"Honeycomb" Johnson Made
Big Impression in Brief Stint

Former Pacers Coach Bob “Slick” Leonard said the Pacers may not have won the ABA Championship if not for Johnson, who entered Game 7 of the ABA Finals on aging, aching knees and clamped down on Kentucky Colonels center Artis Gilmore. It was the final game of a storied career for Johnson, who is among this year’s 16 finalists for induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

“His knees had gone pretty-well bad and Phoenix cut him and I picked him up in ’73 and brought him in here,” recalled Leonard. “In the seventh game, down in Kentucky, Mel Daniels got in foul trouble and I put him on Artis Gilmore. He pushed Artis Gilmore all the way out on the floor. By the time they got the ball into Artis, he was 18 feet from the hoop. Gus was as strong as a bear. And that was the only championship ring Gus ever got.”

Johnson, who died of brain cancer in 1987, helped redefine the forward position with a combination of power, quickness and leaping ability uncommon in his era. During the bulk of his eight seasons with the Baltimore Bullets, the athletic Johnson routinely guarded the likes of Wilt Chamberlain in the low post because of his strength and leaping ability, or would be put on the perimeter to defend Oscar Robertson. Johnson was a heady defender who averaged 17.1 points and 12.7 rebounds during his career. In his one season with the with the Pacers, he averaged 6.0 points and 4.9 rebounds.

Hillman

“If they're going to have a Hall of Fame, Gus definitely deserves to be there,” said Darnell Hillman, a center on the 1972-73 ABA Champion Pacers squad. “He was ahead of his time. There were quite a few good athletes out there, but none could quite carry themselves or handle themselves in three different areas of the ballclub (offense, defense and rebounding) like Gus could.”

Hillman also remembers more than simply a player who ended a distinguished career with the Pacers. He remembers a light among the players – one that only switched on after noon.

“Gus didn’t wake up in the morning like everybody else, but at 12 o’clock his light switch would come on and he’d be Mr. Colorful,” Hillman said. “He shared that with the team and he would pick us up. You could set your watch by Gus. At 12:01 he would just come alive.

“On the court he was a very sound basketball player. He was beyond his better years when he was with us, but he had a lot to bring to the young personnel on the team. And like Slick said, in that game against Kentucky, he was a key in us winning. The matchup between him and Gilmore, you’d say there’s no way we’re going to succeed, but Gus did a great job on Artis. Artis could not move. He literally pinned Artis’ feet to the floor and Artis was just stuck there.”

Leonard

Leonard was the head coach in Baltimore when the Bullets dafted Johnson out of Idaho with a second-round pick (No. 11 overall) in 1963. Over the next nine seasons, the Bullets would become a contender and enter into one of the best NBA rivalries of the 1960s with the New York Knicks.

The Basketball Hall of Fame will announce its Class of 2004 on April 5. Among the 15 other finalists for this class are Purdue coach Gene Keady; former University of North Carolina standout Bobby Jones; former NBA All-Stars Chet Walker, Clyde Drexler and Bernard King; and the late Maurice Stokes, 1956 NBA Rookie of the Year.

“I’m just glad that he’s been nominated. I drafted Gus back in the early 1960s when I was coaching the Baltimore Bullets and he turned out to be one of the great defensive forwards to ever play the game,” said Leonard “This guy was something. He was really something. There were some great teams in Baltimore with him and Wes Unseld and Earl Monroe. They had some great battles with the New York Knicks. . . . I’m just hoping they put Gus in (the Hall of Fame).

“Gus could score and Gus was a heck of a rebounder. He had a game. There’s nobody around now who can promote him (for the Hall of Fame) like they do the modern-day player, but he could play on my team any time.”