Dick Tinkham obit

Founding father of Indiana Pacers and American Basketball Association, Dick Tinkham, dies

He was not on the list.

Dick Tinkham sat across from Reggie Harding, a steely glare on his face. He handed the 25-year-old Indiana Pacers’ prospect a napkin and an ink pen.

“Write down what you think you’re worth for the rest of the season and the playoffs,” Tinkham told Harding. It was 1967, the middle of the first season for the Pacers in the American Basketball Association. The team needed Harding, a 7-foot center.

Harding looked at Tinkham like he was crazy. “Are you sure about this?” he asked the Pacers owner, taking his time settling on a figure.

“I was getting panicked,” Tinkham said years later, “so I divided the number of regular season games left with 21 playoff games and it came out to $220 a game. I handed (a napkin) to him expecting immediate rejection and laughter but then he extended his hand and nearly broke mine in his paralyzing grip and said, ‘You are my kind of guy.’”

Harding finished out that first season for the Pacers averaging 13.4 points and 13.4 rebounds in 25 games.

Tinkham had brokered a steal.

"Dick was a shrewd negotiator," said Bob Netolicky, who played for the Pacers from 1967 to 1976, minus a brief stint in San Antonio and Dallas. "He made some moves you couldn't do in today’s world and he made things happen. He did it by hook or crook."

Tinkham, who co-founded the ABA and the Pacers franchise in 1967, died Sunday after a battle with advanced muscular distrophy. He was 86. A service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at 2nd Presbyterian Church, 7700 N. Meridian St. Visitation begins at 1 p.m.

A lawyer by trade and one of the first owners of the Pacers, Tinkham devoted himself to keeping the often struggling ABA — and, in turn, the Pacers — afloat. In the early 1970s, he was a key player in the creation of Market Square Arena. 

"Let’s face it. It was guys like Dick, that were willing to stay in there and get involved in something that nobody thought would ever work, that made the game," said Bobby "Slick" Leonard, who coached the Pacers from 1968 to 1980. "Nobody thought that old red, white and blue ball and 3-point line would ever work and you know what? It did."

One of Tinkham's most impressive accomplishments as owner, when it came to players, was securing George McGinnis for the team, said Leonard.

McGinnis, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, led the Pacers to repeat ABA championship titles in 1972 and 1973. His personal best season came the following year when he almost averaged a triple-double in the playoffs (32.3 points, 15.9 rebounds, and 8.2 assists in 18 games). The Pacers lost in the ABA Finals to the Kentucky Colonels.

"Dick was a guy who really cared about the franchise. He wanted the Pacers to have the best of everything," said Leonard. "I can’t remember a decision that was made without Tinkham involved."

As a co-founder of the ABA, Tinkham’s impact is still being felt today in the NBA, said Bob Costas, who called radio play-by-play for the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis.

“The ABA had a real impact on pro basketball history — the wide open style, the 3-point shot, even the slam dunk contest,” said Costas. “The league wasn’t like some shot in the dark thing that didn’t produce very much. It had a significant history in and of itself.”

Of all the ABA teams, there is no question, the one Tinkham co-founded was the cream of the crop, he said.

“The team that had the best history was, undoubtedly, the Pacers,” said Costas. The Pacers won three of the leagues's nine championships before the ABA folded in 1976.

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The Tinkham-led Pacers were a reliable big brother to other ABA teams.

“The Pacers were a stable franchise in an unstable league,” Costas said. “The Pacers and their ownership and the quality of their franchise was one of the things that held the league together.”

But it wasn't always easy for the Pacers. Tinkham was there for the tough times, times when the future of the franchise was uncertain.

“The defining moment was one in which we understood we had to win to stay in business,” Tinkham told IndyStar last year. “Because there were other owners in the league who had a lot more money than we had who weren’t winning and they were folding. The box office was not giving them enough money to operate on.”

The Pacers on Monday called Tinkham a "founding father" and a "guiding light" in both the ABA and Pacers organization.

"He was instrumental in pulling together the initial ownership group and worked tirelessly behind the scenes in overcoming many obstacles to ensure the Pacers would remain a viable franchise," the Pacers said in a statement, "and eventually forever transform the Indianapolis sports landscape by moving into Market Square Arena and the National Basketball Association.

A graduate of DePauw University, Tinkham is a member of the school's hall of fame. He was co-captain of the varsity basketball team his senior year and ran track. He was a state champion in the quarter mile, half mile and mile relay.

After graduation from DePauw, Tinkham earned his law degree at the University of Michigan in 1957 and served on active duty with the United States Marine Corps. In the Marines, he achieved the rank of captain and conducted more than 100 trials as general courts-martial counsel.

Former Pacers' owner Dick Tinkham is credited with keeping the Pacers and ABA afloat when times got tough.

Former Pacers' owner Dick Tinkham is credited with keeping the Pacers and ABA afloat when times got tough.

He came to Indianapolis and started a successful law firm where he ultimately worked in mergers and acquisitions.

It served him well when, in 1976, he chaired the NBA-ABA merger that saw the Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets join the NBA.

Netolicky was still in contact with Tinkham up until his death. Tinkham always wanted to talk about the book they had written together, "We Changed the Game," that tells the tale of the ABA and its lasting impact.

"He was really thrilled he got to tell his stories," said Netolicky. "He was sharp as a tack even in the condition he was in."

Netolicky said Indianapolis wouldn't be the city it is today without Tinkham.

"The ABA would have folded, the Pacers would have folded," said Netolicky. "Had the Pacers folded, there would be no Downtown, no Colts, no anything. People owe that man a lot."