Louie Dampier

The Louie Dampier Book of Basketball was straightforward, concise, and fun to read. Get the ball and score filled every page. A 6-foot playmaker on Adolph Rupp's famed "Rupp's Runts" team at the University of Kentucky, Dampier averaged 21 points per game as the Wildcats raced all the way to the 1966 NCAA national championship game. He was the heart and soul of Rupp's guard-oriented attack, a deadly shooter from the corner and devastating scorer in the open floor. A fourth round draft pick of the NBA's Cincinnati Royals, Dampier instead chose to sign with the Kentucky Colonels of the upstart American Basketball Association. As a Colonel, and one of only a handful of players to play all nine seasons of the ABA, "Little Louie" fired from all angles and all distances to become the league's all-time leader in points and three-point field goals. In 1975, with Dampier feeding the ball inside to Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel, the Kentucky Colonels beat the Indiana Pacers to win the franchise's only ABA championship.