From despised GM to missing on Magic: The story behind the Kings demise in K.C. ·

14 Jun 2024, 00:00

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Everyone who entered Kemper Arena on April 14, 1985, understood the significance of the Kansas City Kings’ season finale — it might not just be the season finale. Those fans might never see another NBA game in the city again. Such belief has been the reality since the burdensome Kings played the mighty Los Angeles Lakers in a Sunday afternoon matinee.

Even 35 years later, the game remains one of the most bizarre sporting events in the city’s history, a mixture of sorrow, gratitude, remorse, frustration and sheer vitriol.

Two excessive gestures from the fans is what LaSalle Thompson remembers most from the Kings’ final game in Kansas City. While Kemper Arena wasn’t full, Thompson, the Kings starting center, noticed that the 11,371 fans — which was one of the most-attended games that season — made sure to express their appreciation for the players. In an unusual move, every Kings player was introduced before tipoff. The fans responded by giving the Kings a two-minute standing ovation, and Thompson and his teammates were surprised and moved by the applause. Whenever Thompson reflects on his 15-year career, including his first three in Kansas City, he corrects people when they mention the Kings didn’t have loyal fans before they relocated to Sacramento.

“There were some true basketball fans in Kansas City,” Thompson said.

A large group of fans proved how devoted they were to the Kings since most of their booing that day was not intended for the Lakers. Instead, the most disgruntled fans, upset about losing the franchise, channeled their anger to Joe Axelson, the team’s beleaguered general manager. Although Axelson was a prominent figure in bringing the Kings to the city in 1972, fans, Thompson and other players believed he didn’t do enough to help the team succeed.

Thompson said Axelson needed security for the game to prevent fans from starting a physical altercation. Axelson elected not to sit in his usual seat behind the hoop near the Kings’ bench. He watched the game from a suite instead, but he could still see the handmade posters criticizing him — with phrases such as “Kill Axelson” and “Nuke Sacramento” — that were displayed on the overhang in the west end zone. In the middle of the fourth quarter, near the posters, two fans revealed a makeshift, obese dummy to represent Axelson.

“They put rope around his neck and hung him (in effigy) from the upper deck,” Thompson said of the fans. “We’re sitting down on the bench going, ‘Yo, that’s Joe Axelson.’ Joe was very instrumental in us leaving and the fans knew it. None of us liked him.”

The two fans, while lowering the dummy down into the crowd in the lower section, showered the figure with fake money, suggesting Axelson’s actions to help relocate the team were for his financial gain. Mayhem began once more fans touched the dummy. They either punched the dummy, kicked it or tore the limbs apart until it was pummeled. Meanwhile, hundreds of people throughout the arena wore unflattering masks of Axelson’s face to mock him.

As neighbors in the northern part of the city at the time, Steve Brewer, 69, and Richard Holmes, 73, were part of the dedicated fans who attended the finale and enjoyed witnessing the stunt involving the dummy. Brewer and Holmes, who have built a lifelong friendship with shooting guard Mike Woodson, wanted two outcomes from the Kings’ last game at Kemper: a bittersweet victory and embarrassment for Axelson.

“We were mad at him and he was caught in the middle of it,” Brewer said of Axelson. “I met him several times. He had to do what the owners wanted, but you’ve got to be mad at somebody.”

The game’s outcome, however, was a disappointment. The Lakers, even without their best players, defeated the Kings, who finished the season with a 31-51 record.

“Man, it was unbelievable, and 11,000 people, to me, still wasn’t enough,” Holmes said. “That last game, it just hurt to see them go.”

For a day packed with emotions, many who were part of the Kings then told The Athletic they felt the 1984-85 season was the extreme microcosm of illustrating the team’s issues during the later stretch of its 13 seasons in the city. Thompson, Woodson and small forward Eddie Johnson all believe the Kings’ mistakes, and other factoring obstacles, led the franchise to deny generations in the city a chance to cheer for its own team.

“I felt bad for the fans because they’re the ones that lose out,” Woodson said. “I was leaving family and friends. You don’t wish it on any franchise.”

Joe Axelson in 1987. (Rocky Widner / NBAE via Getty Images)

Before the Kings arrived in Sacramento, the team was led by a myriad of different owners, either in Cincinnati or Kansas City. The one constant was Axelson.

