Sir, Those Are More than Mere "ABA-Era Basketball Hoops" on the Reunion Arena Floor

Back in September, as city officials were offering the contents of Reunion Arena in an everything-must-go auction, Patrick Michels and I were given a tour of the joint by Randy Barner, the facility's operations manager since 1983 and, now, the last man standing at the venerable facility. Among the items with which we became obsessed were two basketball goal posts sprawled across the arena's concrete-slab floor, just beneath the iconic JumboTron. Barner told us they once belonged to the ill-fated Dallas Chaparrals, which lasted from 1967 till 1973, when the team moved to San Antonio and became the Spurs.

He said they had been discovered in storage and were brought over to Reunion from the Chaparrals' former home court, Memorial Auditorium -- God knows when. "I oughta call the Spurs about those," Barner told us, but he thought for sure they'd sell at the auction. They did not, and now the Austin-based demo company swinging the wrecking ball needs to adios those bad boys lest they get tossed in the scrap heap. I know of one person who'd be interested: "I would pay top dollar for those if I could set that up a my home and if I could get George Gervin and James Silas to come play ball," says KTCK-AM morning-show co-host and Spurs die-hard Craig Miller. "That would be worth millions to me."




