Hall of Famer Slick Leonard plans to get behind a microphone for the first time in 2018 on Sunday when the Pacers host the Miami Heat to Bankers Life Fieldhouse (5:00 pm).
This was a date Slick had considered and he informed his radio partner, Mark Boyle, of his intentions Saturday afternoon.
“Just spoke to Slick five minutes ago. Tomorrow is now a definite go,” Boyle tweeted. “Very excited to have him back.”
During the first week of 2018, Leonard was alone in his church parking lot. It had snowed and was icy. There to recycle boxes from home, Leonard forgot to put his SUV in park and then slipped as he tried to correct his mistake. He fractured his left hip and the pain has been “monster,” but he has managed it.
“I’ll be back,” Leonard promised me earlier this month when appearing on the Pacers Podcast.
Nancy, his wife of 64 years, drives him to games and Darnell Hillman, a former player for Slick who is the Associate Director of Camps and Alumni Relations, transports him from the parking garage to his broadcast perch on the lower level, via a golf cart.
Slick is in his 32nd year of providing the color commentary on the Pacers Radio Network and has only joined for home broadcasts since 2011 after going into cardiac arrest while with the team in New York. He has been paired with Boyle for 30 years.