09/13/2026
Artis Gilmore played for my Dads ABA team when he Coach 1975 and they beat the NBA Team for the first time!
People have asked me how good was Artist Gilmore ? First I tell them he was ridiculously good in college at Jacksonville. The first year of varsity in college I was really trying to win the rebounding championship but there was one big obstacle in front of me that he stood 7’2”. Believe it or not he was averaging almost 24 rebounds a contest. On that team their front line players averaged 7 feet tall . I once read that because they were so good that they could almost leave Artist down on defense by himself and the other team couldn’t score 5 against 1 . He was that dominant. In the pros also , he first started in the ABA on the Kentucky team and won almost every award as a rookie on that championship team. When he first joined the ABA he lead the league in rebounds 4 out of 5 years . He was a 11 time Allstar and MVP. In the NBA he still was a dominant player who I think didn’t get the recognition he deserved because he a quiet guy. We have talked about the strong centers in the league and he was one of them but the difference between Shaq and Dawkins and Artist was their explosiveness but he was right there with them . As what the NBA players use to say about him ‘ he was a load” 🏀
