Mark Bennett: 'Slick' coached Pacers to three titles, starred for Gerstmeyer and IU

Apr. 14—As a kid, I laid in bed listening to the Indiana Pacers' games on a transistor radio.

It was the only way to follow them, back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Pacers played in the old American Basketball Association, a short-lived but talented rival of the NBA. The announcers often peppered their play-by-play with mentions of Indiana Coach Bobby "Slick" Leonard, arguing a ref's call or huddling his Pacers for timeouts.

Eventually, I saw "Slick" coach his Pacers in exhibition games played at Hulman Center, resplendent in flashy plaid jackets and wild bell-bottom pants.

Those memories flooded back Tuesday afternoon, after word came that Leonard had died at age 88. Leonard and his wife, Nancy, had five children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

His ABA Pacers brimmed with talent — future Hall of Famers Mel Daniels, Roger Brown and George McGinnis, along with Bob Netolicky, Billy Keller, Freddie Lewis, Darnell Hillman and others. Leonard coached them to ABA championships in 1970, '72 and '73, and then guided the franchise into its NBA era beginning in 1976. He amassed a 387-270 record in the ABA and wound up with 529 total victories in both leagues before retiring in 1980.

He spent more than 50 years with the Pacers, as the coach, general manager and then color analyst known for his "boom, baby" shouts after Indiana 3-pointers. The Naismith Hall of Fame — which took too long to acknowledge the ABA's greats — inducted Leonard in 2014.

He's also in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, the Indiana Sportswriters and Broadcasters Hall of Fame and the Indiana University Sports Hall of Fame. Those honors illustrate how Leonard epitomized basketball's place in Indiana lore. He led Coach Howard Sharpe's Gerstmeyer High School team to a sectional championship in 1950; IU to the NCAA championship in 1953; played seven seasons with the Lakers, Packers and Zephyrs, earning an All-Star spot in 1963; coached in the NBA; and then begin his adventures with the Pacers.

A few more subtle moments in Leonard's legacy come to mind amid all the hoops glories. His roots, after all, go beyond life with the Pacers.

Born July 17, 1932 in Terre Haute, Leonard grew up in relative poverty. He recalled those memories in a handful of interviews with me a few years ago.

Eight teenagers in his neighborhood joined the Marine Corps in World War II, survived and came back to finish their high school degrees at Gerstmeyer. They unwittingly helped launch Leonard's basketball career.

"A group of Marines ... kind of adopted me after World War II, right there in my neighborhood," Leonard remembered in 2013. "They went back to night school [at Gerstmeyer Tech] and welded me a big basketball goal and put it down in [a neighbor's] backyard. That's where I started."

Then, there was the letter his then-15-year-old daughter, Terry, wrote to ABA commissioner Jack Dolph in 1971. The league had scheduled Leonard's Pacers to play a game in Utah on Christmas day, much to Terry Leonard's dismay. Leonard recounted the episode in his 2013 autobiography, "Boom Baby! My Basketball Life in Indiana."

"[My father] has never been gone on Christmas before, and I think it is absolutely disgusting that he has to be gone this year because the person who scheduled the games thought he had a right to schedule this one on Christmas," Terry wrote to Dolph.

She got a letter of apology in response. Then, when the following season's schedule was released, Terry got a surprise.

"She got a response. The ABA didn't play any more games on Christmas day," Leonard told me in 2013. There was pride in his voice.

"When you really stop and think about it, I don't know why they have games on Christmas Day," Leonard added.

Finally, there was my conversation with Tuesday with Rockville native Bill Newton, a reserve center on the Pacers' final ABA championship team. "Fig" Newton played two seasons — the '72-73 title team and '73-74 — as Mel Daniels' backup. Newton remained a vivid part of Leonard's memories and the teammates' friendships have lasted more than four decades. Leonard traveled to Newton's hometown in 2013 to watch Bill be inducted into Rockville High School's Hall of Fame.

Newton got the news of Leonard's passing Tuesday through a phone call from Darnell Hillman. "He said, 'We lost our leader last night,'" Newton said.

Surviving ABA-era Pacers still get together regularly, three to four times a year, said Newton. Now 70, he was the youngest of the '72-73 champs. Leonard was the perfect fit to coach that squad, loaded with three future Hall of Fame players, strength, speed, pinpoint shooters and a deep bench.

"What separated him from the pack was that he was a great psychologist, and a great motivator," Newton said.

It showed in a 1973 ABA playoff game at Denver. The Pacers were trying to keep the Rockets from evening the series at two games apiece. With the Paces down by two points with 2 seconds left, Leonard called timeout. Denver likely suspected Indiana would throw the ball into big Mel Daniels for a tying jump shot. Instead, Leonard set up a winning 3-point shot by Pacer deadeye guard Billy Keller.

"And we won the game," Newton recalled in an emotional voice Tuesday. "As we walked off the court, Slick slapped me on the back and said, 'We did 'er, Fig.'"

The last time Leonard got together with his ABA guys, he was his usual self. "Every time you saw him, he had that big smile and was glad to see you," Newton said. Pausing, he added, "Once a team, always a team."

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.