Bob Leonard

Basketball Digest, Summer, 2000 by Chuck O'Donnell

The 6'3", 185-pound guard was traded to the Chicago Packers in 1961 and enjoyed his best season in 1961-62, averaging 16.1 points a game. The next season, besides playing, he coached Chicago's final 42 games, going 13-29. He hung up his hi-tops and picked up a clipboard full time in 1963-64, leading the team--which had moved to Baltimore and changed its name to the Bullets--to a 31-49 mark. Leonard was fired at the season's end.

Leonard returned to Indiana as an assistant coach with the Pacers in the fledgling ABA in 1967. He took over as head coach nine games into the Pacers' second season, inheriting a team that had started 2-7 and whipping it into shape.

Leonard would do anything it took to win. He would issue fire-and-brimstone speeches before games designed to charge up his players. He once threw a rack of bails at a referee. Another time, unhappy with one of his players, he chased him with a hockey stick. However unorthodox, Leonard's histrionics worked, as the Pacers became known as the Boston Celtics of the ABA.

"A lot of people compared us to the Celtics, saying we brought credibility to the league," Leonard says. "I think it was especially true early on."

Leonard was the winningest coach in the nine-year history of the ABA, amassing a 387-270 record before the league folded after the 1975-76 season. Along the way, he won three ABA titles and three ABA division titles. In all, he led the Pacers to the ABA Finals in five of his eight years as head coach, and was the only coach to help his team repeat as ABA champs. He won almost 60% (69-47) of his playoff games.

He stayed on as coach and general manager when the Pacers joined the NBA. Having never run a front office, Leonard looked to his closest friend for help.

"I made my wife, Nancy, my assistant GM," Leonard says. "She was the assistant for four years. She really ran the Indiana Pacers franchise. She was probably the first woman to have such a title. I was the GM, but she was really the GM. Everything that came out of that office had her name on it."

These days, if he's not broadcasting, he's usually in one of two places: Spending time with Nancy, his wife of 45 years, or playing golf with Pacers coach Larry Bird,

"[Larry and I] spend a lot of time together," Leonard says. "We're from similar backgrounds. We both came from dirt, We have a great relationship."

Bob Leonard's Most Memorable Game

1973 ABA Finals, Game 7; May 12, 1973; at Freedom Hall, Louisville

Indiana    24   18   24   22--88
Kentucky   18   23   11   29--81

Indiana    Min.   FG-FGA   FT-FTA   Reb.   Asst.   PF   Pts.

Hillman      44     3-10     1-2      13      0     4      7
McGinnis     39    11-21     5-6       7      1     3     27
Daniels      18     2-7      5-5       9      0     4      9
Freeman      35     6-14     3-4       2      4     2     15
Lewis        35     3-8      5-5       2      2     4     11
Buse          4     0-0      0-0       0      0     0      0
Keller       22     1-4      4-4       5      4     4      6
Johnson      13     1-2      1-2       7      1     1      3
Brown        30     5-9      0-0       3      4     3     10

Totals      240    32-75    24-28     48     16    25     88

Percentages: FG-.427: FT-.857; Turnovers: 20; Steals: 4 (Hillman,
Daniels, Johnson, McGinnis); Blocked Shots: 2 (Lewis, McGinnis);
Three Point Field Goals: 0-2

Kentucky   Min.   FG-FGA   FT-FTA   Reb.   Asst.   PF   Pts.

Simon        22     4-10     3-3       2      3     2     11
Issel        42     5-14     2-2      10      4     5     12
Gilmore      46     8-15     3-5      17      0     4     19
Dampier      40     4-7      2-5       1      3     2     10
Mount        31     2-6      3-4       2      3     2     16
Ladner       16     2-5      0-0       2      1     6      7
Thomas       11     0-3      2-3       3      1     2      2
O'Brien      19     0-6      2-2       1      1     3      2
Russell       2     1-1      0-2       1      0     1      2
Gale         11     0-0      0-1       3      1     2      0

Totals      240    26-67    17-27     42     17    29     81

Percentages: FG-.388; FT-.630; Turnovers: 20; Steals: 3 (Dampier,
Thomas, Gale); Blocked Shots: 5 (Gilmore 4): Three Point Field
Goals: 4-12 (Mount 3-3).