Indiana's 10 Greatest Teams
Note: This is for major league teams only. No Notre Dame. No Bobby Knight's Hoosiers. No Purdue. And as for Larry Bird's 1979 Indiana State Sycamores, well, let's face it: Without him, most sports fans might not even know that university exists.
10. 1987-89 Indianapolis Colts. After starting off 12-35 in their 1st 3 seasons in Indiana, the Colts got it together in the strike-stunted season of 1987, going 9-6 and winning the AFC Eastern Division for the 1st time since they were in Baltimore 10 years earlier. But they lost their 1st Indiana-based Playoff game, away to the Cleveland Browns.
They followed this with seasons of 9-7 and 8-8, but in 1990 they fell back below .500, and crashed to 1-15 in 1991.
9. 1994-96 Indianapolis Colts. They got back to .500 in 1994, then in 1995 won Playoff games away to San Diego and Kansas City, before going into Pittsburgh and taking the Steelers to the last play of the game.
They made the Playoffs again in 1996, but a return trip to Three Rivers Stadium saw them get clobbered, and then they fell apart, with back-to-back 3-13 seasons. Those seasons did, however, help them draft Peyton Manning and build into a contender, and finally a champion.
8. 1989-96 Indiana Pacers. The 1st Reggie Miller era. They made the Playoffs 7 straight seasons, but only won 1 Central Division title, in 1995. In 1993, they lost to the Knicks in the 1st round, and a brief rivalry was born. In 1994, they got to the Conference Finals, but lost to the Knicks again. In 1995, they beat the Knicks, but lost the Conference Finals to the Orlando Magic.
7. 2012-18 Indianapolis Colts. The Andrew Luck Era began in 2012 with 3 straight 11-5 seasons, including AFC South Division titles in 2013 and 2014. But, just as Peyton Manning did, Luck ended up losing to the New England Patriots in a Divisional Playoff and an AFC Championship Game, both in Foxboro. Could the Colts get the Pats into their house, now Lucas Oil Stadium, and turn the tables?
Not yet. After 3 straight Playoff misses, the Colts got back into the Playoffs this past season, and beat the Texans in Houston before losing to the Chiefs in Kansas City. This current Colt team is a work in progress, and could yet rise on this list.
6. 1954-56 Fort Wayne Pistons. Yes, the NBA's Pistons were in Fort Wayne, Indiana before they were in Detroit. You thought they were named the Pistons because of their placement in "The Motor City"? No, that was just a neat little coincidence. The team's founder was Fred Zollner, and his Zollner Corporation made pistons for automotive engines. In fact, from their founding in 1941 until 1948, they were officially named the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. (A few early pro basketball teams had the owner's name, or the sponsoring company's name, in the team's name.)
In the 1954-55 season, they won the NBA's Western Division, and beat the defending Champion Minneapolis Lakers in the Playoffs, before losing the NBA Finals to the Syracuse Nationals. Fort Wayne and Syracuse, and also the Rochester Royals: That's the kind of league it was then.
In 1955-56, they won the Division again, and beat the St. Louis Hawks, before losing the Finals to the Philadelphia Warriors. Again, the kind of league it was then: By the close of the following season, 1957, the Pistons (Detroit) and the Royals (Cincinnati) would move; the Lakers would do so in 1960 (Los Angeles); the Warriors in 1962 (San Francisco); the Nationals in 1963 (becoming the Philadelphia 76ers); the Hawks in 1968 (Atlanta); and the Royals again in 1972 (becoming the Kansas City Kings), and again in 1985 (Sacramento).
Guard Andy Phillip, forward George Yardley, center Bob Houbregs, and owner Zollner were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
5. 1997-2006 Indiana Pacers. As far as the NBA is concerned, this is the most accomplished Pacer team. They made the Playoffs 9 straight seasons, won Central Division titles in 2000 and 2004, reached the Conference Finals 3 straight seasons and in 4 out of 7, and in 2000, beat the Milwaukee Bucks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Knicks to reach the NBA Finals for the 1st time. Reggie Miller and company did not roll over for the Los Angeles Lakers, extending them to 6 games.
4. 1914 Indianapolis Hoosiers. They went 88-65 and won the Pennant in the Federal League, which was challenging the established major leagues. Benny Kauff won the batting title with .370, and led the League with 75 stolen bases. Cy Falkenberg went 25-16 and led the League with 236 strikeouts. They had Hall-of-Fame outfielder Edd Roush. (They also had Bill McKechnie playing for them, but he was elected to the Hall as a manager.)
And yet, the following season, they were moved -- to Harrison, New Jersey, outside New York. Or, more precisely, outside Newark. And they were renamed the Newark Peppers. Aside from the Indianapolis Blues, who played in the National League in 1878, the 1914 Hoosiers are the only Major League Baseball team ever to play regular home games in Indiana.
3. 1968-75 Indiana Pacers. In 7 seasons, the Pacers won 3 regular-season Division titles, and reached 5 ABA Finals, winning the ABA Championship in 1970, 1972 and 1973; and losing in 1969 and 1975. The Pacers made the Playoffs in all 9 seasons of the ABA's existence, and went 15-6 in Playoff series and 72-47 in games. They were called "the Celtics of the ABA."
So the question is: Did winning the Championship in the ABA mean more than reaching the NBA Finals, but not winning them? There were 4 teams from the ABA that were admitted into the NBA: The Pacers, the New York (now Brooklyn) Nets, the San Antonio Spurs and the Denver Nuggets. A couple of other teams, most likely the Kentucky Colonels (whom the Pacers beat in the '73 Finals but lost to in the '75 Finals) and the Virginia Squires/Spirits of St. Louis, could have made it in the NBA. The competition wasn't that weak.
2. 1943-45 Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons. It's been 75 years since their 1st title, and the Zollner Pistons are still the only Indiana-based basketball team to be undisputed World Champions. They won the championships of the National Basketball League in 1944 and 1945. The Midwest-based, 1937-founded NBL merged with the Northeast-based, 1946-founded, Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1949, to form the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Pistons were among the NBL teams included.
They were not as talented as the Pacers' ABA Champions of the early 1970s or their 2000 NBA Finalists. But they did win 2 World Championships, and that overrides anything else. Guard Bobby McDermott was the big star, and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
1. 2002-10 Indianapolis Colts. In 9 straight Playoff seasons, they won the AFC South Division 7 times, including 14-2 seasons in 2005 and 2009, a 13-3 in 2007, and 12-4s in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
The problem for Tony Dungy's team of Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Joseph Addai was the New England Patriots. Since the 2001 season, any team that's wanted to win the AFC Championship has had to go through Bill Belichick's Foxboro cheats. The Colts lost the 2003 AFC Championship and a 2004 Division Playoff, both in Foxboro.
In 2006, having dispatched the Kansas City Chiefs in Indianapolis and the Ravens in Baltimore, the Colts finally got the Pats in the Hoosier/RCA Dome, and beat them in the AFC Championship Game, 38-34, before going to Miami to beat the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, 29-17. It was the 1st World Championship ever for an Indianapolis-based team, the 1st for an Indiana team since the '45 Pistons, and the 1st for the Colt franchise since the 1970 season in Baltimore.
The Colts lost to the San Diego Chargers in the next 2 Playoffs, then won another AFC Championship in 2009, but lost Super Bowl XLIV to the New Orleans Saints. The following season, they lost a Playoff game to the Jets. The year after that, Peyton Manning missed the entire season with a neck injury, and his era was over, and Andrew Luck's began.
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