Herb Simon

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Herb Simon joined Rece Davis and Jay Bilas for an interview after being named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

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Herb Simon Interview After Being Named To Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024

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INDIANAPOLIS – Herb Simon, chairman and owner of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, has been selected as member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024, the organization announced this morning during a live broadcast on ESPN.

Simon, the longest-tenured owner in NBA history, was named a finalist in February under the “Contributors” category, which recognizes owners and executives who have been instrumental in helping grow basketball in the United States and across the globe. He will join Pacers legends Reggie Miller, George McGinnis, Bobby “Slick” Leonard, Roger Brown, and Mel Daniels and Fever legend Tamika Catchings in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

“As the longest-standing governor in NBA history, a founding member of the WNBA, and a former Chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, Herb Simon has been instrumental in every significant NBA and WNBA development over the past four decades,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “While Herb has never sought credit for his truly influential role, it is wonderful to see his steady leadership and service to the game of basketball recognized by the Hall of Fame.”

Simon and his brother, Melvin, purchased the Pacers in 1983, injecting the franchise with new energy and keeping the team firmly in Indiana. Working alongside business and civic leaders, the Simons were central to bringing the 1985 NBA All-Star Game to Indianapolis, an event that set an All-Star attendance record that stood until 2010. The Pacers, meanwhile, have been one of the NBA’s most steady and consistent franchises since that time, one of the League’s most recognizable brands with a fan base that extends well beyond our state borders.

“Herb’s genuine commitment to this franchise and our city has resulted in the kinds of civic and philanthropic partnerships that are the gold standard for organizations around the NBA,” said Steve Simon, PS&E owner and alternate governor.

As an owner and team governor, Simon has been at the forefront of the NBA’s evolution into a global brand, it’s efforts to innovate and reach new fans, and the expansion of the game of basketball outside of the United States. PS&E joined the WNBA with the expansion Fever in 2000 and became one of the League’s most successful franchises, and Simon’s commitment to women’s basketball, generally, have helped position the WNBA as the premier women’s professional basketball league in the world.

Additionally, Simon was one of the first owners to start an NBA 2K franchise, Pacers Gaming, when that League was founded in 2017-2018, understanding the opportunity to engage new demographics and grow a passion for the game to younger generations. In fact, PS&E is now one of only a handful of organizations that boasts franchises in the NBA, WNBA, G League, and NBA 2K League.

“Herb has always pushed our organization and the NBA to think bigger about our opportunity to reach new fans, make impact off the court, and grow the brand in innovative ways,” said PS&E CEO Rick Fuson. “He has certainly had an outsized impact on the growth of the game, and he has done it in his unique, unassuming way that deflects praise to others.”

For fans in Indiana, Simon’s impact stretches well beyond the basketball court. For decades, he and the Simon family have been important catalysts for the growth of Indianapolis into an international hub for business, sports and entertainment, and arts and culture. Simon’s commitment to the downtown has helped the Circle City flourish and shaped the physical and cultural landscape of the city, and the philanthropic investments he and the Simon family have made have helped strengthen so many Indiana communities, Hoosier families, and the organizations who serve them.

“For decades, Herb has been a model owner in the NBA, as well as one of its most respected voices,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard. “He cares deeply not only about our franchise but about the future of our sport and our League, and there is no one is more deserving of this amazing recognition.” The Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2024 will be formally recognized on the court at halftime of tonight’s first NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinal game between Purdue University and North Carolina State University. Simon and fellow inductees will be enshrined during festivities in Springfield, Massachusetts, on August 16-17.

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Herb Simon, Pacers Sports & Entertainment Chairman and Owner, Named to 2024 Class of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame

The Indiana Pacers tipped off #NBAAllStar2024 in Indianapolis by unveiling renovations to Christamore House, a historic multi-service community center on the near west side. Christamore House now has a refurbished gym, state-of-the-art STEAM lab, revitalized wellness room & more, as part of our Legacy Projects initiative focused on helping youth-serving nonprofit organizations around the state.

