Bobby Leonard

"Boom baby" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Baby boom.

Bobby Leonard

Personal information
Born	(1932-07-17) July 17, 1932 Terre Haute, Indiana
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Gerstmeyer (Terre Haute, Indiana)
College	Indiana (1951–1954)
NBA draft	1954 / Round: 2 / Pick: 10th overall
Selected by the Baltimore Bullets
Playing career	1956–1963
Position	Guard
Number	21
Career history
As player:
1956–1961	Minneapolis / Los Angeles Lakers
1961–1963	Chicago Packers / Zephyrs
As coach:
1962–1964	Chicago Zephyrs / Baltimore Bullets
1968–1980	Indiana Pacers
Career highlights and awards
As Player: NCAA champion (1953) Consensus second-team All-American (1954) As Coach: 3× ABA champion (1970, 1972, 1973)
Career statistics
Points	4,204 (9.9 ppg)
Rebounds	1,217 (2.9 rpg)
Assists	1,427 (3.3 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as coach

William Robert "Slick" Leonard (born July 17, 1932) is a former professional basketball player and coach. A 6'3" 185 lb (84 kg) guard, Leonard played high school basketball at Terre Haute Gerstmeyer High School, where he excelled as a tennis player, as well. He played collegiate basketball at Indiana University, where he hit the game winning free throws to give Indiana the 1953 NCAA championship. While at Indiana, he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity.

He was selected with the first pick of the second round of the 1954 NBA Draft. He spent most of his seven-year professional playing career with the Lakers (four years in Minneapolis, and one year following the team's move to Los Angeles), followed by two years with the Chicago Packers/Zephyrs). In his final season as a player, he also coached the Zephyrs. The next year, the team moved to Baltimore; Leonard coached them for one more year.

In 1968, Leonard became the coach of the American Basketball Association's Indiana Pacers, a position he held for nearly 12 years – the last four after the franchise moved to the NBA. For a time, he also served as general manager. Leonard led the Pacers to three ABA championships before the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976. However, the Pacers were nearly gutted in order to meet the financial burdens imposed by the merger, and he was never able to put together a winning team during the Pacers' first four years as an NBA team.

Leonard returned to the Pacers in 1985 as a color commentator, first for television with Jerry Baker, then on radio, where he remains alongside Mark Boyle on WFNI 1070 AM. His trademark phrase is "Boom, baby!" for a successful three-point shot by a Pacers player.

On March 13, 2011, Leonard suffered a heart attack shortly after a Pacers road victory over the New York Knicks. He was later said to be in good condition, but was given an indefinite time to recover, and was filled in for by Pacers TV analyst and former player Austin Croshere.

On February 14, 2014, Leonard was named as a 2014 inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; he was formally inducted on August 8 of that year.

Head coaching record

ABA and NBA

Legend
Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win-loss %
Post season	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win-loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
Chicago	1962–63	42	13	29	.310	5th in West	-	-	-	–	Missed Playoffs
Baltimore	1963–64	80	31	49	.388	4th in West	-	-	-	–	Missed Playoffs
Indiana	1968–69	69	42	27	.609	1st in West	17	9	8	.529	Lost in ABA Finals
Indiana	1969–70	84	59	25	.702	1st in East	15	12	3	.800	Won ABA Champions
Indiana	1970–71	84	58	26	.690	1st in West	11	7	4	.636	Lost in Div. Finals
Indiana	1971–72	84	47	37	.560	2nd in West	20	12	8	.600	Won ABA Champions
Indiana	1972–73	84	51	33	.607	2nd in West	11	12	6	.667	Won ABA Champions
Indiana	1973–74	84	46	38	.548	2nd in West	14	7	7	.500	Lost in Div. Finals
Indiana	1974–75	84	45	39	.536	2nd in West	16	9	9	.500	Lost in ABA Finals
Indiana	1975–76	84	39	45	.464	5st in West	3	1	2	.333	Lost in First Round
Indiana	1976–77	82	36	46	.439	5st in West	-	-	-	–	Missed Playoffs
Indiana	1977–78	82	31	51	.378	6st in West	-	-	-	–	Missed Playoffs
Indiana	1978–79	82	38	44	.463	4st in West	-	-	-	–	Missed Playoffs
Indiana	1979–80	82	37	45	.451	4st in West	-	-	-	–	Missed Playoffs
NBA Career		450	186	264	.413		-	-	-	–
ABA Career		336	387	270	.682		116	69	47	.595
Career Total		1,107	573	534	.518		116	69	47	.595

External links

• Basketball-Reference.com: Slick Leonard (as coach)
• Basketball-Reference.com: Slick Leonard (as player)