Bobby Leonard

Leonard, circa 1962
Personal information
Born	(1932-07-17)July 17, 1932 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Died	April 13, 2021(2021-04-13) (aged 88) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Gerstmeyer (Terre Haute, Indiana)
College	Indiana (1951–1954)
NBA draft	1954: 2nd round, 10th overall pick
Selected by theBaltimore Bullets
Playing career	1956–1963
Position	Point guard
Number	21
Coaching career	1962–1964, 1968–1980
Career history
As player:
1956–1961	Minneapolis / Los Angeles Lakers
1961–1963	Chicago Packers / Zephyrs
As coach:
1962–1964	Chicago Zephyrs / Baltimore Bullets
1968–1980	Indiana Pacers
Career highlights and awards
As player: NCAA champion (1953) Consensus second-teamAll-American (1954) Third-team All-American –AP (1953) As coach: 3×ABA champion (1970,1972,1973) No. 529honored by Indiana Pacers ABA All-time Best Head Coach
Career playing statistics
Points	4,204 (9.9 ppg)
Rebounds	1,217 (2.9 rpg)
Assists	1,427 (3.3 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats atBasketball Reference
Career coaching record
NBA & ABA	573–534 (.518)
Record atBasketball Reference
Basketball Hall of Fame

William Robert "Slick" Leonard^[1] (July 17, 1932 – April 13, 2021) was an American professionalbasketball player, coach andcolor commentator. He playedcollege basketball for theIndiana Hoosiers, where he was a two-timeAll-American and a member of theirnational championship squad in 1953. After playing professionally in theNational Basketball Association (NBA), Leonard coached theIndiana Pacers to threeAmerican Basketball Association (ABA) championships. He was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2014.

Leonard was born inTerre Haute, Indiana, on July 17, 1932. He attendedGerstmeyer High School.^[2] He was shaped by the basketball games played in his neighborhood that saw him toughen up. There, he played high school basketball as a 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m), 185 lb (84 kg) guard, and also excelled as atennis player. He went on to play collegiate basketball atIndiana University Bloomington, where he hit the game winningfree throw to give theHoosiers the1953 NCAA championship. While at Indiana, he became a member ofDelta Tau Delta InternationalFraternity.^[3] He was named a third-teamAll-American in 1953 and selected to the second team the following season.^[2]

Leonard was selected by theBaltimore Bullets with the first pick of the second round (tenth overall) of the1954 NBA draft.^[2] He spent most of his seven-year professional playing career with theLakers (four years inMinneapolis, and one year following the team's move to Los Angeles), followed by two years with theChicago Packers/Zephyrs). He led the NBA in games played (72) in1956–57. His best season came in1961–62, in which he finished sixth in the NBA inassists per game (5.4) and eighth in assists (378).^[2] In his final season as a player, he alsocoached the Zephyrs. The team moved toBaltimore the following year; Leonard coached them for one more year.^[2][4]

It was during a game of gin rummy withGeorge Mikan where Leonard earned the nickname "Slick", as Mikan described him as such after Leonard beat him at the game.^[5]

Leonard quit the Bullets when they refused to give him a multiyear contract.^[6] Five years after coaching the Bullets, Leonard became the coach of theABA'sIndiana Pacers, a position he held for nearly 12 years – the last four after the franchise moved to the NBA.

Leonard arrived to the team nine games into the 1968-69 season. According toBob Netolicky, in the first meeting with the team after his hiring, Leonard stated that the team would learn basketball all over again in the way it "should be played" while stating his clear interest in making the team a "family" that would stick together, win or lose, which even extended to wanting the team to get together for a drink after every game. No player was immune to Leonard's demand for "48 minutes of total effort during the game". So committed was Leonard that he toldRoger Brown he would leave him home rather than have him on an upcoming road trip if he did not give 100 percent in practice. When Brown thought he was bluffing, Leonard stayed true to his word and left him at home, which motivated Brown to play better.^[7]

