salt Palace only required a minimum of 33 games, just so the Stars could travel around the state. As far as I can tell, they only played outside of Salt Lake City a handful of times.
The new logo preserved the old as much as possible, only dropping the Los Angeles for Utah. I really miss the whimsical font Los Angeles was in, and I think Utah is a little hard to read. But I do like that the UTA matches the STA of Stars.
Unfortunately, the Utah Stars did not preserve the wonderful Los Angeles Stars uniforms, which included the unique lettering from the logo and had some sharp stripes up the sides with stars on them. I do like that they settled on a standard shade of blue instead of awkwardly trying to incorporate the light Carolina blue, but that’s about it. These jerseys are boring and basic. Boo!
Despite the efforts from some serious naysayers, most notably Ute coach Jack Gardner, the state of Utah came out to support the Stars. They played their first game on Oct. 14, 1970, beating the Denver Rockets 134-99 in front of a crowd of 9,185. It wasn’t a sellout, but it was much more than they could have fit in Anaheim. I know I’m biased here, but I think Bill Daniels and Vince Boryla made the right decision.
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