The AFL played its last-ever game Jan. 4, 1970 — Chiefs 17, Raiders 7 in the final AFL Championship game at Oakland Coliseum. The ABA played its 48-minute farewell May 13, 1976 — Nets 112, Nuggets 106, Game 6 of the swan song ABA Finals at Nassau Coliseum.
One league has been dead for 56 years. One is about to celebrate its golden anniversary of vanishing.
When Moses Malone retired after the 1996 season, he was the last basketball player who’d ever played even a minute in the ABA — that’s almost 30 years ago. Malone’s AFL equivalent is Charlie Joiner, and he played his final down as a member of the Chargers in 1986. That’s — goodness — 40 years ago.
Long time gone.