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NOLA Life Stories: Ronnie Kole & The New Orleans Buccaneers

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Thomas Walsh,
Mark Cave
Published January 30, 2015 at 4:00 PM EST
The 1969-70 New Orleans Buccaneers pose for a team photograph during the team's last season in town. The team was subsequently in Memphis for five seasons moved to Memphis before the ABA folded in 1976.
American Basketball Association
The 1969-70 New Orleans Buccaneers pose for a team photograph during the team's last season in town. The team was subsequently in Memphis for five seasons moved to Memphis before the ABA folded in 1976.

Local basketball fans have rooted for the Pelicans, the Hornets and the Jazz, but did you ever root for the Buccaneers? 

The Buccaneers were one of the original 11 teams in the American Basketball Association and New Orleans' first professional basketball team. People took notice of the ABA because of the flashy chances they took: they invented the Slam Dunk contest, had celebrity owners, and made open invitations for anyone to play on their teams.

Local musician and nightclub owner Ronnie Kole was as surprised as anyone to become one of the founding members of the ABA and remembers how the Buccaneers and New Orleans made for a perfect marriage of off-kilter energy.Listen to Richard Kole's memories of the New Orleans Buccaneers, the first professional team in New Orleans.

  After three seasons in New Orleans, money was tight for the Buccaneers and they were purchased by an investor who moved the team to Memphis. The ABA didn’t last much longer — by 1976 they had merged with the NBA. 

This interview was originally conducted by Mark Cave for the Historic New Orleans Collection and produced for broadcast by Thomas Walsh. 

Copyright 2015 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio
Louisiana News
Thomas Walsh
Thomas Walsh is an independent radio producer for WWNO. Each week he works to produce new editions of Louisiana Eats and All Things New Orleans, as well as Notes From New Orleans, The Farmer's Market Minute, and The Green Minute. Outside WWNO, Thomas is a volunteer disc jockey for WTUL, where he hosts a weekly live four-hour program broadcasting twentieth century classical music. Thomas has four years experience in audio engineering, and a BA from Trinity University in San Antonio where he double majored in communications and philosophy. Someday he will give away his entire collection of Grateful Dead concerts, which has swelled to unnecessary proportions in recent years.
See stories by Thomas Walsh
Mark Cave