INDIANAPOLIS – Former ABA and NBA forward Darnell Hillman proudly donned a fresh 2025 NBA Finals cap and a vintage long-sleeve shirt, both with the Indiana Pacers’ logo. Known as “Dr. Dunk,” he is a proud member of two of the Pacers’ three American Basketball Association championship teams (1972 and 1973). Hillman also has no problem showing off his championship rings as a reminder of when the Pacers last won a title.
“When I used to work with the Pacers a couple years ago, I spent a lot of time down in the locker room and stuff. But these guys all approach you saying, ‘Man, you’re old school,’ ” said Hillman at his hangout, Binkley’s Kitchen & Bar. “So, I told them, ‘If you win some of these rings you can kick me out of here. But until you’ve got one on your finger you need to be listening. This franchise is about tradition and you are always going to be compared to those that were on the first championship team until you can get two or three in a row. …’
“They’ll get a chance to put us out to pasture. You can retire the ABA. You don’t have to worry about it because you finally got a championship. But until then, these fans are always going to compare us to them. The older fans are always going to compare the NBA guys now to us.”
The Pacers are hosting their first NBA Finals game tonight (ABC, 8:30 p.m., ET) since June 14, 2000, when they played the Los Angeles Lakers. Indiana is tied 1-1 with the Oklahoma City Thunder entering Game 3 of the best-of-seven series. The Pacers have not won a title since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. Indiana, however, won ABA titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973.
Hillman, who was listed at 6-foot-9 and 215 pounds, was a key defensive player and high-flying dunker on the Pacers’ title teams of 1972 and 1973. He said those Pacers teams had a brotherly bond on and off the court. The 75-year-old lives in Indianapolis, still keeps in touch with former Pacers teammates and misses those who have died.
“I miss Roger Brown, Melvin Daniels and George McGinnis quite a bit,” Hillman said. “When we traveled on the road, Roger was my roommate. He was also the team spokesman. Mel was a mentor to me, teaching me how to play the pivot against the guy that outweighed me by 40, 50 pounds because I’d have to match up against the Artis Gilmores and guys like that.”
Marc J. Spears
Hillman grew up in San Francisco and Sacramento before taking his basketball and high-jumping talent to San Jose State’s men’s basketball and track teams in 1967. After playing a season on the freshman men’s basketball team, Hillman averaged 15.3 points and 14.2 rebounds during the 1968-69 season to earn All-West Coast Athletic Conference first-team honors. The Spartans were 16-8 with Hillman and future NBA player Coby Dietrick and came just shy of making the National Invitational Tournament.
Those Spartans upset No. 2-ranked Santa Clara 73-69 in double overtime in Spartan Gym on Feb. 21, 1969. The game was broadcast globally on Armed Forces Radio. Then-San Jose Mercury News writer Wes Mathis described that game as “the greatest victory in San Jose State’s athletic history.”
Hillman said former U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor winner Carlos Ogden Sr. was overheard by “some alumni” from San Jose State that night saying he was going to get Hillman drafted into the military to keep him from playing against Santa Clara again. Ogden was the father of then-Santa Clara star forwards Bud and Ralph Ogden, who both later played in the NBA.
Hillman said he didn’t think it was a coincidence that he was drafted into the Army in 1969 during the Vietnam War and didn’t play at San Jose State again. San Jose State would later retire Hillman’s No. 45 jersey in 2012.
“The father of the Ogden brothers pointed right at me and said, ‘My sons aren’t going to play against him again,’ ” Hillman said. “He was the head of the California Draft Court. [Media] claim the story is that I dropped out of school to go join the Army. No, they took me out of school. …
“I went in front of the draft board declaring hardship. I was the only male in the family and they allow you to keep the legacy and the name going. You go into this room with three guys and give them your story. They send you out the room for two, three minutes. I wasn’t out the room 30 seconds. They called me back in and they pointed at me, ‘Your report on your due date is on the paper.’ ’’
Hillman spent two years in the Army from 1969-1971 but never served in the Vietnam War. His saving grace from going to Vietnam was playing on the Armed Forces All-Stars men’s basketball team for two years that won two AAU titles. One of his teammates was legendary former Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. Hillman also played on the United States’ 1970 FIBA World Championship team with late Naismith Hall of Famer Bill Walton.
