On this day in 1970: Dan Issel’s ABA debut — 15 points against Mel Daniels’ Pacers

Fifty-six years ago tonight, a Kentucky All-American walked into the Indiana State Fair Coliseum as a Kentucky Colonel and left with a hard first lesson in ABA basketball. On October 15, 1970, Dan Issel made his professional debut against Mel Daniels and the Indiana Pacers. He played 38 minutes, scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and handed out five assists. Indiana still rolled to a 127-95 win — still one of the franchise’s biggest opening-night margins. NBA.com’s “This Date in the NBA” archive lists the night as Issel’s ABA debut. The Basketball-Reference box score fills in what the line alone cannot: a future Hall of Famer learning the league against another one.

Issel had just left the University of Kentucky, where he starred under Adolph Rupp. The Detroit Pistons took him in the eighth round of the 1970 NBA Draft. The Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association made him a first-round pick and signed him. That choice put him in red, white and blue for six seasons before the merger carried him into the NBA with Denver — the franchise that would eventually retire his number and hang his jersey in the rafters.

The debut box

Issel’s first professional line was solid without being loud: 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, four fouls and six turnovers in 38 minutes. Around him, the Colonels could not slow Indiana. Louie Dampier led Kentucky with 18 points. Cincy Powell had 11 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Goose Ligon added 10. It was nowhere near enough.

Daniels delivered the crash course. The Pacers center finished with 31 points and 17 rebounds on 14-of-21 shooting. Roger Brown added 22 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Freddie Lewis scored 16. Bill Keller had 14. All five Indiana starters reached double figures, and Rick Mount came off the bench for 10 in 21 minutes. Attendance was listed at 8,570. The Pacers opened 1-0. The Colonels fell to 0-1.

• Result: Pacers 127, Colonels 95 — October 15, 1970, Indiana State Fair Coliseum.
• Issel: 15 points (6-of-14 FG, 3-of-4 FT), 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 38 minutes.
• Colonels leaders: Louie Dampier 18; Cincy Powell 11 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists; Goose Ligon 10.
• Pacers leaders: Mel Daniels 31 points, 17 rebounds; Roger Brown 22 points, 8 assists; Freddie Lewis 16.
• Path: Kentucky college star; Colonels first-round ABA pick; Detroit eighth-round NBA pick in 1970 — signed with Kentucky.

From a rough opener to Rookie of the Year

The 15-point night did not define the season. Across 83 games as a rookie, Issel averaged 29.9 points and 13.2 rebounds in 39.4 minutes and led the entire ABA in scoring. He shared ABA Rookie of the Year with Charlie Scott of the Virginia Squires, made the All-Star team and finished fourth in MVP voting. A year later he averaged 30.6 points. Over five seasons in Kentucky he put up 26.2 points and 10.8 rebounds a night and helped the Colonels win the 1975 ABA championship.

His career stretched 15 seasons and 1,218 games across the ABA and NBA: Kentucky, then Denver after a brief stop that landed him with the Nuggets. The combined averages were 22.6 points and 9.1 rebounds. He made seven All-Star teams, earned five All-ABA selections, won All-Star Game MVP in 1972 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. The ABA later put him on its All-Time Team — the same league that introduced him with a 32-point loss on opening night.

An October 15 stacked with debuts

Issel’s first night sits on a crowded calendar. Five years earlier, Rick Barry debuted for San Francisco. In 1966, Bill Russell opened as the NBA’s first Black player-coach, Matt Guokas Jr. became part of the league’s first father-son pair, Dave Bing debuted scoreless in Cincinnati and the Chicago Bulls won their first franchise game. A year after Issel, Julius Erving made his ABA debut for the Virginia Squires. WhyNBA has covered those angles separately in Features & History. Issel’s story from Indianapolis is the one that starts with a 32-point loss and ends with a scoring title, a championship ring and a Hall of Fame plaque.

Fifty-six years later, the box score still shows Indiana’s blowout. The career that followed is why the date matters. Fifteen points against Mel Daniels was not a verdict. It was the first night of Dan Issel’s long climb through the ABA and into NBA lore in Denver.