d b k b ll lk l Th Glory Days To many in Indiana basketball is like a religion The state’s gyms and arenas are like houses of worship A basketball hero in Indiana is a hero for life For the first half the 1900s high school and college hoops ruled In the 1940s and 1950s several professional in Indianapolis However the first to win over college and high school fans was the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association ABA They were one of 11 teams that helped form the new league in 1967 teams played The first player to make a name for himself with the Pacers was Roger Brown a legendary one-on-one star from the playgrounds of New York City Freddie Lewis joined him in the backcourt He had an excellent all-around game and was a favorite of fans 6
and teammates It became a tradition that Lewis would take the first shot of every game Over the next few years the Pacers added other talented stars including Bob Netolicky Billy Keller Rick Mount and George McGinnis Indiana became a powerhouse winning the ABA championship in 1970 1972 and 1973 Bob Slick Leonard coached these teams Leonard was an Indiana basketball legend himself In 1953 he scored the winning points for Indiana University in the college basketball national championship Indiana’s top star during its ABA years was center Mel Daniels Though he stood only 6 9 no one was better near the basket Daniels won the ABA’s Most Valuable Player MVP award twice and was also the MVP of the ABA All-Star Game He was a great defensive player and rebounder no one in ABA history hauled down more rebounds Prior to the 1976 77 season the National Basketball Association NBA invited four ABA teams to join the league including the Pacers After trading away many of its best players Indiana tried to LEFT Slick Leonard was a huge favorite among Indiana fans ABOVE Mel Daniels led the Pacers to three ABA titles 7
rebuild around new leaders Don Buse and Billy Knight Later Indiana traded Buse and Knight away too For many years after that the team struggled During the 1980s the Pacers lost far more often than they won Their best players were Herb Williams Clark Kellogg Steve Stipanovich Wayman Tisdale and Vern Fleming As the decade came to a close Indiana began to show signs of life The Pacers benefitted greatly from three smart picks in the first round of the NBA draft Chuck Person and Reggie Miller developed into remarkable shooters and Rik Smits was an agile 7 4 center During the 1990s the Pacers missed the playoffs only once Miller became one of the NBA’s most amazing clutch players Time and again he made long shots before the final buzzer that either LEFT Reggie Miller celebrates a victory ABOVE Chuck Person drives to the hoop for a layup 9
