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Former Pacers Great Mel Daniels Passes Away

By Michael Dunlap

Aug 8, 2014; Springfield, MA, USA; ABA coach Bob Leonard is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame by presenter Hall of Fame players Mel Daniels ( 12) and Larry Bird ( 98) during the 2014 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 8, 2014; Springfield, MA, USA; ABA coach Bob Leonard is inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame by presenter Hall of Fame players Mel Daniels ( 12) and Larry Bird ( 98) during the 2014 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Springfield Symphony Hall. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /
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Hall-of-Fame center and former Indiana Pacers great Mel Daniels has passed away at age 71, as reported by Peter Vescey. Daniels played eight seasons in the ABA — one with the Minnesota Muskies, six with the Pacers and one with the Memphis Sounds — before playing one 11-game stint in the NBA with the New York Nets.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Daniels honed his skills at Pershing High School, which was a hotbed of NBA talent — Ralph Simpson, Kevin Willis, Steve Smith and Spencer Haywood also attended. He’d play three seasons for the University of New Mexico before turning pro.

Daniels was selected No. 9 in the 1967 NBA Draft (by Cincinnati Royals), but he altered course and went with the newly-started ABA instead.

At 6-foot-9, Daniels was one of the finest rebounders in the ABA, leading the league in rebounding on three separate occasions. He topped out at 18.0 rebounds per game in 1970-71, to go with 21 points and 2.2 assists per game. The 7-time ABA All-Star led the league in total rebound percentage in each of his first five seasons in the league.

To this day, Daniels is revered as a basketball legend, as his Pacer teams won all three of the franchise’s championships (1969-70, 1971-72, 1972-73) within a four-season stretch. He’d earn his Hall-of-Fame status in 2012 alongside Dan Issel, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore and Connie Hawkins.

Mel is still the franchise leader in defensive rebounds (5,461), total rebounds (7,643), minutes per game (37.1), rebounds per game (16.0), PER (20.1) and total rebound percentage (19.5). His number is retired by the Pacers, along with Roger Brown, Reggie Miller and George McGinnis.

In recent years, Daniels had become more open about his talents as a poet. According to a feature by Pacers.com, Daniels had written 20,000 poems over the span of his lifetime. In an interesting tidbit from that feature, Daniels had challenged himself to dunking a basketball every year on his birthday, from the time he retired in 1977 all the way through 2006, when he was 62 years old.

A cause of death has not been released, though he had recently had open heart surgery. You can read the Pacers official statement here.

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