As soon as Dick Eicher mentioned the Denver Larks and Lefty Thomas, it became clear that a lesson in the history of professional basketball in Denver was underway.
The Larks were going to be Denver’s entry in the fledgling American Basketball Association for its first season in 1967-68. But they didn’t play a single game.
Thomas was on the scene slightly longer than the Larks. When the ABA began play, Denver’s team was called the Rockets and Thomas was their first hero, scoring 39 points in one game. But his nickname provided opponents too much information about his talent, and he lasted only 24 games.
Eicher stepped into the picture between the Larks and Thomas. He hit the ground running as executive vice president of the Rockets on July 1, 1967, with the task of having a team ready to go for the inaugural season’s Oct. 15 opener.
“We inherited the Larks,” Eicher said, noting the franchise’s California-based ownership had backed out. “Bill Ringsby stepped up and took over the ownership obligation and deserves credit for starting professional basketball here in the modern era.”
Ringsby operated a trucking company in Denver and the basketball operation became a division of the organization.
“We started with just nine people, including myself,” Eicher said. “We were behind the other teams in the league and had to work fast. We lived on the telephone.”
Eicher’s chargers were business manager Del Klone; team trainer Lloyd Williams; group sales manager Joe Belmont; PR man Tom Murray; Dennis Murphy, the lone holdover from the Larks’ ownership; office manager Nancy Lewis; Dr. Dave Garland; and Bob Bass, the Rockets’ first coach. Gale Crawford, a member of the trucking firm’s management, eased the basketball operation into the company’s mix.
Eicher interviewed area college coaches — Sox Walseth, Colorado; Jim Williams, Colorado State; Joe Hall, Regis; Bob Spear, Air Force; and Harry Simmons, Pueblo Junior College — before deciding on Bass.
The roster started to take shape with Willie Murrell, signed by the Larks; Charlie Gardner, from Colorado; Byron Beck, from DU; Wayne Hightower; Larry Jones; Grant Simmons; Julie Hammond; Tom Bowens; Jeff Congdon; and Lonnie Wright, from Colorado State. Lonnie Porter and Randy Redwine were local players who gained notice at a tryout camp at Regis.
“We had a ton of players in and out that first year,” Eicher said. “What we were able to put together in the front office and on the basketball floor was highly regarded by the rest of the ABA.”
But even with records of 45-33 and 44-34 in the first two seasons, Eicher and Bass left the organization after the second year. Eicher said the organization wanted to go in a different direction.
The franchise continued to play as the Rockets for the first seven seasons in the ABA before the name was changed to Nuggets for the 1974-75 season. Denver joined the NBA for the 1976-77 season.
Eicher was a prominent figure in Denver basketball even before his front-office time with the Rockets. He played 12 years in the National Industrial Basketball League for the Denver Central Bankers and Denver-Chicago Truckers, and for coaches Larry Varnell, Vince Boryla and Johnny Dee.
Eicher followed in the footsteps of Denver basketball legends Robert “Ace” Gruenig and Jack McCracken and played alongside Freddie Howell, Frank Kuzara, Ben Gibson, Bill Gossett, Roger Stokes, Ron Bennink and Ladell Andersen.
Eicher’s highlights were playing in eight national AAU tournaments, twice being selected all-league by a vote of coaches and players, and being picked up by the Bakers for the 1956 Olympic Trials.
After basketball, Eicher put in time with the Denver Organizing Committee and its successful bid to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, only to see the project crumble and the bid returned to the International Olympic Committee. He also was in the boardroom for the Denver Metro Sports Committee when it gained and successfully executed the 1990 NCAA Final Four at McNichols Sports Arena. And when Denver needed a boost in efforts to gain a Major League Baseball team, Eicher was on the management team at Coors Brewery and played a role in getting the influential name of Coors added to a potential ownership group. The Rockies followed, debuting as a National League franchise in 1993.
“I’ve always been a believer in athletics,” Eicher said. “You learn from sports how to compete and how to win and lose.”
Eicher bio
Born: March 11, 1929, in Lebanon, Ill.
High school: Palouse (Wash.)
College: Eastern Washington
Family: Wife Jerrie, son David, daughters Jadie and Lynn
Hobbies: Horseback riding, golf, handball
Lifestyle: His priorities of God, family and friends were set by his parents.
