Sports and Torts: Bobby Leonard

Bob \"Slick\" Leonard is the cornerstone of the Indiana Pacers franchise. He was the winningest coach in the 9 year history of the ABA. 5 out of his 8 years he led the team to the ABA Finals and won three championships. He is the current Pacers Radio Color Man, and was finally elected to the Hall of Fame earlier this month.

Sports and Torts: Hall of Famer Ron Mix

During his 10 years with the Chargers he was assessed for only two holding penalties. He was an All-AFL selection eight times as a tackle and once as a guard, and played in eight AFL All-Star games and five of the first six AFL title games. He was unanimously chosen for the AFL\'s all-time team in 1969.

Bobby Leonard

Bobby “Slick” Leonard is in his 29th year with the Pacers as a broadcaster and lends unique perspective to each game along with his vast knowledge of basketball. As a Pacers’ head coach for 12 years, Leonard won 529 games and three ABA championships.

Before coming to the Pacers, “Slick” had an outstanding playing career on the high school, collegiate and pro levels and was named as one of the state’s “50 Greatest Players.” A two-time All-American at Indiana University, he was captain of the Hoosiers’ 1953 NCAA championship team. He played seven years in the NBA with the Minneapolis/ Los Angeles Lakers.

Leonard is a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and was the first person inducted into the Indiana University Sports Hall of Fame. He was voted by a national sportswriters and broadcasters association as the ABA’s All-Time Coach. Recently, he was honored as a member of Indiana University’s All-Century Basketball Team.

He also is one of just six individuals in Pacers history to have a banner raised in his honor. Hanging from the rafters of Bankers Life Fieldhouse is a banner honoring Leonard and his 529 victories as coach of the Pacers.

A native of Terre Haute, Ind., Leonard lives in Carmel, Ind., with his wife, Nancy, and is a partner in Bobby Leonard Enterprises. They have five children and seven grandchildren.

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Ron Mix

A graduate of the University of Southern California, where he was an All American in 1959, Mix was an original Los Angeles Charger in 1960. Mix was also a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity. He was elected the National Jewish College Athlete of the Year.Because he had a Juris Doctor in Law degree, Mix was nicknamed \"The Intellectual Assassin\" for his physical play. Mix was called for a mere two holding penalties in ten years. Mix, who was listed at 6\' 5\" and 270 pounds, was an early proponent of weightlifting to enhance athletic power. He was years ahead of the curve that soon at lineman and other football players taking up that practice to become better athletes. His lifts included a military press of 300 pounds, a clean and jerk of 325 pounds, and a bench press of 425 pounds, all of the lifts considered to be exceptionally strong for that era of play.
Although the Baltimore Colts picked him number 1 in 1960, he chose to go to the AFL, where he had also been the number 1 draft pick. He was a factor in the Chargers\' early domination of the AFL\'s Western Division, and in San Diego helped them win an American Football League Championship in 1963, when they defeated the Boston Patriots 51-10 in the championship game.
He was elected to the AFL All-Star team for nine straight years as a Charger, is a member of the All-time All-AFL Team, and is one of only 20 men who played the entire 10 years of the AFL. He was the first Charger to have his number retired in 1969 after he announced he was quitting football after playing injured that season. He earned a law degree from the University of San Diego in 1970. He told the Chargers he wanted play again, but they had found a replacement in Gene Ferguson. After Mix asked to be traded to the New York Jets, San Diego traded him to the Oakland Raiders for two high draft picks in 1970 and 1971. The deal was contingent upon Mix unretiring and agreeing to play for Oakland. He played with the Raiders in 1971. Then-Chargers owner Gene Klein, who hated the Raiders, unretired Mix\'s number He was voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979. Mix is Jewish, and was also elected a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, being elected to that in 1980. He was the second player from the AFL to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Lance Alworth was the first in 1978.

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