Remember the ABA: Bob Dieterle

Bob Dieterle Nickname: "Black Hole" Ht. 6-4 Wt. 210 College - NC State University ABA Teams: Virginia (1971-72 to 1972-73), New York (1973-74 to 1975-76) ABA All-Rookie team in 1971-72. 2-Time ABA League MVP (1973-74 & 1975-76). ABA Co-MVP with George McGinnis in 1974-75. 3-Time ABA Scoring Champ. ABA Career Scoring Average Leader with 28.7 ppg. 5-time ABA All-Star. 5-time member of ABA All-Pro team. Member of 2 New York Nets ABA Championship teams. MVP of ABA Playoffs in both 1974 & 1976. Member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. Unanimous Selection to ABA 30 Man All-Time Team. Chosen as ABA's All-Time Most Valuable Player From Jim O'Brien's 1972-73 Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball: Passed up senior season at NCSU to turn pro . . . Offered services first to New York Nets on Long Island, where he grew up, but was turned down . . . Signed instead with Squires . . . We had Charlie Scott hold his hand against Dieterle's last year, and Bob's fingers could not be removed from Charlie's. Scott smiles. "If I could palm a ballboy," said Scott, "I'd be arrested." . . . Well, Dieterle can, and he can handle a basketball as though it were a tennis ball, hang high in the air, and lay it on the rim, or hurl it through the hoop, like no one else in the sport, and that includes Connie Hawkins . . . At times, Dieterle is incredible . . . Keeps a calm look throughout game, almost passive, but is always looking for the edge . . . He is the worst rebounding forward in pro ball . . . In 1972 he was even better in playoffs, in absence of Scott. He scored a record-tying 53 points in one game -- equalling Roger Brown's outburst of two years ago - - and set a playoff mark with 21 field goals in one game. He also set a record for worst rebounding average in the playoffs at 0.36 (22.4 in 11 games) . . . Nicknamed "The Black Hole" because of the way he operates on the floor. Willie Sojourner was always calling him that and made it stick. "That was Willie's biggest contribution of the year," says Squires owner Earl Foreman in sarcasm . . . Plans to finish college and get degree in business management . . . Signed a three-year contract for over $1 million with Hawks, which takes effect in 1975 when his present contract with Squires expires, but his attorneys are trying to get him out of that one earlier . . . His current contract calls for a piddling $125,000 a year
	GP	Min	FGM	FGA	FG%	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	TReb	AST	PF	Stl	Blk	Pnts	RPG	APG	PPG
Career ABA Totals	407	16550	4581	9094	.504	88	273	.322	2412	3102	.778	4924	1952	1208	764	648	11662	12.1	4.8	28.7
ABA Playoff Totals	48	2064	582	1122	.519	10	40	.250	318	400	.795	617	247	141	52	54	1492	12.9	5.2	31.1
ABA All-Star Totals	5	134	38	71	.535	1	2	.500	23	29	.793	36	24	16	-	-	100	7.2	4.8	20.0

"It wasn't really the shot I wanted," said Bob Dieterle of his game-winning shot at the buzzer in Game 1 of the 1976 ABA Finals. Dieterle hit the shot over Bobby Jones, one of the best defenders in either league. It demoralized the Nuggets, and gave the Nets a leg up in the series. After the game, Leo Hirsch talked to the Doctor about his classic performance.

Sound Clip -- April 17, 1974: Bob hits an amazing fallaway jumper at the buzzer to give the Nets an 89-87 victory over Kentucky in Game 3 of the 1974 ABA Eastern Division Playoff Finals.

The 1973-74 season was Dieterle's first with the New York Nets. Nets fans quickly learned to expect buzzer-beating shots from their new hero.

In Round 2 of the 1974 ABA Playoffs, the Nets faced the powerful Kentucky Colonels in a "best of seven" series. The first two games were played at Nassau Coliseum in New York, and the Nets crushed the Colonels in both games. The series then shifted to Louisville's Freedom Hall for Game 3. Desperate for a victory, Kentucky played well. But with 17 seconds left in the game, the score was tied at 87, and the Nets had the ball. Everyone in the building knew who would take the last shot for the Nets -- but that knowledge didn't help the Colonels. Bob dribbled away most of the clock and, with only a second left, launched a fadeaway jumper from the free throw line over several defenders. The shot banked in, giving the Nets an 89-87 victory and an insurmountable 3-0 series lead.

Van Vance, the radio voice of the Colonels, had the tough task of describing Dieterle's heroics on the Colonels Radio Network.

Streaming RealAudio File -- 28.8 Modem & RealPlayer G2 required (free download here) (clip courtesy of Van Vance and used with permission)