Doyel: Herb Simon, 'a reluctant receiver of attention,' is on a HOF and NBA Finals roll
Pacers owner Herb Simon is quiet, unassuming to the point of shyness, a charismatic personality trait in anyone, much less one of the richest men in America. But when he does talk, he tends to veer toward a topic that makes him comfortable. He talks about time:
How long he's owned the Indiana Pacers (more than 42 years), and how much time he and his brother Mel needed to purchase the franchise back in 1983 (less than an hour).
How many years Reggie Miller played for the Pacers (18), and Tamika Catchings played for the Indiana Fever (16). How long Donnie Walsh (22 years), Larry Bird (21) and Rick Fuson (40) worked at his side. And now, in the present tense, the tenures of his two presidents, Kevin Pritchard of the Pacers (14 years with the franchise) and Mel Raines of Pacers Sports & Entertainment (11 years).
How old he is becoming.
How many years he has waited for this trip to the 2025 NBA Finals.
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It's a wonderful time to be Herb Simon, a victorious run that began 18 months ago when the Pacers reached the final of the In-Season Tournament on Dec. 9, 2023, and continued the next day when the Indiana Fever, the WNBA franchise he'd been urged to shutter over the years, won the 2024 WNBA Draft lottery and the right to select Iowa's Caitlin Clark. The Fever made it official on April 16, which was 10 days after Simon was announced as a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame's class of 2024 – and five days before the Pacers embarked on their unexpected postseason run to the 2024 NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
In October, joined on stage in Springfield, Mass., by Bird, Miller and Catchings, Simon was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ten days later he presided over the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.
That was Oct. 23, 2024. Also his 90th birthday.
Catch Simon at an emotionally vulnerable time – and he doesn't show much, this guy – and he'll note that time isn't necessarily working in his favor these days. His brother, Mel, died in 2009 at age 82. The other landscape-changing professional sports owner our city has been blessed to have, Jim Irsay, died last month at age 65, though Simon didn't know that when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Oct. 13.
What he did know that day, what he did say on Oct. 13, was this – and this was at the beginning of his acceptance speech:
'One of the things I realize is I'm still excited for the start of the season,' Simon told the Naismith crowd, then looked up from his prepared notes to wave his hands, trying to make people understand.
'After 41 years I'm still as excited as ever,' he said. 'In fact in just 10 days from now, our 42nd Pacers season will open – and on that day I turn 90.'
Simon pauses. Here it comes.
'I'm glad you didn't wait longer to give me this award,' he said 'I mean…'
Now everyone's laughing, and on Oct. 13 it was a cute start to an emotional speech where he appreciated Reggie and Tamika for their loyalty – "You honor me," he told them – and showered love on his city and state, and remembered his brother Mel Simon. People giggled, but there was truth behind that jest.
I'm glad you didn't wait longer to give me this award. I mean…
Think about the honesty behind that comment, and you will understand why people around this franchise, and around this town, are so thrilled about the Indiana Pacers' magical run to the 2025 NBA Finals. They are happy for the Pacers, yes. For the city, yes. Most of all, though, you get the feeling they are happiest for Herb Simon.
Herb is 90 and still going strong. Herb is 90, and here to see it.
Herb doesn't show much, he rarely does, but this is what joy looks like.
Doyel last year: Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon quietly goes in Naismith Hall of Fame
They had to talk Herb Simon into going onto the Gainbridge Fieldhouse floor after the Pacers beat the Knicks to win the Eastern Conference finals. Who's they? Oh, everyone. Front office, family, Reggie Miller, the NBA. People who know Herb Simon – and know he's humble, wanting nothing to do with the limelight.
'A reluctant receiver of attention,' says his son, Stephen Simon, who is next in line to run the family's basketball business.
But there was Herb on the floor with his wife, his children, his two presidents and all those players. And he was out there with Reggie Miller, working the game for TNT and chosen as the one to hand Herb the Bob Cousy Trophy as Eastern Conference champions. Simon remarked that it was heavy, then passed it off to veteran center Myles Turner.
