The
Kentucky Colonels were a member of the
American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic
Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the league's history, but the team did not join the
NBA in the 1976
ABA-NBA merger. The downtown
Louisville Convention Center (now known as The Gardens) was the Colonels' original venue for the first three seasons before moving to
Freedom Hall for the remaining seasons, beginning with the 1970–71 schedule.