INDIANAPOLIS – Bobby “Slick” Leonard has been selected as ABA’s top coach. Hall of Fame player George McGinnis considered him a genius.
On Tuesday, the Indiana Pacers announced that the man who led them to three ABA championships during a coaching career in the Hall of Fame and was selected All-Star NBA in 1963 has died. No details were provided about 88-year-old Leonard, but he has not been in health in recent years.
“It was the biggest,” McGinnis said in March. “He loved all his boys and, yes, he spent his days. If you got on the wrong side of him, it wouldn’t be a good deal for you.”
But, McGinnis added, there was a big difference between Leonard and Indiana Hoosiers coach Bob Knight: after Leonard ripped you out and “worn you out, he’d take you out for a beer and tell you,” You know. that I love you, I ”I do this for your own good. “
Leonard became one of the princes of the Indiana basketball crown.
Yes, he was 573-534 in 14 seasons as a coach, winning 529 in 12 seasons with the Pacers.
But the legacy went much deeper.
The star tennis player at Terre Haute Gerstmeyer High School chose to play basketball at nearby Indiana University. He finished leading the Hoosiers in two Big Ten titles, was twice All-American and made the winning free throws to give him the 1953 Indiana National Championship.
Decades later, he was selected as one of the 50 greatest players in the school’s history and was part of the Hoosiers team throughout the century.
“It meant as much as anyone in Indiana when it came to basketball,” said new Indiana coach Mike Woodson. “He played the game with great flair. He trained with an indisputable passion.
“His smile reassured everyone. The man was a champion, whether he was with the Pacers or Indiana University. No doubt he was a Hall of Fame man.”
After serving in the U.S. Army in the mid-1950s, Leonard played professionally for seven years with the Minneapolis / Los Angeles Lakers and was named an NBA All-Star in 1963.
But his greatest moments as a professional came with the budding franchise that hired him in 1968-69 and worked with him for more than half a century.
“Pacers fans will remember Bobby ‘Slick’ Leonard as the spirit of our franchise,” team owner Herb Simon said in a statement. “With a charisma, intensity and intelligence to match his nickname, Slick made us champions.
“He was our biggest fan and our most loving critic and personified Pacers basketball for generations of Hoosier families. Most importantly, however, Slick and (his wife) Nancy are our family, and his passing leaves a mark. an unfilled void in the hearts of all those associated with this organization. “
Leonard led the Pacers to the ABA Finals in his first season – and four more in the next six years, winning titles in 1969-70, 1971-72 and 1972-73.
“He was the best coach I’ve ever played for in the last few shots, pressure situations,” McGinnis said. “In the seventh game, he would change the whole offense. It was great. I think that’s why, if you look at the Pacers, they won all three championships, I think, in the seventh game on the road.”
And Leonard did more than win.
In 1977, the likeable Leonard and his wife helped organize a marathon that saved a franchise that was facing financial hardship after moving from ABA to the NBA.
He was released after the 1979-80 season, failing to record a victory in the Pacers’ first four NBA seasons.
But he reappeared as a color commentator on Pacers television in 1985. He later moved to the radio booth where the simple story, Leonard, coined his phrase “Boom, Baby!” whenever Pacers players made 3-pointers.
Leonard was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame commercial in 2014. He is also a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and Indiana Sports Writers and Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was the first person to be inducted into Indiana University Sports. Hall of Fame. .
His total victory with the Pacers, 529, hangs on a banner in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse rafters.
Governor Eric Holcomb called it “the embodiment of basketball” and “an icon of Indiana.”
“His presence in the arena and in our state will be deeply missed,” he said in a statement. “You can’t find anyone who doesn’t love Slick.”
Leonard is survived by his wife, their five children, 12 grandchildren and six grandchildren.