Was it heavy? Yeah, but that wasn't it.
'He didn't want to get out there and accept that trophy from Reggie,' Stephen says, 'but his joy in lifting that thing up and basking in it – he gives us these moments of his glee. He hugged Reggie, brought the whole family over and gave everybody a hug. That spoke to his joy in the moment.'
He doesn't show much, Herb Simon, and he doesn't show his face much either. We've had a visible sports owner in this city – rest in peace, Jim Irsay – and we've had Simon, who doesn't know from social media and makes public appearances only to watch games from his seat in the corner, several rows from the floor. You've seen Mark Cuban and Steve Balmer courtside?
That's not Herb's way.
Put it like this:
He's never stepped foot in the Pacers' locker room. Not in 42 years as owner of the Indiana Pacers. Not as far as Stephen or anyone associated with the team can recall. And understand, this isn't Herb being aloof. This is Herb getting out of the way, leading from behind, conducting the Pacers as he and his brother conducted the real estate business that made them wealthy.
'I would say Herb is super-proud of the longevity of his leadership,' says Raines, now Chief Operating Officer of PS&E. 'Herb places an incredible amount of trust in his leaders to do their jobs, and does not micromanage.'
Says Stephen Simon:
'There are different ways to do it, obviously, and there are owners who are embedded with the team,' Stephen says. 'And there are people like Herb who want to let the players have their environment.'
I asked two Pacers this week for their thoughts on Herb getting this moment.
'I've never met him,' said one, smiling widely, meaning no disrespect.
'I saw him on the court (after the Knicks game),' said another. 'First time I'd seen him come around like that. He looked happy.'
He doesn't show us much, Herb Simon.
But he's given us his heart, and more. He's given us Downtown Indianapolis.
It was 42 years ago.
'How we got involved with the Pacers in 1983 is a story that is hard to believe,' Simon said during his Naismith HOF acceptance speech, 'and probably couldn't happen today.'
The Pacers, kings of the ABA, had become NBA peasants under the neglectful eye of California businessmen Sam Nassi and Frank Mariani. Average attendance had dropped from more than 10,000 in 1979 to 4,800 in April 1983 when owners announced the franchise was for sale. Nassi and Mariani were eyeing two potential ownership groups in California, one featuring Angels slugger Reggie Jackson, when Jim Morris – the quintessential connector of all things Indianapolis – set up a meeting between two groups: Mayor Bill Hudnut and civic leaders including Dave Frick and Ted Boehm … and Mel Simon, then 55, and his younger brother Herb, 48.
By then, five other local ownership groups had turned down overtures from Hudnut and Co. The Simons didn't know that. They just knew what Hudnut told them, that a potential buyer was lined up to purchase the team and move it out of Indiana.
'It would be hard to imagine the state of Indiana, where basketball was perfected, for (the Pacers) to be gone,' Herb says. 'It would be tragic.
'We were honored. The mayor and civic leaders came to see us about buying the team and keeping it in the city. The meeting was 20 or 30 minutes. At the end of it, we owned the team. It's incredible. I wouldn't recommend buying a team this way, or anything. I wouldn't recommend buying a stove this way.'
All these years later, look at Downtown Indianapolis then and now. Since the Simons purchased the Pacers for the sole purpose of keeping the team in town – in those days, making a profit as an NBA owner, especially in a market of this size, was almost impossible – Downtown has added:
The Colts. The NCAA. The Fever. The Indy Eleven. Ten more NCAA basketball Final Fours (seven men, three women). Two NBA All-Star Games. A Super Bowl. A handful of luxury hotels. The expanded Indiana Convention Center, from the modest facility it was in 1972 to the gigantic monolith it is today that attracts international conventions and the NFL scouting combine.
'Without Herb Simon,' says Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, 'I don't believe the Pacers would be in Indiana any longer. And then what else would we have missed? Think about it. The Colts, the NCAA … the list just goes on and on.'
