The Miracle of Richfield

By Matthew K. Weiland

They were, at the time, some of the coolest names in the game. Bingo. Austin. Campy. Nate. Foots. Names that as much conjure the chemistry of musicians as they do cagers on the hardwood. Their big hit was Instant Offense, a spunk and dunk number that echoed the funk of the era. Their magnum opus, quite simply, was The Miracle of Richfield.

Considering the symmetry often surrounding basketball, it is perhaps not coincidental that it is 30 years ago to the month that those Cavaliers, one of Cleveland's all-time favorite teams, met another Washington team, at the time called the Bullets, in the first-round of a playoff series that would go down as among the greatest sports moments in the city's history.

It was ten-man basketball at its finest: A first-unit consisting of guards Jim Cleamons and Dick Snyder, center Jim Chones, and forwards Jim Brewer and Bingo Smith, a unit specializing in half-court possession ball. Next, there was the back-up band, composed of Austin Carr, Campy Russell, Foots Walker and Nate Thurmond, all providing the "Instant Offense" that stoked the energy and enthusiasm that spread like prairie-grass wildfire. All together these upstarts with the street-smarts began pumping and jumping, gliding and striding, ultimately creating a sense of magic that captured the region's imagination. It was the magic and mystique of winning. And night-after-night, game-after-game, it helped create miracles.

The Miracle of Richfield Photos

Under the direction of NBA Coach-of-the-Year Bill Fitch, the Cavaliers went 49-33 during the 1975-76 regular season, making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Jim Brewer and Jimmy Cleamons were named to the second-unit of the NBA All-Defensive team. During different seasons, reserves Austin Carr and Campy Russell would both share the distinction of being named NBA All-Stars. And Nate Thurmond would eventually be named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

The Cavaliers went on to beat the Washington Bullets 4-3 in the First-Round of the NBA Playoffs. The Bullets were a team of legends in their own right. Anchored by Hall-of-Famers Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld, who would both be named among the 50 greatest players in NBA History, the team would go on to win the 1977-78 NBA Championship. But that year, the year of 1976, the American bicentennial - 30 years ago this month - the team from Washington bowed to the Cavaliers of Cleveland.

Cavs owner Nick Mileti had built the Richfield Coliseum and his theater on the prairie pulsated with a sense of excitement funneled through the throttle of Joe Tait via WWWE (50,000 watts reaching 48 states and half of Canada) - a vibe cascading through the Cuyahoga Valley onto backyard basketball courts throughout Greater Cleveland. These cool guys with the cool names became our backyard heroes and we donned their playground personas in our own effort to emulate the confident and the cool, hopefully sparking a little instant offense of our own. It was the heady stuff, this. The magic and mystique of winning. The Miracle years.