Stars hosted the 1971 NASL Professional Hoc-Soc Tournament here, which was the first indoor soccer tournament sanctioned by a Division One professional league in U.S. history. In the 1973 NCAA Basketball Final, the UCLA Bruins and legendary coach John Wooden defeated Memphis State 87–66, behind 44 points from Bill Walton who went 21 of 22 from the floor. Over 19,000 were in attendance at the Arena. On February 13, 1974, the St. Louis Stars played host to the Red Army team at the Arena in the final match of Russian squad's three-city indoor soccer tour of North America. Attendance for the match was 12,241. In the 1978 NCAA Basketball Final, the Kentucky Wildcats and coach Joe B. Hall defeated Duke 94–88, led by the 41-point effort of Jack Givens. From 1980 to 1993, St. Louis Arena was the site of the Braggin' Rights basketball game played between the University of Missouri and the University of Illinois. Spirits of St. Louis – ABA Era (1974–76) After the 1968 departure of the NBA's Hawks, the Carolina Cougars moved to the city and took the name Spirits of St. Louis. The Spirits played in the Arena for the final two seasons of the American Basketball Association (ABA), 1974–75 and 1975–76. Their announcer on KMOX radio was a young Bob Costas. Young players such as Steve Jones ("Snapper", now a TV analyst), Marvin Barnes ("Bad News), Maurice Lucas and Moses Malone all played for the Spirits during their tenure at the Arena. The team was not included in the ABA–NBA merger in 1976, when the Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and New York Nets joined the NBA. The Spirits and the Kentucky Colonels were disbanded. Spirits owners Ozzie and Daniel Silna pulled off a coup in their dissolution agreement when the ABA–NBA merger was finalized. The Silnas negotiated to receive a portion of TV monies in perpetuity, a deal that netted them over $250 million before they were bought out by the NBA in 2014 for a reported $500 million. The St. Louis Blues era (1967–1994) By the time the NHL's St. Louis Blues began playing at the Arena, it had fallen into such poor condition that it had to be heavily renovated for the 1967–68 season. As a condition of getting the expansion franchise, Blues owner Sid Salomon Jr. purchased the Arena from the Chicago Black Hawks and spent several million