History of The Pacers

The Indiana Pacers have been around since 1967. Like many of the current NBA teams, they started in the ABA league. In the ABA years, prior to its folding, the Pacers were led by Bobby Leonard. He coached them into 8 consecutive winning seasons and 5 finals appearances. After the ABA and the NBA merged, there were many restrictions placed on the three ABA teams to enter into the NBA. Due to these restrictions, the pacers entered into a financial crisis. The team announced that if ticket sales do not reach 8,000, the club would have to sell out and the Market Square Arena would lose its main attraction. Elmer Snow, then general manager of WTTV, which aired the Pacers games, offered to hold a telethon to keep the team in Indiana. The telethon began on the night of July 3, 1977 in the 500 Ballroom of the Indiana Convention Center. Ten minutes before going off the air, Nancy Leonard, wife of the Pacers' coach, announced that season ticket sales had topped 8,000. The telethon helped assure the Pacers a second season in the NBA.         Since the early days of the pacers, we have seen 10 new coaches and too numerous an amount of players to mention, but one of notable mention is Reggie Miller.

Reggie Miller

He came to the Pacers as the 11th overall pick in the 1987 draft. The pick was booed by many Hoosiers who wanted Indiana University's Steve Alford. Reggie Miller moved on to become the pacers all time scoring leader. He is also considered one of the leagues best 3-point shooters and holds position 14 for the leagues all time career scoring record. Reggie stuck with the Pacers through all of his years in the NBA and since, has retired and in his memory, Indiana has chosen to retire is famous number 31.