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SALT LAKE CITY — Zelmo Beaty, the leader of the only championship basketball team in Utah history, died Saturday at 73 after a long battle with cancer. Beaty led the Utah Stars to the 1971 ABA championship alongside Ron Boone, Willie Wise, Red Robbins and coach Bill Sharman.
An undersized center at just 6-foot-8, Beaty relied on physical play and toughness to average nearly 11 rebounds and 17 points per game over a 12-year career in the NBA and ABA.
Beaty's death coincided with the weekend of the 2013 enshrinement ceremony for the Naismith Hall of Fame, highlighting what many consider an underappreciated career. Though inducted into the inaugural class of the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and nominated for the Hall in Springfield, the selection didn't happen in his lifetime.
After 7 seasons in the NBA with the St. Louis (and later Atlanta) Hawks, Beaty took an offer of a 4-year contract worth $400,000 to join the Los Angeles Stars of the rival ABA. The money was good enough to convince Beaty to sit out the 1969-70 season due to legal requirements related to switching leagues.
Shortly before the start of the 1970-71 season, the Stars announced a move to Salt Lake City. By the end of the season, Beaty would be carried off the court on the shoulders of fans after Game 7 in the Salt Palace, leading the Stars to the championship in their first year of existence. Beaty was named the MVP of the ABA playoffs and scored 36 points in the deciding game.
Beaty also served as the president of the players' association of the ABA and supported the merger with the NBA.
