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Pacers Legend Bobby Slick Leonard Passes Away At Age 88
Indiana legend Bobby Slick Leonard passed away Tuesday. He won a national championship at Indiana in 1953 and has been the face of the Pacers for decades.
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Apr 13, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Indiana Pacers legend Bobby Slick Leonard passed away Tuesday at the age of 88 years old.
Leonard attended Indiana University in Bloomington, where he won a national championship with the Hoosiers in 1953. He also coached the Indiana Pacers from 1968-80, and after his playing and coaching career, became a color commentator for the Pacers. Pacers fans will remember Bobby ‘Slick’ Leonard as the spirit of our franchise, Pacers owner Herb Simon said. With a charisma, intensity, and wit to match his nickname, Slick made us champions. He was our biggest fan and our most loving critic, and he personified Pacers basketball for generations of Hoosier families.
AJ Mast/AP
INDIANAPOLIS Bobby “Slick” Leonard, the former NBA player and Hall of Fame coach who won three ABA championships with the Indiana Pacers and spent more than a half century with the organization, has died. He was 88.
His death was announced by the Pacers on Tuesday. No details were given. He had been in failing health in recent years.
Leonard had a record of 573-534 in 14 seasons as a coach, the last 12 with the Pacers.
He also made the winning free throws in the 1953 NCAA Tournament to give the Indiana Hoosiers the second of its five national titles and was later named one of the school’s 50 greatest players. The two-time All-American led the Hoosiers to Big Ten titles in 1953 and 1954 before joining the U.S. Army.
Beloved Coach and Pacers Broadcaster Bobby “Slick” Leonard Dies at 88
INDIANAPOLIS–Bobby “Slick” Leonard has died. Leonard was one of the most beloved names in basketball in Indiana, having coached the Indiana Pacers from 1968 to 1980, and having served as the color commentator on radio broadcasts for the team. Leonard was 88.
Born in Terre Haute in 1932, Leonard excelled at both basketball and tennis at Gerstmeyer High School. He played for Indiana University, scoring the winning shot in the 1953 NCAA tournament.
LISTEN: Remembering “Slick” Leonard
“By the time I got to be a sophomore I was 5 ft. 10, and I was playing on the B team,” said Leonard in a 2017 interview.
Bobby Slick Leonard, 88, Pacers Hall of Fame coach, dies
By MICHAEL MAROT Associated Press April 13, 2021 4:00pm Text size Copy shortlink:
INDIANAPOLIS Bobby Slick Leonard was selected as the ABA s greatest 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 Hall of Fame coaching career and was selected a 1963 NBA All-Star had died. No details about the 88-year-old Leonard were provided but he had been in failing health in recent years. He was the greatest, McGinnis said in March. He loved all of his guys and, yes, he had his days. If you got on the wrong side of him, i