Gervin was caught in the middle but told by the league to play for the Squires. Drossos responded by calling Gervin and his agent and telling both if Gervin stepped on the court with the Squires, federal marshals were going to arrest him on the spot.
Drossos offered to pay legal fees if the ABA or Virginia sued Gervin, and then had him fly to San Antonio, where McCombs said, “We hid Gervin out in a motel for about three days. He was eating baloney sandwiches and watching TV.”
The matter went before a federal judge in San Antonio and Drossos made exquisite use of a different kind of home court advantage. The judge was a man named Adrian Spears. Drossos told Pluto that Spears was a family friend and also a Spurs season ticket holder.
Guess how he ruled?
McCombs said, however, the hearing wasn’t one-sided. It even went into a second day and at times listening to arguments, McCombs was pessimistic. But then, he said: “Suddenly, out of the blue, the judge said ‘I’ve heard all I want to hear.’”
McCombs said Spears told ABA officials that although the league was a legitimate business with bylaws that had been agreed upon by all parties, “You’re not going to tell a man where he can work and where he can’t.”
After ruling for the Spurs, according to McCombs, Spears told Storen and the ABA legal team, “Furthermore gentleman, we have a new jail here and we’ve got plenty of room in it. And before you even consider appealing, you might want to remember we’ve got a place to put you.”
As [former broadcaster Terry] Stembridge now says, “I don’t think Storen ever had a chance.”
As intriguing and comical as the story is now, it was the key moment in franchise history. Had Gervin not brought his brilliant game, his prolific offensive ability, his effortless jump shot, his signature finger roll, his flashy dunks, his four scoring titles and his overpowering coolness to the River City, it is likely the Spurs would have either folded or moved somewhere else.
As Drossos later said in his wonderfully bombastic manner: “George Gervin was to San Antonio what Babe Ruth was to New York. Babe Ruth was baseball in New York City. He was the Yankees. Gervin was the San Antonio Spurs. He was the symbol of basketball in this town.”
© Whitman Publishing, LLC
PREVIOUSLY: Excerpt #2: Colorful but futile start for Spurs franchise in Dallas
PREVIOUSLY: Excerpt #1: As Popovich nears 900 victories, a look at the early days
CHECK OUT JAN HUBBARD’S ARCHIVE FROM SHERIDAN HOOPS.COM. GREAT STUFF ON THE NBA THEN AND NOW.
Jan Hubbard has written about basketball since 1976 and worked in the NBA league office for eight years between media stints. Follow him on Twitter at @whyhub.