 Dampier in 1979 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1944-11-20)November 20, 1944 (age 81) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Listed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Listed weight | 170 lb (77 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Southport (Indianapolis, Indiana) |
| College | Kentucky (1964–1967) |
| NBA draft | 1967: 4th round, 38th overall pick |
| Drafted by | Cincinnati Royals |
| Playing career | 1967–1979 |
| Position | Point guard |
| Number | 10 |
| Career history | |
| 1967–1976 | Kentucky Colonels |
| 1976–1979 | San Antonio Spurs |
| Career highlights | |
| |
| Career ABA and NBA statistics | |
| Points | 15,279 (15.9 ppg) |
| Rebounds | 2,543 (2.6 rpg) |
| Assists | 4,687 (4.9 apg) |
Stats at NBA.com  | |
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |
| Basketball Hall of Fame | |
Louis Dampier (born November 20, 1944) is an American former professionalbasketball player. He played professionally in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) andAmerican Basketball Association (ABA), primarily playing with theKentucky Colonels.
A 6-foot-tallguard, Dampier is one of only a handful of men to play all nine seasons in theAmerican Basketball Association (ABA) (1967–1976), all with theKentucky Colonels. Dampier is the only player that played in the playoffs in all nine ABA years. His 728 games played in the ABA is the most for any player.[1]
He also was one of just two players to play all nine ABA seasons with the same team; the other wasByron Beck of theDenver Rockets, later renamed the Nuggets. After theABA–NBA merger in 1976, Dampier played three seasons (1976–1979) in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) with theSan Antonio Spurs. Dampier was inducted as a member of theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Dampier was born inIndianapolis and played atSouthport High School; leading the Cardinals to twoIHSAA Sectional titles and the finals of the IHSAA Regionals in 1961–62 and 1962–63. He also played in the Annual All-Star game featuring the top high school Senior players from Indiana and Kentucky. During the series following his senior season (1962–63) Dampier faced a Kentucky team led byClem Haskins andWayne Chapman. Dampier averaged 8.5 points as the Indiana team split the series with Kentucky.
Dampier was a two-sport athlete at theUniversity of Kentucky, playingbaseball as well as basketball. Playing under coachAdolph Rupp, Dampier,Tommy Kron andPat Riley ledRupp's Runts to the 1966NCAA championship game, where they lost toTexas Western College (now theUniversity of Texas at El Paso) in a watershed game for college basketball. This game spearheaded the end of racial segregation in college basketball.
During his three years atKentucky (at the time,freshmen were ineligible to play varsity sports), Dampier was a two-time All-American and three-time All-Southeastern Conference selection. He was also named Academic All-SEC twice and Academic All-American once. Upon graduation from Kentucky in 1967, Dampier scored 1,575 points, at the time third-most in school history behind onlyCotton Nash (1,770) andAlex Groza (1,744).
In 1967, theCincinnati Royals (now theSacramento Kings) selected Dampier in the fourth round of theNBA draft and theKentucky Colonels selected him in the ABA draft.[2] Dampier eventually signed with the Kentucky Colonels of the fledgling ABA and teamed withDarel Carrier to form the most explosive backcourt duo in the league. In each of the ABA's first three seasons, both Dampier and Carrier averaged at least 20 points per game. Both werethree-point field goal specialists (the ABA had used the three-point field goal from its inception), but especially Dampier who made 500 during a three-year stretch: a record 199 during the 1968–69 season, 198 in 1969–70 and 103 in 1970–71. At the conclusion of the ABA's history, Dampier made a career-record 794 3-point field goals.[3]His record 199 three points made in a single season will resist for 26 years in NBA until 1995.
He also finished first all-time in the ABA in games played (728), minutes played (27,770), points scored (13,726), andassists (4,044).[3] During the1970–71 season, he hit 57 consecutivefree throws for what was then a pro record (ABA or NBA). Seven times, he was named an ABA All-Star. He was a unanimous choice for the ABA Top 30 team.[4] He played on the Colonels' 1975 ABA championship team, which featured a later Kentucky standout,Dan Issel, as well as 7'2" centerArtis Gilmore.
After the 1976 season, the ABA ceased operations with Kentucky and two other teams folding. He was one of only six players to play in the ABA for all nine seasons when the league existed, with Dampier joiningByron Beck as the only other player to stay with the franchise that first drafted them throughout their entire stay in the ABA (who coincidentally also had played in colleges nearby the professional team's area). Dampier was selected by theSan Antonio Spurs (one of the four teams to join the NBA in theABA–NBA merger) in the1976 ABA Dispersal Draft. Playing mostly as a role player behindGeorge Gervin, Dampier averaged 6.7 points in 232 NBA games.