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Indiana Pacers Unveil Renovations For Recipient Of #NBAAllStar2024 Legacy Project, Christamore House

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Statement from Pacers Sports & Entertainment Owners Herb Simon, Steve Simon, and the Simon Family:
"Pacers fans will remember Bobby 'Slick' Leonard as the spirit of our franchise. With a charisma, intensity, and wit to match his nickname, Slick made us champions. He was our biggest fan and our most loving critic, and he personified Pacers basketball for generations of Hoosier families. Most importantly, though, Slick and Nancy are our family, and his passing leaves an unfillable void in the hearts of everyone associated with this organization. We keep the entire Leonard family in our prayers, and we recognize and honor Slick for what he meant to our state both on and off the court."

Statement from Larry Bird:
"To me, Slick was a real Hoosier, he loved the State and everyone that lives there. He was a great mentor to me and a friend that everyone should have. Slick will be greatly missed and remembered with respect and admiration forever. My family and I send our sincere condolences to Nancy and the Leonard family."

Statement from Reggie Miller:
"This one hurts Pacers Nation...So very saddened by the loss of a beloved human being in Bobby ‘Slick’ Leonard. We all know how great a Coach you were in guiding the ABA Pacers to 3 Championships, but you were a much better friend. I will cherish every single one of our conversations and pass them along to my kids. Thinking of Nancy and the Leonard Family during this time."

RELATED: Remembering Bobby "Slick" Leonard »

Bobby "Slick" Leonard:
A Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee in 2014, Bobby "Slick" Leonard spent more than 50 years as a part of the Pacers organization, both as a championship-winning coach and a broadcaster. As Pacers’ head coach from 1968-1980, he won 529 games and three ABA championships and was later voted by a national sportswriters and broadcasters association as the ABA’s All-Time Coach.

Named one of Indiana's "50 Greatest Players" and a two-time All-American at Indiana University, Slick was captain of the Hoosiers' 1953 NCAA championship team and Big Ten Championship teams in 1953 and '54. He then served in the U.S. Army from 1954-56 before playing seven years in the NBA with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and was named an All Star in 1963.

In addition to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, Slick is enshrined in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Indiana Sports Writers and Broadcasters Hall of Fame and was the first person inducted into the Indiana University Sports Hall of Fame. He was also honored as a member of Indiana University's All-Century Basketball Team

Finally, Slick 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, the banner honors his 529 victories as coach of the Pacers and his contributions to the game.

Slick and his wife, Nancy, have five children, 12 grandchildren, and six great grandchildren.

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Statements On The Passing of Bobby “Slick” Leonard

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Pacers Leadership Honored to Take Part in 2019 NBA India Games

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The 2021 NBA All-Star Game may still be three years away, but preparations for the weekend are already well underway.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced on Dec. 13 that the league chose Indianapolis to host its 70th All-Star Game, the first time the event will be held in the Circle City since 1985. In the ensuing months, Indianapolis leaders have joined forces to create the 2021 NBA All-Star Local Organizing Committee to plan for hosting the NBA's signature event.

Pacers Sports & Entertainment President and COO Rick Fuson serves as chairman of the committee. The four co-chairs of the committee are Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever legend and current PS&E Director of Player Programs and Franchise Development), Cindy Simon Skjodt (philanthropist and niece of Pacers owner Herb Simon), Aasif Bade (President of Ambrose Property Group), and Rafael Sanchez (President and CEO of Indianapolis Power & Light Company).

That group headed to Los Angeles this weekend to observe and participate in All-Star festivities, gathering insight as they prepare for Indianapolis' turn as host city. Steve Simon and other members of the Local Organizing Committee joined them on the trip.

A similar contingent attended All-Star festivities in Toronto in 2016 and New Orleans in 2017 as the Pacers prepared their bid to the league. The newly-formed committee will also have a presence in Charlotte next year and Chicago in 2020.

"Everybody does things a little bit differently," Fuson said. "And everything that we can pick up — when it comes to signage or some hospitality thing that they do or the transportation or how they treat people in the hotels — it makes it a little easier for us to say, 'Okay, let's elevate to that program' or 'Let's beat it by one more step.'"

No one played a more important role in Indianapolis being awarded the 2021 All-Star Game than Herb Simon. As the NBA's longest-tenured owner, Simon was the driving force behind the franchise deciding to bid on the game.

Pacers co-owner Steve Simon said it was especially important for his father to get the NBA "to shine a light on the city of Indianapolis" after all the city has done for him.

