By: Ron Bailey
It hangs in a corner of my memory like one of those old Cincinnati
Royals trading cards that I own and that was the night the NBA came
to the Mason County Fieldhouse. On an October night in the fall of
1965 the Cincinnati Royals played the St. Louis Hawks in a pre-season
game in the new 1.5-million-dollar Mason County Fieldhouse. The
Mason County Royals played the first game on January 15th of 1965
when they beat the Ripley Blue Jays by the score of 82 to 63. The
Fieldhouse hosted the Tenth Regional tourney that year in front of
huge crowds.
The brass of the Cincinnati Royals noticed the crowds that the new
venue in Maysville was bringing in and they scheduled an exhibition
game versus the St. Louis Hawks. I researched the Cincinnati Royals
website and the Cincinnati Enquirer archives to get the final score and
some tidbits, but the game is still vivid in my mind. Whow, this was my
heroes playing in Maysville, but to my disappointment, the Big O,
Oscar Robertson did not make the trip because he had not signed his
contract for the 65-66 season. Also, Cliff Hagan the former UK star
who played for the Atlanta Hawks did not play that night. Adrian Smith
who I admired so much as he starred for the UK Wildcats and now, he
was a star for the Cincinnati Royals played and in fact he was the top
scorer for the Royals as they beat the Hawks by the score of 122 to
- Little things that I remember about that game like the 24 second
clock in the end zones of the Fieldhouse that were powered by
extension cords and standing next to players like Connie Dierking and
Zelmo Beatty and realizing how big they were. Jerry Lucas and his
feathery jumper for the Royals and how the player coach for the
Hawks, Richie Guerin was everywhere on the floor barking out plays
and according to the box score he led the Hawks in scoring that night
with 22 points. The box score in the archives listed the attendance as
2,500 in the Fieldhouse.
The Cincinnati Royals left the Queen City after the 1972 season
and they became the Kansas City Kings and today the franchise is the
Sacramento Kings. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968 and
they are still the Atlanta Hawks today.
I am sure many of our readers remember that night in the fall of
1965 when this game was played and the memories of that game. Just
having an NBA game in our town was amazing, but if you build it, they
will come.