Robert “Slick” Leonard — the Indiana University men's basketball legend, Indiana Pacers coaching navigator, and, later, the loveable voice of the Pacers from 1985-2011 — died on Tuesday in Indianapolis, per multiple reports, at 88 years old.
Among his many accolades — hitting the game-winning free throw in the 1953 NCAA championship game, coaching the Pacers to three ABA championships before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, and an NBA Hall of Fame induction in 2014 — comes his all-time catchphrase, “Boom, baby!”
It's something he bellowed for more than 25 years on Indiana airwaves, every time a Pacer buried a 3-pointer.
Hall of Famer Slick Leonard has passed away, league sources tell @FieldhouseFiles. He was 88.
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) April 13, 2021
From 1985 until the end of the 2010-11 season, Leonard's on-air tenure with the team, the Pacers canned 10,083 3-pointers. The shot not only revolutionized the game of basketball, but Indiana also had one of the best to ever do it in Reggie Miller (1987-2005), who's third all-time with 2,560 3-pointers made.
Yes, “Boom, baby!” loosed from Leonard's lips often and aplenty.
Selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the first pick of the second round in the 1954 NBA Draft (10th overall), Leonard ended up playing for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and, later, the Chicago Packers/Zephyrs from 1956-63 — and finished his playing career with 4,204 points (9.9 ppg), 1,217 rebounds (2.9 RPG) and 1,427 assists (3.3 APG). He was a player coach for the Zephyrs during the 1962-63 season, and then stayed on as coach when they moved to Baltimore prior to the 1963-64 campaign.
A third-team All-American in 1953 and consensus second-team All-American in 1954, the former point guard averaged 15.5 points during his three years with the Hoosiers, shooting 33.2% from the field and 66.7% from the charity stripe through college.
A native of Terre Haute, the state of Indiana was Leonard's life.
Follow Us
Subscribe