# 1967–68 Houston Mavericks season

The 1967–68 Houston Mavericks season was the first season of the Mavericks in the American Basketball Association. On February 2, 1967, Houston was awarded a franchise for $30,000 with William Whitmore, Charles Frazier and Cloyce Box being the buyers. Later that year, T.S. Morrow and Bud Adams, owner of a Houston-based oil company and the AFL's Houston Oilers bought Box's interest in the team. Morrow would be majority owner while Adams was a minority owner. The team had less than stellar attendance, with 3,091 attending the first ever game versus the Chaparrals on October 23, 1967 (losing 100–83). The lowest attended game was held on February 5, 1968, when only 575 people attended. The highest attended game was on February 29, 1968, with 4,965 attendance. Despite all of this, the Mavericks spiraled into the playoffs, in part due to 8 of the 11 teams in the new league being guaranteed a spot into the Playoffs, with Houston getting the final spot by 4 games. In the Semifinals, they were swept by the Dallas Chaparrals in 3 games. This was their only playoff appearance in their two-year history.

## Roster

* 34 Art Becker - Power forward
* 24 Wilbert Frazier - Power forward
* 20 Hal Hale - Point guard
* 22 Joe Hamood - Shooting guard
* 44 Darrell Hardy - Forward
* 35 Leary Lentz - Small forward
* 31 Guy Manning - Small forward
* 14 DeWitt Menyard - Center
* 44 Wayne Molis - Center
* 21 Jerry Pettway - Shooting guard
* 15 Bob Riedy - Power forward
* 25 Roger Schurig - Point guard
* 12 Willie Somerset - Point guard
* -- Gary Turner - Forward

## Final standings
### Western Division

| Team | W | L | PCT. | GB |
| New Orleans Buccaneers | 48 | 30 | .615 | – |
| Dallas Chaparrals | 46 | 32 | .590 | 2 |
| Denver Rockets | 45 | 33 | .577 | 3 |
| Houston Mavericks | 29 | 49 | .372 | 19 |
| Anaheim Amigos | 25 | 53 | .321 | 23 |
| Oakland Oaks | 22 | 56 | .282 | 26 |

### Record vs. opponents

1967–68 ABA Records :
| Team | ANA | DAL | DEN | HOU | IND | KEN | MIN | NJA | NOB | OAK | PIT |
| Anaheim | — | 2–8 | 3–7 | 6–3 | 2–4 | 0–6 | 1–5 | 2–4 | 2–7 | 6–4 | 1–5 |
| Dallas | 8–2 | — | 4–5 | 8–2 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 4–6 | 7–2 | 2–4 |
| Denver | 7–3 | 5–4 | — | 6–3 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 5–1 | 5–5 | 7–3 | 2–4 |
| Houston | 3–6 | 2–8 | 3–6 | — | 3–3 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 0–10 | 7–3 | 2–4 |
| Indiana | 4–2 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 3–3 | — | 6–5 | 3–8 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 4–6 |
| Kentucky | 6–0 | 1–5 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 5–6 | — | 5–5 | 4–7 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 3–7 |
| Minnesota | 5–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 8–3 | 5–5 | — | 7–3 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 4–7 |
| New Jersey | 4–2 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 3–3 | 4–6 | 7–4 | 3–7 | — | 3–3 | 5–1 | 3–8 |
| New Orleans | 7–2 | 6–4 | 5–5 | 10–0 | 3–3 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 3–3 | — | 6–3 | 3–3 |
| Oakland | 4–6 | 2–7 | 3–7 | 3–7 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 1–5 | 1–5 | 3–6 | — | 0–6 |
| Pittsburgh | 5–1 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 4–2 | 6–4 | 7–3 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 3–3 | 6–0 | — |

## Playoffs

1968 playoff game log :
Western Division Semifinals: 0–3 (home: 0–1; road: 0–2)
GameDateTeamScoreHigh pointsHigh reboundsHigh assistsLocation AttendanceSeries
1
March 25
@ Dallas
L 110–111
Willie Somerset 42
Willie Somerset 11
Moody Coliseum 1,857
0–1
2
March 25
Dallas
L 97–115
Willie Somerset (40)
Sam Houston Coliseum 891
0–2
3
March 26
@Dallas
L 103–116
Art Becker (26)
Art Becker (10)
Moody Coliseum 3,117
0–3 :
1968 schedule :

## Awards and honors

1968 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on January 9, 1968)
* Art Becker
* DeWitt Menyard