MEMORIES OF ED BRIGHTMAN: "My father, Al Brightman, coached the Amigos in their inaugural season. I recall a game in Fresno in which the Amigos' owner, Art Kim, chased the referees into their locker room after a buzzer. They were afraid of Kim because he apparently knew some karate. One of the referees was a little overweight and I recall (as my father was hustling me away) Kim, fists pounding on their locker room door, yelling at the top of his lungs in his Chinese-American accent: "I won't hurt you por-kee, I just want to talk!" He was angry because the refs had missed an Anaheim three-pointer. They missed the call because the three-point line was taped on the floor with black electrical tape and had been pulling up from the floor. The ball boys would run out and rip up the tape that had peeled up, making any three-pointer a complete judgment call. It was absolutely hilarious...."
MEMORIES OF STEVEN CHAFFIN: "I saw a pre-season game at Selland Arena in Fresno between the Anaheim Amigos and the Pittsburgh Pipers – it must have been the first year of the league. The Pipers' Connie Hawkins stood out as a superior player. I do not remember the final score, but at halftime it was about 88 to 85. Alas, in an arena that held about 8,000 there were only about 150-200 people. We sat near an attractive older lady (I was only 19 at the time so all "women" were older). She have been the wife of the owner of the Amigos and she exhorted the Amigos throughout the game."
MEMORIES OF LEE MEADE: "Art Kim was one of the ABA's treasured characters. He had a shoelace operation in Anaheim to equal the best of them. In one game, he had a couple of injured players and four players fouled out. In order to field a team, he had Dick Lee, the team's PR director, dress quickly so he could go into the game. I believe Dick actually played in a couple of games, but didn't score."