In 1969, with more experience in business than basketball, Axelson was named the Cincinnati Royals’ general manager. Within months, Axelson wanted to relocate the team. He was known for being a conservative executive, one who was more willing to trade away star players than pay them top salaries. Axelson traded Oscar Robertson, widely considered the best player in franchise history, to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1970 in part because the Hall of Fame point guard clashed with coach Bob Cousy. In exchange for Robertson, the Royals received Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson, who both lasted just one season in Cincinnati before Axelson traded them to other teams.

At several points in his 17-year tenure, Axelson stunted his team’s progress toward becoming contenders, also trading away Hall of Fame power forward Jerry Lucas, two-time All-Star Norm Van Lier and Hall of Fame point guard Nate Archibald, among several other notable names.

“In my estimation, he’s the worst general manager I ever had,” Johnson said of Axelson. “He was a general manager that pretty much ran a team like it was his money. And he did it with an attitude. I couldn’t stand him.”

Before the 1971-72 season, Axelson and nine other entrepreneurs from Kansas City purchased the Royals from Max Jacobs for $5 million. The team rebranded itself as the Kings since the city’s baseball team was already named the Royals. In their first three seasons, starting in 1972-73, the Kings split their home games between Kansas City and Omaha before moving to Kemper full-time for the 1975-76 season.

One of Axelson’s best decisions was the 1978 hiring of coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, who led the Kings to three consecutive playoff appearances. To the surprise of many, the Kings even reached the Western Conference finals in 1981. The problem was that the Kings averaged just 8,200 fans per game, which ranked 17th in the 23-team league.

“I was at every game unless I was sick,” Holmes said. “Deep down, I’m saying to myself, ‘What is the problem?’ Is it a racial thing? Is it too many black players playing and they don’t like it here in Kansas City?’ This was my feeling back then. If I had the money, I would buy the Kansas City Kings.”

Cotton Fitzsimmons posted a winning record (in the regular season) and took the team to the playoffs in four of his six seasons as the head coach of the Kings. (Focus on Sport / Getty Images)

The following season, the Kings acquired Woodson in a trade with the New Jersey Nets. The move thrilled Holmes, who grew up in Indianapolis. The two men had become friends during Woodson’s college career at Indiana.

“I was happy as hell when he got here because he’s like family,” Holmes said of Woodson. “My sister was married to his brother for 20 years. That’s how we know each other.”

By 1982, Johnson said it was hard to know who was leading the Kings since he and his teammates never talked to anyone in the ownership group. By default, Axelson became the Kings’ most vocal figure when he resumed his general manager role after the 1981-82 season (he had taken a two-year leave to work in the NBA office overseeing the league’s referees). By that time, the team had amassed millions in debt during a period in which the league had yet to gain mass popularity.

Thompson said he was happy to join the Kings when Axelson selected him with the fifth overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft. Growing up in Cincinnati, Thompson rooted for the team and loved watching Robertson in particular. Thompson learned rather early in his career that when a franchise relocates, the primary reason the process begins is because of financial uneasiness with ownership.

Thompson has a theory as to why the Kings never knew their owners.

“I always thought the team was owned by the mafia,” he said. “I always had that feeling. The owners — and I don’t know if I’m going to get in trouble for saying this — were attorneys. I just always thought they represented whoever the real owners were. There were all these kind of hardcore Italian guys that were around. It may have just been me being young and dumb, but we never met or saw the owners. Maybe it was just paranoia.”

On the court, the Kings did their best to entertain fans with an exciting style of play. They were one of the league’s fastest-paced teams, yet their overall philosophy of trying to beat opponents with an up-tempo style was thwarted too often because of their inconsistency on defense.

One reason the Kings didn’t receive stronger support from fans, beyond losing too many games, was because they didn’t have an All-Star after shooting guard Otis Birdsong was traded to the Nets following the 1980-81 season.

“They never got in (the Finals), and they got rid of a lot of their good players, Otis Birdsong and Scott Wedman,” said Kevin Harlan, whose first full-time broadcasting job was as the radio and TV play-by-play announcer for the Kings. “The league was so different then. They weren’t broadcasting the Finals in prime time. A lot of times, we were playing three games in three nights.”

The Kings had an opportunity to solve their lack of a superstar talent on April 22, 1978, when Axelson tried to persuade legendary point guard Magic Johnson to enter the draft. In a conference room, Axelson discussed a possible contract agreement with Johnson — who had finished a strong freshman season at Michigan State — since the Kings possessed the second pick, although the meeting violated the league’s rule that prohibited teams from attempting to lure prospects into the draft.

