1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,480
Speaker 1: Okay, so we did have some big local news, especially

2
00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:11,400
Speaker 1: to our longtime Indianapolis residents. This just came down Nancy Leonard,

3
00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:17,400
Speaker 1: the wife of Indiana Pacers legend Slick Leonard, has passed away.

4
00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:23,320
Speaker 1: She was ninety three years old and Slick Leonard longtime

5
00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,040
Speaker 1: coach of the Pacers. Modern people remember invest as the

6
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,680
Speaker 1: color analysts for the Pacers on radio and Mark Boyle

7
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:38,360
Speaker 1: boom Baby. Cities are interesting in the sense that there

8
00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:44,600
Speaker 1: are people who don't acquire immense power, they don't necessarily

9
00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 1: have great wealth. They're not business people to a certain extent,

10
00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,160
Speaker 1: They're just they become special for a variety of reasons,

11
00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:01,320
Speaker 1: and they become sort of a symbolism of, or a

12
00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:06,800
Speaker 1: heart of, or an ideal of the city. And in

13
00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:10,360
Speaker 1: the case of Nancy Leonard, I always felt that way

14
00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:16,800
Speaker 1: about her because she was so integral in assisting Slick

15
00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:21,760
Speaker 1: Leonard in not only his career arc but also the

16
00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,600
Speaker 1: literal saving of the Pacers in the city of Indianapolis

17
00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:28,440
Speaker 1: in the late nineteen seventies. And you know, I know

18
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,319
Speaker 1: a lot of people are familiar with this, but you know, look,

19
00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:33,960
Speaker 1: the NBA is this financial jugger not Now you get

20
00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 1: the team teams are something for billions of dollars, huge

21
00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:41,520
Speaker 1: television deals. There was a time, you know, not all

22
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,920
Speaker 1: that long ago by world history comparison, that the NBA.

23
00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,520
Speaker 1: Some teams did well, some really struggled, and especially after

24
00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:55,600
Speaker 1: the Pacers came into the NBA, they really struggled financially

25
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,000
Speaker 1: to the point that they were worried they were either

26
00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,560
Speaker 1: going to lose the team, like it was going to

27
00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,280
Speaker 1: potentially fold up, or certainly it could be sold and moved.

28
00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:12,360
Speaker 1: And the Leonards, Slick and Nancy orchestrated this. You know,

29
00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,399
Speaker 1: it became known as Saved the Pacers Telethon, and they

30
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,480
Speaker 1: raised enough money, sold enough tickets that they were able

31
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,799
Speaker 1: to not only keep the Pacers afloat, but gardner enough

32
00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:27,320
Speaker 1: interest in the team that it set them on an

33
00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:31,400
Speaker 1: arc of sustainability. Certainly until the Simons came in bought

34
00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:33,360
Speaker 1: the Pacers, and obviously with their wealth that was not

35
00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:38,800
Speaker 1: an issue going forward. But people like Nancy Leonard, like

36
00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,280
Speaker 1: I said, they're symbolisms of the city, what we are,

37
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,160
Speaker 1: what we represent, not just if you love basketball, but

38
00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,160
Speaker 1: the idea of sort of goes back to what I

39
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:52,480
Speaker 1: just did the segment before. If you believe in something enough,

40
00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,960
Speaker 1: and you think it matters enough, you have the power,

41
00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,160
Speaker 1: oftentimes to do far more than you could ever imagine

42
00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,720
Speaker 1: to make it happen. And for me, it's the ideals

43
00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,040
Speaker 1: of the Republican Party and them not living up to

44
00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,520
Speaker 1: those ideals, and that we need them to do that.

45
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 1: In her case, it was the Indiana Pacers, the idea

46
00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,960
Speaker 1: that that we need this basketball team, not because my

47
00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 1: husband's the coach, but because it's an identity of the

48
00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:21,560
Speaker 1: city and I'm going to fight and do everything in

49
00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,919
Speaker 1: my power to save it. And so when we lose

50
00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,200
Speaker 1: these people, Casey, part of us goes with them. And

51
00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,480
Speaker 1: I never met Nancy Leonard, but I certainly grew up

52
00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,320
Speaker 1: knowing all about their story. My family are all Indiana

53
00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:42,760
Speaker 1: Lifer people, and I'm a Central Indiana Lifer. And when

54
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,200
Speaker 1: you know all about somebody in the sacrifices they made,

55
00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,520
Speaker 1: you do feel like you kind of know them. And

56
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:50,520
Speaker 1: so even when you've never met someone, a piece of

57
00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,520
Speaker 1: you goes with them, and a piece of the city

58
00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:53,119
Speaker 1: goes with them.

59
00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,920
Speaker 2: Well, she was definitely the matriarch of the Indiana Pacers

60
00:03:55,960 --> 00:04:00,760
Speaker 2: and showed an entrepreneurial spirit in keeping them here. Her

61
00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,360
Speaker 2: family put out a message they extend a heartfelt thank

62
00:04:03,440 --> 00:04:07,240
Speaker 2: you to all who lovingly touched Mom's life during her

63
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 2: incredible earthly journey.

64
00:04:09,360 --> 00:04:11,280
Speaker 1: So yeah, she was ninety three years old. Slick of

65
00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:15,360
Speaker 1: course passed away back in twenty twenty one. And it is,

66
00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:21,960
Speaker 1: like I said, it is so weird because my I

67
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:23,800
Speaker 1: wrote this to my daughter in her journal not that

68
00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,200
Speaker 1: long ago. It is weird things that in the moment

69
00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,760
Speaker 1: don't seem significant when you're younger, but as you get

70
00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:33,240
Speaker 1: older they take on a bigger role. And for me,

71
00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:39,039
Speaker 1: the radio station in Brownsburg used to run the Pacers games.

72
00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,720
Speaker 1: Like that's how weird it is, like that was thirty

73
00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,560
Speaker 1: years ago, right, There wasn't this mad dash to have

74
00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,839
Speaker 1: the Pacers on the radio like there is today. They're

75
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,400
Speaker 1: just even not that long ago. The NBA has certainly

76
00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,039
Speaker 1: massively elevated its financial standing in media rights and etc.

77
00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,800
Speaker 1: But I remember as a kid the Brownsburg radio station

78
00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:05,039
Speaker 1: the Pacers games, and I can remember playing countless This

79
00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:07,480
Speaker 1: was the Reggie Miller Rick Smith's like the you know,

80
00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,680
Speaker 1: the the heyday of the nineties Pacers, and I can

81
00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:16,120
Speaker 1: remember so many games, so many times, Saturday afternoon games whatever,

82
00:05:16,760 --> 00:05:22,159
Speaker 1: playing basketball in my driveway with Mark Boyle and Slicklinard

83
00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,920
Speaker 1: in the background, or being up in my room having

84
00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,400
Speaker 1: my window open and Mark Boyle and Slick Leonard in

85
00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:30,919
Speaker 1: the background, and it's like, you don't even process at

86
00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,440
Speaker 1: the time. Hey, thirty years from now, that's going to

87
00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:37,200
Speaker 1: mean everything to you. And so the Leonards were such

88
00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: a huge part of my life, even though I never

89
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:39,560
Speaker 1: knew either.

90
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,480
Speaker 2: One of them. She was able to see Game six

91
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,080
Speaker 2: of the NBA Finals at Gambridge field House and she said,

92
00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,240
Speaker 2: it's been a little tense, but how can you not

93
00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:48,160
Speaker 2: be excited