Composed of a fiery temper that led to his team being ready to fight (including the coach himself), the Pacers went 42-27 in his first season as a coach and made it to the ABA playoffs. In their first-round matchup against Kentucky, they lost three of the first four games, but it did not worry Leonard, who gave a mellow speech prior to Game 5 about all he wanted was for them to give 100 percent and play their game without yelling; the Pacers proceeded to win Games 5, 6, and 7 to win the series. They made it all the way to the ABA Finals, losing to the Oakland Oaks.^[8]

In the bookLoose Balls, Leonard adamantly believed the best teams were ones that were physically and mentally tough together full of belief of oneself while stating that his job was "to keep the team together" as opposed to calling the game complicated. This extended to bringing the team to hospitals with sick children to remind the players of "what real life can be about."^[9] The 1969-70 team aspired to avenge their loss the previous year. The proceeded to have the best record in the league and had home-field advantage before smashing Carolina and Kentucky with only one total loss before meeting the Los Angeles Stars. The Pacers won the first two games before Los Angeles won Game 3 and Indiana roared to a Game 4 victory by 22 points. They lost Game 5 in overtime before going to Los Angeles and winning it in resounding fashion to deliver the first professional championship for Indiana.^[10]

In total, the Pacers advanced to the ABA Finals five times and won threeABA championships prior to theABA–NBA merger in June 1976; in eight playoff series with a Game 7, Leonard won six of them. From 1976 to 1980, Leonard also served as general manager, where he worked in tandem with his wife Nancy, who handled the administrative duties as assistant general manager.^[11] However, the Pacers were nearly gutted in order to meet the financial burdens imposed by the merger, and he was never able to put together a winning team during the Pacers' first four years as an NBA team.^[1][4][12] By 1977, the team was on the brink of leaving Indianapolis and to sell 8,000 season tickets to raise $2 million. It was Nancy Leonard who came up with the idea for a telethon that she and Bobby would participate in; the "Save the Pacers" telethon, broadcast on live television on July 3, was successful.^[13][14]

Leonard returned to the Pacers in 1985 as acolor commentator, first for television with Jerry Baker, then on radio with Mark Boyle onWIBC 1070 AM. His trademark phrase is "Boom, baby!" for a successfulthree-point field goal by a Pacers player.^[1][15] Leonard first said the phrase in the aftermath of a playoff game whereBilly Keller drained a three-point shot to win the game for Indiana.^[16]

Leonard suffered aheart attack on March 13, 2011, shortly after a Pacers' road victory over theNew York Knicks.^[17] He was later said to be in good condition, but was given an indefinite time to recover, and was filled in for by Pacers TV analyst and former playerAustin Croshere.^[18]

Leonard was inducted into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2014.^[19] He became the first individual to be inducted into the Indiana University Sports Hall of Fame. He was also a member of theIndiana Basketball Hall of Fame and Indiana Sports Writers and Broadcasters Hall of Fame.^[15]

Leonard sustained three falls in 2018. The first in January shattered his left hip, while the second in June resulted in a broken left wrist. After his third fall in late December, he took a hiatus from calling games, before coming back on February 28, 2019.^[1] He died on April 13, 2021, at the age of 88.^[1][15]

Leonard met his wife Nancy (a native of South Bend, Indiana) during his time in college. They met when Leonard tripped her when she strolled past him in health class. Four years later, on the day after they graduated from Indiana, the two married each other. They wound up having five children together over a marriage of 60 years.^[20]

Source^[2]

Source:^[4]

• Career statistics fromNBA.com and Basketball Reference
• Basketball-Reference.com: Slick Leonard (as coach)
• Indiana Pacers bio

• 1932 births
• 2021 deaths
• All-American college men's basketball players
• American men's basketball coaches
• American men's basketball players
• Baltimore Bullets (1944–1954) draft picks
• Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) head coaches
• Basketball coaches from Indiana
• Chicago Packers expansion draft picks
• Chicago Packers players
• Chicago Zephyrs head coaches
• Chicago Zephyrs players
• Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players
• Indiana Pacers announcers
• Indiana Pacers head coaches
• Los Angeles Lakers players
• Minneapolis Lakers players
• Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees
• Basketball player-coaches
• Point guards
• Basketball players from Terre Haute, Indiana

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• Articles with dead external links from February 2024
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• Use mdy dates from April 2021