At the time, some teams, such as the Detroit Pistons, were skeptical if Johnson could lead a team to a championship. Staying consistent with his past, Axelson didn’t meet Johnson’s desired contract, instead offering him a five-year, $225,000 deal, according to The Lansing State Journal. Johnson left the meeting. The Kings went on to select point guard Phil Ford. A year later, the Lakers selected Johnson with the first pick after he returned to Michigan State for his sophomore season, leading the Spartans to the national championship.

“Had they signed him and had Magic Johnson come to Kansas City, the Kings would still be here,” Harlan said. “The NBA would be a success story in Kansas City, but they thought he was too expensive.”

While Thompson agreed with Harlan, he felt Johnson, as history attests, went to the correct team. Johnson led the Showtime Lakers to five championships alongside center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and small forward James Worthy, as the trio became Hall of Famers together. But Thompson knows his career could’ve been quite different if he was teammates with Johnson. Perhaps the Kings, Thompson said, might’ve reached the Finals with Johnson, who dazzled fans — and helped save the NBA from potentially folding — with his no-look passes, smooth play-making skills in transition and clutch shooting.

From Julie Fie, former director of publicity and public relations director for the Kings: “The ticket was originally made as Kareem had said he was retiring (after the season). As it turned out, he changed his mind.” (Courtesy of Fie)

With the Kings’ roster mismanaged by Axelson, Thompson said the team had to perform above expectations to attract fans in a sports-saturated market. The Royals were the city’s most successful team in the 1980s. The Chiefs still garnered plenty of attention, and college basketball was also beloved by fans in the area who were alums of Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri. The middling Kings never won 50 games in a single season in their 13 years in the city.

“If you’re trying to figure out where you’re going to spend your entertainment dollars,” Thompson said of the average fan, “I can understand people choosing them over us.”

Eddie Johnson also said fans often complained about Kemper Arena’s location, which was a few miles from downtown. Public transportation, Johnson said, wasn’t plentiful in getting potential fans to and from the arena.

“There was really nothing around that area for them to leave work, maybe have dinner and then be able to transition right to the game,” Johnson said.

The biggest indictment of the Kings’ reputation in the city, Harlan said, was when the team couldn’t generate as much attendance in Kemper as the city’s indoor soccer club. The Kansas City Comets averaged more than 14,000 fans during their 1982-83 season. The Kings, meanwhile, averaged 7,551 fans in the same season.

Harlan explained that the Comets’ tickets were affordable, and the team used several promotions targeted toward families. The matches were accompanied by energetic music, and a dance team and fireworks kept fans engaged throughout matches.

“They were everything that the NBA eventually became — bright lights, loud music and big personalities to get the fans involved,” Harlan said. “The Comets were so hot, so popular in Kansas City.”

The Comets’ buzz irritated Axelson and Fitzsimmons. In quite the contrast, the Kings under Axelson were old-school in emphasizing that the team’s play be its biggest marketing tool. The Kings didn’t have cheerleaders, they rarely played music during breaks, and halftime shows were rather tame. During games, the fans who were in the arena could hear every sneaker squeak and every word of players exchanging trash talk.

The Comets’ sudden takeover demonstrated to Axelson that the Kings likely need to be relocated to remain in the NBA. The timing appeared appropriate to Axelson, too, as the Kings’ lease in Kemper was set to expire in June 1985. He also knew that two investors from Sacramento, Joseph Benvenuti and Gregg Lukenbill, unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the Indiana Pacers. On June 8, 1983, Benvenuti and Lukenbill purchased the Kings from a six-man ownership group, led by Leon Karosen, for $10.5 million.

“About $8 million covered debt among the owners,” Harlan said of Karosen’s group. “That was it. They all washed their hands of it. This may be the only town in the country that’s lost Major League Baseball (the Athletics), the NHL (the Scouts) and the NBA.”

Karosen and Lukenbill, the spokesman for the new ownership group, assured fans in public comments to reporters that the Kings were not leaving the city. But fans, and even a councilman, Frank Palermo, didn’t trust Lukenbill’s message that better attendance and an improved record for the 1983-84 season could save the Kings from moving.

From left to right, Joe Axelson, Joseph Benvenuti and Gregg Lukenbill in June 1983. (Frank Niemeir / Associated Press)

Many players felt the Kings’ final season in the city was doomed before it began. In May 1984, the players lost their respected coach, as Fitzsimmons resigned to take over the San Antonio Spurs, who he felt was a more stable team.