The Simon family continues to play an active role in the planning process for 2021.

"There's incredible excitement, but it's also nerve-wracking, too, because every year at the All-Star Game, the bar is raised higher and higher," Steve Simon said.

"We do big events as well as anyone, so I think we're all confident we're going to raise the bar and bring an incredible event with great activation and great energy. But there's a lot of work left to do."

Fuson said he considers his four co-chairs a "dream team," with each member bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge from a variety of backgrounds.

Simon Skjodt, for instance, worked side-by-side with Fuson when Indianapolis last hosted the All-Star Game in 1985. Much like the city of Indianapolis, the event has grown tremendously over the past three decades, but the lessons learned from that experience still can provide value.

"I think the key is to have really good people," Simon Skjodt said.

That description most certainly applies to Catchings, who herself is no stranger to All-Star Weekend, having represented the Fever and the WNBA in a number of All-Star events over the years.

That experience has allowed Catchings to share insight about what makes for a good host city. She learned firsthand just how exhausting the weekend can be for players, who have numerous commitments between the All-Star events, media obligations, sponsorship appearances, and community service events.

In Catchings' opinion, Indianapolis is naturally a perfect fit with a compact and walkable downtown area, with most of the major hotels, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Indiana Convention Center, and Lucas Oil Stadium separated by a half-mile or less.

Serving on this committee is a new role for Catchings, one of several committee members who Fuson said represent "a new generation of leaders in our town."

"I'm extremely excited to be representing Pacers Sports & Entertainment and the Fever and the Pacers," Catchings said. "It's not just NBA All-Star, the WNBA and the G League will be represented, as well. I think that's where my level of excitement is, being able to join forces with all of our organizations and put on a show."

This was the first time Sanchez attended All-Star Weekend, but he's no stranger to putting on big events. Sanchez served on the Indianapolis Super Bowl host committee in 2012, an experience that he said helps him "understand the big picture" of all it takes to host a major sports event.

For Sanchez, spending time in Los Angeles has provided invaluable insights into understanding everything that goes into hosting the All-Star Game.

"There's no substitute to seeing and participating and doing it yourself to just kind of visualize how would this work in Indianapolis," Sanchez said.

Bade, another first-time All-Star attendee, marveled at the scope of what transpires at the annual basketball showcase.

The committee attended numerous events while in Los Angeles, including the NBA Cares Day of Service at the LA Regional Food Bank, the Rising Stars Challenge, the Newsmaker Breakfast, All-Star Media Day and Practice, All-Star Saturday Night, the Legends Brunch, and the All-Star Game.

"Obviously as a fan, you're aware of the three or four things that are on TV," Bade said. "But I've been amazed in terms of all of the things going on behind the scenes and the reach that the NBA has…It's unbelievable the reach of the NBA and the WNBA. That's probably been the most eye-opening part."

When they return to Indianapolis, the committee members will compare notes from their time in Los Angeles and continue formulating a vision for what Indianapolis can do to push the envelope in 2021. But each member expressed extreme confidence in the city's ability to put on a great show, citing a long and successful history of hosting major events, including the 2012 Super Bowl and numerous Final Fours.

In fact, the 2021 All-Star Game will be part of a remarkable run for downtown Indianapolis, which in a 13-month span will host two Big Ten football championship games (in Dec. 2020 and 2021), the NBA All-Star Game (Feb. 2021), the Big Ten women's basketball tournament (March 2021), the NCAA men's Final Four (April 2021), and the College Football Playoff National Championship Game (Jan. 2022).

"It's embedded in our DNA," Sanchez said. "I think families come out and support it, they get behind it. People want to volunteer. There's all kinds of public/private partnerships.

"There's so much tremendous opportunity and I think it's just embedded at this point in the Indianapolis culture to put on high-caliber events with exceptional customer service and exceptional engagement from people from all backgrounds. It's what makes our city great."

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Indianapolis Committee Attends All-Star Weekend to Gather Insights for 2021

The NBA All-Star Game could be making a long-awaited return to Indianapolis in the near future.

Representatives from Pacers Sports & Entertainment, the Indiana Sports Corp, and Visit Indy traveled to New Orleans for the 2017 All-Star Weekend to gather information for a possible bid for Indianapolis to host the All-Star Game in 2021.

