George McGinnis not a Hall of Famer an 'absolute shame'

Most nights Slick Leonard walks into Bankers Life Fieldhouse, he will lift his head up. Five large banners honor the Indiana Pacers' greatest members; four include the sport’s highest distinction: Hall of Fame.

The banner for George McGinnis, one of Leonard’s favorite players, is the only one without it.

Leonard, the 83-year-old legendary coach who led the Pacers to three ABA championships and who is now the Pacers’ radio analyst, becomes sad every time he sees the banner. That emotion was felt yet again Friday afternoon when McGinnis, the only eligible ABA or NBA MVP not in the Hall of Fame, was not named among the 14 finalists for induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year.

“It’s an absolute shame,” Leonard said Wednesday in a telephone interview about the possibility of McGinnis being left out. He added: “It’s just hard for me to believe. I look up there (at the banners) and I see the others: Mel (Daniels), Roger (Brown) and Reggie (Miller). George not being there is just a killer.”

McGinnis, who played 10 seasons between the ABA and NBA, failed to receive at least seven of nine votes necessary from the members of the North American committee to be a finalist. He was passed over for players such as Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Johnson, all of whom retired in the past decade.

The elected members of the 2016 class, along with four chosen by "direct-elect" special committees, will be announced April 4 before the the NCAA men’s Division I championship game in Houston.

McGinnis, in Florida with his wife, did not return phone calls for an interview Friday.

Leonard said he spoke with McGinnis two weeks ago. The topic was the Hall of Fame, and Leonard said McGinnis was aware that he might not be a finalist.

“I told him how I felt about that and he knew that,” Leonard said. “I let him know that he knows that he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame.”

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What is hard for Leonard and others to grasp is how McGinnis is not already an inducted member. McGinnis’ resume is a decorated one. He averaged 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists in his first four seasons with the Pacers in the ABA (he returned for three seasons beginning in 1979-80). He averaged 21.6 points and 11.5 rebounds in three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers and also played for the Denver Nuggets.

McGinnis was a winner, too. He helped the Pacers win three ABA championships and he, along with Hall of Famer Julius Erving, led the 76ers to the NBA Finals in 1977.

McGinnis was also a star at Indiana University (averaging 30.0 points and 14.7 rebounds in 1970-71, his only season with the program), a former IndyStar Mr. Basketball and the leader of the 1969 Washington High School team, widely considered one of the greatest high school basketball teams in Indiana's history.

“George was a great player, a tremendous player,” Steve Downing, who grew up with McGinnis and was his teammate at Washington and Indiana, said in a telephone interview. “No disrespect to people (at the Hall of Fame), but the fact that he’s not been in the conversation to me just makes no sense.”

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McGinnis, along with others, felt his candidacy took a significant hit in December when the Hall of Fame eliminated the ABA direct election process, an option that was created to ensure the ABA’s best players were included. Jerry Colangelo, chairman of the Hall of Fame, said in a statement that the committee had fulfilled its goal of honoring the ABA’s legends after five years. That committed elected Daniels, Brown and Leonard, Indianapolis native Louie Dampier and Artis Gilmore.

“They’ve looked down their nose at the ABA forever,” Leonard said. “I don’t want to hear about the ABA. If they want the best in there, then you have to put the best in there.”

Without the direct induction option, McGinnis said he felt it is a foregone conclusion that he will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“I probably won’t get inducted,” he said in December. “I know and I know the guys I played with know what I did and what I brought to the game. That’s good enough for me.”

Downing, however, does not think those are McGinnis’ true feelings.

“No, no, he wants to go,” Downing said. “I just think that, you know, he’s realizing the fact that it may not be at the time that he wants it to happen. He wants to go very, very much.”

Then Downing changed the topic unprompted and said he thought the Hall of Fame voters do not appreciate McGinnis because he played most of his career in the ABA. Bob Netolicky, McGinnis’ former Pacers teammate, voiced a similar opinion and felt McGinnis’ absence diminishes the legitimacy of the Hall of Fame.

“It just breaks my heart,” Downing said. “For my personal standpoint, I think somebody is holding him back. I think somebody (has) blackballed him for whatever reason. I honesty feel that’s what’s happened to him because (there's) no reason for his name to not to be right there with any of the people you talk about.”

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The veterans' committee, one of four direct-elect categories, appears to be the only logical option for McGinnis to reach the Hall of Fame. McGinnis will be eligible next year, as it is required for a player to be retired for at least 35 years. A screening committee will produce the finalist for the honors committee to elect for enshrinement.

Billy Keller was McGinnis’ teammate for four season in Indiana. He still believes McGinnis will be inducted into the Hall of Fame. But he also thinks the voters will treat McGinnis similar to Leonard and wait many years before awarding the honor.

“It’s a real injustice to George,” Keller said in a telephone interview. “When you look at all the power forwards who played, in the ABA or the NBA, George was one of the best in either league. It really appears to me that they are slighting him because he was an ABA player.”

Leonard said he wishes he knew the members of the screening committee. If he did, Leonard said he would do whatever it takes — providing statistical data, news clippings and testimonies from other Hall of Famers — to get McGinnis recognized.

“I would have given up my position in the Hall of Fame if George would get in,” Leonard said. “I’m hoping I’m around long enough to see that banner with George McGinnis, Hall of Fame, flying in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.”

Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

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