“Cotton really kept us together with his leadership,” Johnson said of Fitzsimmons. “He really was the reason why a lot of us were on that team.”

Just days before the season began, The Sacramento Bee reported what Palermo feared: The new ownership group had been granted a permit to restructure a warehouse in Sacramento into a temporary 10,000-seat arena for the 1985-86 season.

Thompson, Woodson and Johnson all agreed the news upset fans in the city and discouraged them from attending games at Kemper. But Lukenbill and Axelson said the Kings’ attendance had to significantly improve that season for the new ownership to consider keeping the team in the city, although a specific target number was never shared with the public.

Johnson believed the Kings needed to average at least 10,000 fans per game. Midway through the season, as fewer and fewer fans watched from the stands, Johnson did the math in front of Thompson: Even if the Kings had sellouts for the rest of the year, it was already too late for them to reach their attendance goal.

“He tried to do it in a sneaky way,” Johnson said of Axelson. “He just wouldn’t market the team at the end. We didn’t do a lot of appearances that year. It was almost like an excuse was being made to put a nail in the coffin in regards to why we’re moving.”

New coach Jack McKinney was fired just nine games into the season after the Kings stumbled to a 1-8 start. A few days after coach Phil Johnson was hired, Lukenbill and Axelson, in a statement, announced that the team wouldn’t renew its lease with Kemper.

The city countered on Jan. 21, 1985, by offering the Kings a new lease that was somewhat unprecedented in charging just $1 each year for five years while giving the franchise a percentage of profits from concessions and parking, according to The Kansas City Times. On the same day, the Kings applied to the league to relocate the team to Sacramento for the 1985-86 season, a decision Axelson called irrevocable.

“It was tough on me and Rich because we love basketball,” said Brewer, one of the Kansas City Kings’ loyal fans. “When Woody first told us that they were leaving, man, my heart fell in my hands. It was horrible.”

Holmes, Woodson’s close friend, said the Kings’ move was also difficult for point guard Larry Drew, who was in his fourth season playing for his hometown team.

“I knew Larry very well, and he was the one guy that wasn’t crazy about going to Sacramento,” Holmes said. “He didn’t want to make that transition.”

In April 1985, with the Kings eliminated from playoff contention, Lukenbill and Axelson flew the teams to Sacramento a few days ahead of a three-game West Coast trip, although the league had yet to approve the Kings’ relocation.

The reception the players received from people in Sacramento, which began in the airport terminal, stunned them. The players were overwhelmed by each gesture. Five white limousines transported them to practice. About 1,800 fans cheered the team after every made basket and dunk during their practice. The Kings met Sacramento’s mayor, signed autographs and enjoyed the warm weather. The headline from The Sacramento Bee the next day on the event could be interpreted as a jab toward the Kings’ old, less-appreciative city: “Kings relieved to discover civilization.”

The Sacramento Bee on April 2, 1985, after the Kings made their first visit to the city.

The trip was a financial boon for the Kings, too, since Sacramento had never had a professional team before. The visit by the team led to deposits for 8,100 season tickets.

“It was almost like we were the Beatles,” Johnson said. “It was crazy. We never got that attention before.

“You can’t argue with the decision to leave. It’s like you lose your girlfriend to somebody, and you can’t hate the guy that she’s with. He’s a good guy, a religious guy, he’s respectful, he works hard and he treats her like a woman. You can’t hate him. And that’s how Sacramento is. You can’t dislike what happened in regards to getting that team, but you can dislike the people that were involved in doing it.”

When the Kings returned to Kansas City, their first game back was against the Dallas Mavericks. Just 3,862 fans watched the Kings’ final victory inside Kemper.

The day before the season finale, Harlan had an interview with the Chiefs, who were looking to hire a new radio play-by-play broadcaster. Harlan arrived at Arrowhead Stadium and did a taped audition with Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson, who was the color analyst. The two men announced Missouri’s spring football game. A week later, Harlan met Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who offered him the job.

“By the grace of God, right place, right time,” Harlan said. “It worked out perfectly, and I really wanted to stay.”

Johnson said the Kings felt that the Lakers, the NBA’s glitziest team, was the perfect opponent for their emotional last game in Kansas City. The previous season, the Lakers swept the Kings out of the first round of the playoffs.

In the finale, though, the Lakers were without Magic Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar, as they didn’t make the trip to rest ahead of the postseason. Worthy also didn’t play. The Kings used the energy from the crowd to jump out to a 15-point lead after the first quarter. Drew, the hometown Kings player, made his first seven shots and finished with 22 points and seven assists. Woodson led the Kings with 25 points, and Thompson scored 11 points and collected 11 rebounds.

