Northeast High grad brings ABA back to KC
By CANDACE BUCKNER
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City is about to become a basketball town again.
This latest reincarnation of minor-league basketball comes courtesy of Milton Thomas, owner of the Kansas City Spartans, an ABA-affiliated team. In March, Thomas got the go-ahead from the league to start a new team, but please don’t call them the Kansas City Knights.
Remember those guys? ABA team … started in 2000 … allegedly ran out of money and suddenly disappeared five years later. But these Spartans, Thomas promises, will be different.
“I’m completely separate from the Knights,” Thomas said. “I’m looking to start fresh. My approach is to be involved with the community as much as possible, and as a business man, I feel like that’s where the Knights failed.”
Thomas, a Northeast High product, is a civic-minded 29-year-old, so he feels it’s important for the Spartans to start community youth programs. But before he tries to save the world, Thomas and general manager/coach Bryant Tucker have to find some players to fill the roster. So Tucker’s been scouting around town in local gyms and pick-up games in the park.
“If I’m driving down the street and I see guys playing,” Tucker said, “I’ll pull over and stop.”
Stalking aside, Tucker knows there are better ways to find players, and this Saturday the team will hold open tryouts at Hillcrest Community Center. The session goes from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and pre-registration costs $125 per player. Fifty bucks more if you show up at the door. For more information, check out http://www.kansascityspartans.com.
Short big on KC
It’s highly unlikely that actor Columbus Short or any of the Hollywood types from the celebrity basketball game benefiting the Clay Johnson Foundation will show up for the Spartan tryouts. They do have day jobs, after all, but last weekend they put on a surprisingly competitive game.
Short, whose surname is pretty accurate, is a Kansas City kid even though he left town when he was about 6 years old.
He still comes back every so often.
“It’s grown so much,” Short said of KC. “It’s like a vibrant city.”
Short is best known for his dancing in the movie “Stomp The Yard.” But now we know that the kid can play ball, too. During the game, Short scored at the rim with ease, but if for some reason you’re starting a celebrity fantasy basketball league, I’d suggest you draft R&B singer Tank and actor Jarod Einsohn. And yes, they’re all taller on television