Hillman recalled a dark message his All-Army basketball coach Hal Fischer gave the 60 players trying out for the team at the Army facility at The Presidio in San Francisco that also housed Vietnam War veterans who had limbs amputated and other life-threatening wounds.
“So, it was a rehab center and we had to practice in the same gym near them,” Hillman said. “You see all the people. Coach had us up in the stands and said, ‘I’m getting ready to put you guys out here to tryout. Those of you that don’t make this team, look down there at the end of that building. Some of you, you’re going to wind up like that.
‘You go back to your duty station, you go back to Vietnam, you either come back in a body bag or you may come back with lost limbs. Get out here and play for basketball.’ Wow. That’s a hell of a motivator there.”
Hillman was released from his Army duties after two years, allowing him to play basketball professionally. He was selected by the Pacers as part of a preliminary three-round draft conducted before the ABA All-Star Game in January of 1971.
He said he learned of that news from Krzyzewski.
“Coach K used to follow me in warm-ups. I once held his first born in the palm of my hand,” Hillman said. “So, one day we’re all on this bus talking and laughing. So, he was reading the paper and he yells, ‘Hey Darn, you’ve been drafted.’ I said, ‘Man, the Army can’t draft me again. I’m already sitting here doing time for the man.’ Everybody fell out laughing. I was not aware of the American Basketball Association.”
Hillman was also selected by the Golden State Warriors with the eighth overall pick in the 1971 NBA draft. After visiting the Pacers and getting a lucrative contract offer for a rookie, Hillman and his advisor met with his hometown Warriors hoping to get a match. After the Warriors appeared hesitant, Hillman left for Indiana.
“The Warriors were concerned about me getting more money than [starting center] Nate Thurmond,” Hillman said. “What’s Nate Thurmand have to do with me? Nate’s been in the league 11 years. He’s got all of his money deferred. He’s only coming in on $60,000 [a season]. I’m just now getting in. So, they said ‘Give us 24 hours.’ Thirty-six hours later without hearing from them, I called my advisor and said, ‘Man, let’s get on the plane.’
“Smartest thing I ever did because it got me back-to-back championships. I was coached by a Hall of Famer [Bob “Slick” Leonard] and played with three Hall of Famers [Daniels, Brown and McGinnis]. And we had Freddie Lewis, Billy Keller, Bob Netolicky. We had a strong team. The ABA Indiana Pacers won three championships.”
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Hillman played for the Pacers from 1971-77, averaging 10.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals. He was known for his stellar defense and dunking ability. He also played for the Warriors, New Jersey Nets, Denver Nuggets and Kansas City Kings.
Hillman says Indiana is the nation’s basketball hotbed. While Gainbridge Fieldhouse is rocking for the Pacers now, Hillman said there is nothing like playing basketball in the old Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
“If you don’t know anything about this place, Indiana’s motto is, ‘It’s basketball in 49 states. This is Indiana. We live basketball,’ ” Hillman said. “My first time coming here, every other driveway had a hoop up. I don’t care which street you went down. People are basketball crazy. And then we played at the Fairgrounds Coliseum; it was packed every night.”
While his hair is short now and his playing days are long over, Hillman is still well-known throughout Indiana for his afro and dunking ability.
Inspired by political activist Angela Davis, Hillman grew an afro as tall as possible after leaving the Army. He had to keep his hair short in the Army and vowed at that time he would never cut it again. Hillman took care of his afro thanks to help from his beautician wife and picking it out numerous times a day. Hillman, however, said coach Leonard threatened to fine him $300 if he didn’t trim his afro down after he grew it out.
After Hillman gave in and chopped his afro, he said Leonard scolded him for cutting it all off and decided to allow him to keep his signature hair on a high level. Hillman was given the “Best Afro” award at the 1997 ABA Reunion over the likes of Julius “Dr. J.” Erving.