As Simon's tenure as owner grows longer – in an industry where NBA teams are now printing money, with owners in Dallas, Phoenix, Boston and Charlotte selling for billions since 2023 – he's the longest-running owner in the NBA. As Hogsett would say, think about that.
'I'm so thrilled Herb is here to watch this marvelous NBA Finals run,' says Nancy Leonard, widow of Hall of Famer and former ABA Pacers coach Bobby Leonard. 'He has been a dream owner, most respected amongst all the NBA team owners. Herb has turned the franchise over to our basketball people, and then stepped aside to give not only his financial support, but his moral support. And the team and coaches love him.
'Kudos for both Mel and Herb, plus Stevie for their faith and love of Indiana and our fan base. We are indebted to all three!'
The Pacers have struggled along the way. Show me a small-market city like ours that doesn't struggle in the NBA. The deck is stacked against places like Indianapolis and Oklahoma City, cities that superstars leave on their way to Someplace Bigger. It requires skill (or luck) in the NBA Draft, and years of brilliant front office work to reach the NBA Finals.
And in the Pacers' case, it meant refusing to tank. The 76ers tanked for years. The Wizards are doing it now. What have those teams learned how to do, along the way?
Lose.
Simon refused to tank. No idea if Bird or Pritchard ever broached the topic in the last 20 years, but I do know this: Simon would've said no.
'I don't want to see it,' Simon said a few years ago, when the Pacers were still trying to climb out of the hole created by Paul George's broken leg in 2014 and eventual departure in 2017. 'And if I don't want to see it, the fans don't want to see it. Why would we want to go through a rebuild when we can build on the go? That's the talent. Donnie did it all the time. Larry did it. Kevin (Pritchard) will do it. We can do it.'
While insisting that Bird and Pritchard find a way to win – just do it – Simon's loyalty to the city has grown deeper. In 2019 Simon and the Pacers entered into an unprecedented 25-year commitment to the city. Did the city offer hundreds of millions in incentives to encourage the Pacers to stay? Of course. Having an NBA franchise is much bigger than sports. Did you miss that part about the Colts, NCAA, Fever, hotels, conventions, etc.?
But the Pacers – Herb Simon – also committed more than $100 million in cash and the construction of the Ascension St. Vincent Center, the team's practice facility across the street from Gainbridge Fieldhouse. And then Herb Simon signed a contract weighed down by penalties that make it almost impossible to break the lease early. Not that Herb has any plan for that.
'Herb's never seen the Pacers as an investment,' Stephen says. 'You have to have a return, and all that? He's never thought of it that way. He owns the team because he loves it. He knows how important it is to the city. It's been in the family forever, and the intention is to keep it in the family, and in the city.'
And the goal, right now, is to get that NBA title. The Pacers won those three ABA titles in the early 1970s, but that was a decade before Herb and Mel Simon stepped into the breach to keep the team here. The Pacers reached the 2000 NBA Finals, but lost in six games to Shaq, Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Pacers in 2000 NBA Finals: 25 years later, Pacers back in NBA Finals: 'It's almost a replay of the way it felt in 2000'
Here we are, with the 2025 NBA Finals shifting Wednesday to Indianapolis for Game 3. The series is tied at 1-1 after the Pacers swiped home-court advantage from the Thunder by winning Game 1 in Oklahoma City. These are the times when Herb, who doesn't show much, lets his guard down.
Says his COO, Mel Raines: 'I talk to him several times a day. He's a FaceTime person – he likes to look at you when he talks to you – and I see the smile on his face. To call him after a couple of those really special away games, to FaceTime him right after Game 1 in New York, you can see: This has been just pure joy for him.'
Says his mayor, Joe Hogsett: 'Herb Simon loves Indianapolis. He loves his family first and foremost, but his second love is basketball and his third love is the city of Indianapolis. All three of those things coming together are the reason we're celebrating the NBA finals in Indianapolis. It's a love story. It really is a modern-day love story.'
Says his son, Stephen: 'Everyone's thrilled for Herbie.'
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar. Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
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