Pacers fans have 25 years without appearing in a NBA final, and over the past few years they have felt that their fate could not get worse.

But that of a certain age will know that it can certainly – 48 years ago the Indiana Pacers were about 10 minutes away from the business.

In July 1977, the franchise just completed its first season in the NBA, but it was in serious financial problems. Coach and general manager Bobby “Slick” Leonard and his wife, Assistant GM Nancy, realized that they had to sell 8,000 seasonal tickets to hold the team in Indianapolis. But they only sold 5,800.

Nancy’s solution was a 16-hour telethon, held over July 3 and 4, called ‘Save the Pacers’.

The Slapdash broadcast contains players, local celebrities and barely any screenplay, but it did the job – ten minutes before the deadline, an emotional Nancy Leonard has announced that they have achieved their goal. Her husband said the news had ‘rejuvenated Indianapolis’.

Head coach Rick Carlisle now hopes to make his own piece of Pacers history.

“It’s a long, deepened journey,” he said at his Present News Conference. “I know all this right now means a lot to our fans, and we just have to focus on one game.”