The Carolina Cougars were a basketball franchise in the American Basketball Association that existed from 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Carolina in late 1969 after two unsuccessful seasons in Houston at the Sam Houston Coliseum. History Early years in Carolina The Carolina Cougars franchise began when future Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Jim Gardner bought the Houston Mavericks and moved them to North Carolina in 1969. At the time, none of North Carolina's large metropolitan areas – Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad and the Triangle – was large enough to support a professional team on its own. With this in mind, Gardner decided to brand the Cougars as a "regional" team. Gardner sold the team after one season to Ted Munchak, who poured significant resources into the team. The Cougars were based in Greensboro and played most of their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum, the state's largest arena at the time. Games were also regularly played in Charlotte at the (original) Charlotte Coliseum and in Raleigh at Dorton Arena and Reynolds Coliseum. In early 1972, three regular season games were played in Winston-Salem at the Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum, and one game was played at Fort Bragg. Early on, the Cougars were not especially successful on the court, posting a 42–42 record in the 1969–70 season, a 34–50 record in 1970–71, and a 35–49 record in 1971–72. The 1969–70 Cougars managed to make the ABA playoffs but lost in the Eastern Division Semifinals (first round) to a much stronger Indiana Pacers team. In spite of this, the Cougars had a good fan following, particularly in Greensboro. The 1971–72 team was coached by former NBA All-Star Tom Meschery, who had just retired from 10 years of NBA play with the San Francisco Warriors and the Seattle SuperSonics. Success under Larry Brown In 1972–73, the Cougars hired retired ABA players Larry Brown and former Cougar Doug Moe as coaches. The 1972–73 Cougars were fairly talented and featured players Billy Cunningham, Joe Caldwell, and Mack Calvin. All three appeared in the ABA All-Star Game that season, and Cunningham was named the league's Most Valuable Player. Carolina went on to post a 57–27 record, which was the best in the ABA. The Cougars beat the New York Nets in their first-round playoff series 4 games to