Pacers owner Herb Simon has expressed strong interest in bringing the All-Star Game back to the city, which last hosted the event in 1985 at the Hoosier Dome.

"We have a great building, we're in our 18th year at Bankers Life Fieldhouse," said Rick Fuson, Pacers Sports & Entertainment President and COO. "It's time to bring the NBA world back to Indianapolis."

The NBA is currently accepting bids for both the 2020 and 2021 All-Star Games. The Pacers' bid would be for 2021, as that year is the best fit for the city when considering future convention commitments. It is also the next year that the city is scheduled to host the men's Final Four, meaning that the Circle City could possibly host the two biggest single-city annual basketball events in the world in the span of six weeks.

In preparation for a possible bid, a number of high-ranking officials made the trip to New Orleans. That group includes Fuson and Senior Vice President of Facilities Operations Mel Raines; Indiana Sports Corp President Ryan Vaughn and Senior Vice President Susan Baughman; and Visit Indy President Leonard Hoops, Vice President Susie Townsend, and Frank Short. A similar contingent also traveled to Toronto for last year's All-Star Game.

That group has been diligently researching everything it takes to pull off a successful All-Star Weekend. From the marquee events like the Rising Stars Challenge and All-Star Saturday Night all the way down to the minutiae of coordinating transportation schedules and plotting out the distribution of signage across the city, the Indianapolis representatives have been documenting it all for a possible bid.

"I think we learned how big it is," Fuson said. "Because it is big. And not only all the official events, but the 'unoffical events,' whether it be parties or sponsors who do things. Thinking about looking at all the different places that you'll have to find for all these folks and partners coming (to the city), it's a big task."

Given the scale of the event, it was particularly important that the Pacers have support from the rest of the city before they began the process of exploring making a bid.

"We can't do it without them," Raines said. "It's absolutely a partnership...Visit Indy and the Indiana Sports Corp and the CIB and the governor and the mayor, all of those partners, we can't be successful in hosting these kind of events without everybody being in 150 percent."

One of the strongest components of an Indianapolis bid would be the city's long and highly successful history in hosting large events, from the 1987 Pan American Games to the 2012 Super Bowl to numerous Finals Fours. Each of those events involved citywide collaboration and cooperation, something that Indianapolis prides itself on.

"There's a lot of good cities in the country, but I don't think there's a better event city than Indianapolis," Fuson said.

In addition, Simon has a strong relationship with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. When the Pacers played in the 2017 NBA Global Games in London, Silver expressed his admiration and respect for Simon — the league's longest tenured owner, having bought the team with his brother Melvin in 1983 — and told the media that Indianapolis "should be on the top of list" to host a future All-Star Game if Simon and the franchise chose to submit a bid.

Still, Indianapolis is far from the only city in the running for the 2021 All-Star Game. About a dozen teams have expressed interest in hosting All-Star Weekend in 2020 and/or 2021. For that reason, Fuson said that the Pacers would need to be "competitive" in their bid.

The number of teams interested in hosting the All-Star Game is growing, and for good reason.

"The economic development, the impact — just walking around here the last couple of days, it's massive," Raines said. "The restaurants are full, the hotels are full, people are shopping, sponsors are doing big events. It's really a great thing to go after and if it wasn't, so many teams wouldn't be bidding for it."

Fuson added that data shows that the economic impact of the weekend for the host city is estimated around $100 million.

The deadline to submit a bid to the league is in the spring. The host cities for both 2020 and 2021 could be announced before the start of the 2017-18 regular season.

The Pacers have not submitted a bid yet, but there is substantial enthusiasm about the possibility of bringing the event back to Indianapolis in 2021.

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Pacers Preparing for Probable All-Star Bid

Indianapolis – On Wednesday, December 16 members of the Simon family will join Mayor Greg Ballard at Bankers Life Fieldhouse to unveil a plaque commemorating the contributions of the family to the Indianapolis community.

What: Dedication of Bankers Life Fieldhouse Plaza in honor of Simon family

When: Wednesday, December 16, 2015
                5:00 PM

Where: West Plaza, Bankers Life Fieldhouse
                Entry pavilion on Pennsylvania Street

Who: Mayor Greg Ballard
                Members of the Simon Family