“So, I go back to the barber that night to have him to take it all off,” Hillman said. “Coming to practice the next day, coach was like, ‘What are you doing? I didn’t want you to take it all off. I just wanted you to get it cut down.’ I said, ‘I comb my head nine times a day. When I run down the floor, the air flows through it and pushes my hair back. …’ So, after he left me alone I got an afro-plus.”
Hillman also was a renowned high jumper at San Jose State, once clearing 6-11¾ on a jump. He said he was known for getting the attention of young campers at basketball camps by jumping up, kicking the backboard and landing on both feet. He said he could jump high enough that his sternum was as high as the rim and famously could grab money off the top backboard.
Hillman also was given the nickname “Dr. Dunk” in a story written by a New York sports reporter after showing off his dunking skills during a Pacers’ road game against famed dunker Julius Erving in New York. Hillman said his most notable in-game dunk was on Hall of Fame center Artis Gilmore during their ABA days.
When once asked by a reporter if he could grab a quarter off the top of the backboard, Hillman responded by saying “Put a $100 bill up there and see.” The reporter declined.
“Coach [Leonard] started the story that if you put a quarter on top of the backboard, I’d jump up and leave two dimes and a nickel,” Hillman said with a smile.
After the NBA and ABA merged in 1976, Hillman won the NBA’s first slam dunk contest during a season-long competition during the 1976-77 campaign.
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NBA players from each team battled in a head-to-head elimination rounds during the season. On April 14, 1977, the Pacers traded Hillman and a 1977 first-round draft pick (that pick became future Hall of Famer Bernard King) to the Nets for John Williamson. Despite being a Net, Hillman said he was still representing the Pacers in the dunk contest with each of his former teammates winning $300 with each round he won. Hillman said Erving didn’t participate in that dunk contest after his agent was denied guaranteed money for his client by the NBA for taking part.
Hillman defeated then-Milwaukee Bucks star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the semifinals of the 1977 NBA slam dunk competition during All-Star Weekend in Milwaukee. Hillman said he won $15,000 after defeating the Warriors’ Larry McNeil during the championship round of the Finals. Hillman’s winning dunk contest performance included his signature “Rock the Cradle” jam.
“So, I’m coming up on one this side of the rim, I’ll bring it underneath and rock it back and forth several times, flow back out the other side, spin out and throw it down on my left shoulder. That was my favorite dunk,” Hillman said.
In the dunk contest finals, Hillman wore a plain white basketball jersey with the No. 20 on the back and blue shorts because he didn’t want to wear anything representing the Pacers after they traded him. He also wore a T-shirt during his post-contest interview with the words “Bottle Shoppe” on it — the name of a liquor store in Indianapolis.
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While Hillman played for other teams and enjoyed living in Denver, he cherished his time with the Pacers the most.
Hillman worked as the Pacers’ associate director of camps and clinics and alumni relations before retiring during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. He said he hopes to attend Game 4 of the NBA Finals as part of a group of Pacers greats honored but wasn’t certain if he would get the invite. He hasn’t been on a plane or left the state of Indiana since the coronavirus pandemic. Hillman still wears his 1973 ABA title ring and his 50-year anniversary ring, and he gifted his son his 1972 ABA championship ring.
With his love for the Pacers, their fans, Indianapolis and Indiana in mind, he hopes today’s players and fans experience what it’s like to be a champion. Hillman also is hopeful that through these NBA Finals, the world will become more familiar with the rich NBA and ABA history of the Pacers that dates to their arrival to Indianapolis in 1967.
“I walk down the street and somebody says, ‘Dr. Dunk, is that you?’ ” Hillman said. “I am like, ‘You weren’t even born when I was playing. How do you know me?’ They say, ‘Oh, my dad used to take us to the Coliseum and we knew all you guys.’ So, when I came here, these kids didn’t only play basketball, they knew the history. They go back to when the Pacers first began. They could tell you the stats of the big guys, who their favorites were and everything.
“So, at night when a ball game was on back then during the school year, kids are supposed to be in bed sleep. They got under the covers with a flashlight and the radio on and they are writing down their stats, listening to the game. And their parents would come in and tell them to turn that flashlight off and go to bed. Their parents would say, ‘You know you got to go to school in the morning.’ I’ve heard that story 100 times. These folks here love basketball. They love Indiana.”