Dampier later served as an assistant coach with theDenver Nuggets.
Several divisions in the 21st century semi-proABA were initially named after stars of the old ABA, including Dampier.
Dampier was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2015.[5]
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
| * | Led the league |
| † | Denotes seasons in which Dampier's team won anABA championship |
| * | ABA record |
| Bold | Denotes career highs |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967–68 | Kentucky (ABA) | 72 | - | 41.1 | .421 | .268 | .823 | 4.6 | 3.6 | - | - | 20.7 |
| 1968–69 | Kentucky (ABA) | 78 | - | 42.6* | .420 | .361 | .811 | 3.8 | 5.8 | - | - | 24.8 |
| 1969–70 | Kentucky (ABA) | 82 | - | 40.9 | .399 | .361 | .831 | 3.8 | 5.5 | - | - | 26.0 |
| 1970–71 | Kentucky (ABA) | 84 | - | 38.3 | .418 | .368 | .851 | 3.5 | 5.5 | - | - | 18.5 |
| 1971–72 | Kentucky (ABA) | 83 | - | 38.7 | .442 | .361 | .836 | 3.1 | 6.2 | - | - | 15.9 |
| 1972–73 | Kentucky (ABA) | 80 | - | 38.0 | .451 | .348 | .784 | 2.7 | 6.5 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 16.8 |
| 1973–74 | Kentucky (ABA) | 84 | - | 35.0 | .465 | .387* | .832 | 2.4 | 5.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 17.8 |
| 1974–75† | Kentucky (ABA) | 83 | - | 34.7 | .500 | .396 | .809 | 2.5 | 5.4 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 16.8 |
| 1975–76 | Kentucky (ABA) | 82 | - | 34.6 | .479 | .368 | .863 | 1.9 | 5.7 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 13.0 |
| 1976–77 | San Antonio | 80 | - | 20.4 | .460 | - | .744 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 6.6 |
| 1977–78 | San Antonio | 82 | - | 24.8 | .509 | - | .752 | 1.5 | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 9.1 |
| 1978–79 | San Antonio | 70 | - | 10.9 | .490 | - | .744 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 3.9 |
| Career ABA | 728* | - | 38.1 | .439 | .358 | .826 | 3.1 | 5.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 18.9 | |
| Career NBA | 232 | - | 19.1 | .488 | .748 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 6.7 | ||
| Career Total | 960 | - | 33.5 | .444 | .358 | .820 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 15.9 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Kentucky (ABA) | 5 | - | 44.8 | .442 | .405 | .839 | 4.8 | 4.6 | - | - | 26.6 |
| 1969 | Kentucky (ABA) | 7 | - | 46.6 | .357 | .291 | .870 | 4.3 | 4.0 | - | - | 22.3 |
| 1970 | Kentucky (ABA) | 12 | - | 43.8 | .369 | .329 | .774 | 3.8 | 6.8 | - | - | 17.7 |
| 1971 | Kentucky (ABA) | 19 | - | 43.6 | .385 | .319 | .742 | 4.1 | 9.4 | - | - | 16.9 |
| 1972 | Kentucky (ABA) | 6 | - | 42.3 | .420 | .478 | .625 | 3.2 | 7.5 | - | - | 13.2 |
| 1973 | Kentucky (ABA) | 12 | - | 34.8 | .516 | .455 | .700 | 2.1 | 3.3 | - | - | 13.4 |
| 1974 | Kentucky (ABA) | 8 | - | 28.6 | .483 | .500 | .778 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 13.4 |
| 1975† | Kentucky (ABA) | 15 | - | 40.3 | .509 | .385 | .868 | 2.4 | 7.5 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 16.9 |
| 1976 | Kentucky (ABA) | 10 | - | 39.3 | .519 | .500 | .900 | 1.3 | 7.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 16.0 |
| 1977 | San Antonio | 2 | - | 31.0 | .250 | - | 1.000 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 6.0 |
| 1978 | San Antonio | 6 | - | 21.5 | .459 | - | .250 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 5.8 |
| 1979 | San Antonio | 7 | - | 7.9 | .571 | - | .571 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 2.9 |
| Career ABA | 94 | - | 40.4 | .436 | .366 | .789 | 3.0 | 6.6 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 16.9 | |
| Career NBA | 15 | - | 16.4 | .433 | .600 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 4.5 | ||
| Career Total | 109 | - | 37.1 | .436 | .366 | .781 | 2.8 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 15.1 | |