A Mike Woodson autographed ball from the final Kings game in Kansas City. (Courtesy of Fie)

Even after Axelson was hung in effigy, the Kings built momentum in the fourth quarter. When Woodson swished a short jumper — which gave the Kings a 115-106 lead with less than four minutes left — Johnson got his 10th assist, giving him a triple-double.

“I had never done that (had a triple-double) in my career and I didn’t do it after, either,” said Johnson, who finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. “I wanted to just do something at the end to reward those fans who really supported me.”

Woodson’s jumper would be the last field goal the Kings would make, as the game ended in a ghastly manner for them. They turned the ball over, couldn’t make open jumpers and were overpowered by center Bob McAdoo, who scored 12 of his 18 points in the final minutes. The Lakers rallied with a 16-1 run to win, 122-116, beating the Kings for a 14th consecutive time.

“They still beat us with their role players,” Johnson, who scored the Kings’ final point, said of the Lakers, who won the championship that season. “That just shows you how bad we were that year.”

At 4:25 p.m., the final buzzer sounded. Many of the fans didn’t stay and reminisce, instead exiting the arena while a band that Axelson hired played the song “Auld Lang Syne.” In the locker room, Drew told reporters he thought the song was the tune that was played when the Titanic was sinking.

Before leaving, Harlan asked an arena worker to help him collect a souvenir.

“I’ve got part of the net from that final game,” he said. “I’ve got a big chunk of it.”

A day later, the NBA approved the Kings’ move to Sacramento with a unanimous vote among owners. Thompson said he was the first player to move to Sacramento a week after the season. Other players, such as Woodson, took time saying goodbye before loading their furniture in a moving van.

“Mike asked, ‘What are you gonna do now?’” Holmes said of Woodson. “I said, ‘We’ll just watch you guys on TV in Sacramento. I was really sad when they left. Really, really sad, man.”

The Sacramento Bee on April 15, 1985, the day after the Kings’ final home game in Kansas City.

Within months, the Kings were forgotten by most in Kansas City. The Royals won their first World Series that October over the in-state rival St. Louis Cardinals, and fans began dedicating their time during the basketball season solely to the local college teams.

“It was good for the city that the Royals won,” Brewer said. “I still had the Kings in my heart.”

As Axelson anticipated, the Kings had stronger support once they relocated. Axelson, who died in 2008 at the age of 80, was demoted by the Kings to vice president of business operations in 1988 after the team had three consecutive losing seasons in Sacramento.

Meanwhile, in the 35 years since they got the team, Sacramento fans have watched the NBA become one of the most popular and growing leagues in the world. As a plethora of star players entered the league, the NBA expanded to 30 franchises, with teams awarded to other mid-size cities such as Orlando, Memphis, Charlotte, Oklahoma City and New Orleans.

The league, however, has yet to return to Kansas City, even after the Sprint Center, a state-of-the-art arena, was built in 2007 in the heart of downtown.

Woodson, an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers, was the former coach of the Atlanta Hawks when the team played in the first NBA preseason game at the Sprint Center in 2008. Since then, the arena has hosted annual preseason games and attendance has never been an issue. Holmes said his 38-year-old son, Richard Holmes II, wants the city to pursue another team.

“It’s crazy how a team comes back here in October and it’s sold out, 17,000 people or more,” the elder Holmes said. “In this era, I really believe the younger generation has gotten up to age, like my son. It wasn’t like that when I was in my late 30s. I just wish the heck we had a team because I would be at every game right now.”

Johnson, however, is confident the city will someday have a team again. He believes fans are eager, the arena is in the proper location for businesses to thrive and the league is close to having enough talent to justify two expansion teams. Johnson knows himself, Woodson, Thompson, Drew and former guard Reggie Theus could be positive voices whenever the city wants to campaign to the NBA. Johnson wants to advocate for the city to remove any lingering stigmas from the league about what happened with the Kings in the 1980s.

Holmes wants to believe Johnson. But until he sees a new team represent the city, Holmes said he doesn’t have the same optimism and enthusiasm that he once had for the Kings.

“I don’t think we’re going to get a team back here,” he said. “I really don’t.”

(Top photo of Eddie Johnson: Jim Cummins / NBAE via Getty Images)

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From despised GM to missing on Magic: The story behind the Kings demise in K.C.

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