Dan Issel

Dan Issel

No. 44, 25
Center / Power forward
Personal information
Date of birth	October 25, 1948 (1948-10-25) (age 63)
Place of birth	Batavia, Illinois
Nationality	American
High school	Batavia (Illinois)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College	Kentucky
NBA Draft	1970 / Round: 8 / Pick: 122nd overall
Selected by the Detroit Pistons
Pro career	1970–1985
League	ABA and NBA
Career history
As player:
1970–1975	Kentucky Colonels (ABA)
1975–1985	Denver Nuggets (ABA and NBA)
As coach:
1992–1994	Denver Nuggets
1999–2001	Denver Nuggets
Career highlights and awards
ABA Champion (1975) 6× ABA All-Star (1971–1976) NBA All-Star (1977) ABA All-Star Game MVP (1972) ABA Rookie of the Year (1971) All-ABA First Team (1972) 4× All-ABA Second Team (1971, 1973–1974, 1976) J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (1985) Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1970) Consensus NCAA All-American Second Team (1969) ABA All-Time Team #44 Retired by the Denver Nuggets
Career ABA and NBA statistics
Points	27,842 (22.6 ppg)
Rebounds	11,133 (9.1 rpg)
Assists	2,907 (2.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as player

Daniel (Dan) Paul Issel (born October 25, 1948 in Batavia, Illinois) is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player and coach.

Collegiate playing career

A jersey honoring Issel hangs in Rupp Arena

Issel played college basketball at the University of Kentucky under legendary coach Adolph Rupp. Issel was at UK 1966-1970 and scored 2,138 points (an average of 25.7 per game) while being named an All American for two of the three seasons he was eligible for the award. His career points total remains the highest among UK men's players. (Valerie Still, who was eligible for and played four years, surpassed Issel's total with the women's team.)

On February 7, 1970, Issel scored 53 points in a 120-85 victory over Mississippi, breaking Cliff Hagan's single-game Wildcat record of 51. Issel's mark held for almost four decades, finally falling to Jodie Meeks' 54 in a win against University of Tennessee on January 13, 2009.^[1]

Professional playing career

Upon Issel's graduation in 1970 he was drafted by the Detroit Pistons of the NBA and the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association (ABA). Issel signed to play basketball for the Colonels and the ABA.

In his first season, Issel led the ABA in scoring with an average of 29.9 points per game, and pulled down 13.2 rebounds per game. He was named the ABA Rookie of the year in 1971, and was selected to the All-ABA Second Team. The following season, Issel raised his scoring average to 30.6 points per game, made the All-ABA First Team, and was named MVP of the 1972 ABA All-Star Game.

In 1975, Issel won the 1975 ABA championship with the Colonels, who also featured sharp-shooting guard (and fellow ex-Kentucky Wildcat) Louie Dampier, as well as 7'2" center Artis Gilmore. After the Colonels' championship season Issel was sold by the Colonels' owners to the short-lived Baltimore Claws franchise and ended up with the Denver Nuggets for the following season.

Issel remained with the Nuggets following the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976, and he represented Denver in the 1977 NBA All-Star Game. He continued playing through the 1984-1985 season, and received the NBA's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1985 for his outstanding service to the community.

Issel accumulated over 27,000 points in his combined ABA and NBA career. At the time of his retirement the only professional basketball players to have scored more points than Issel were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving. He currently ranks #8 on the all time combined ABA/NBA scoring list.

Coaching career

After his playing career Issel retired to a horse farm in Woodford County, Kentucky. He returned to the Nuggets as head coach in 1992 and led them to the playoffs in 1994. He was part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 1993. The Nuggets had only won 44 games in the previous two years, but Issel led them to their first winning record in four years. That year, the Nuggets pulled off the biggest upset to that date in National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff history, knocking off the Seattle SuperSonics in five games (the first ever 8th seed to beat a 1st seed in the first round). He resigned 34 games into the 1994-95 season after facing criticism for his coaching style, saying he didn't like the person he'd become.

He returned in 1998 as president and general manager, naming himself head coach again in December 1999, yielding his general manager's title to Kiki Vandeweghe. His second tenure was far less successful; the Nuggets did not post a winning season during this time. He was hampered in part by a drawn-out effort to find a new owner; two deals to sell the team collapsed at the last minute. Just before the start of the 1999-2000 season, he told reporters that there were several decisions he simply couldn't make due to the unstable ownership situation.^[2]

His tenure ended on a rather sour note in December 2001. On December 10, after a close loss to the Charlotte Hornets, Issel heard a fan taunting him as he walked off the court at the Pepsi Center. Issel taunted back, "Go drink another beer, you Mexican piece of shit"^[3] The incident was captured on Denver's NBC affiliate, KUSA-TV. Issel was suspended four games by the team. Issel publicly apologized the next day, and on Friday met with Hispanic chamber representatives, who accepted his apology.^[4] However, several members of Denver's Hispanic community thought the suspension was insufficient punishment, and called for him to be fired. Hours before he was due to return, Issel took a leave of absence to decide whether he wanted to return. Issel decided to resign on December 26.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

References

1. ^ Kentucky downs Tennessee behind Meeks' 54 points ESPN. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
2. ^ Nuggets roster moves put on hold. ESPN, 1999-11-11.
3. ^ http://www.westword.com/2001-12-20/news/he-got-blame/1
4. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2001/12/19/issel_apology_ap/

External links

• Dan Issel
• Story about Issel's resignation
• Dan Issel - "Where Are They Now?" @ nbrpa.com
• Dan Issel stats at Basketball-Reference

Preceded by Spencer Haywood	American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year (with Charlie Scott) 1971	Succeeded by Artis Gilmore
Preceded by Mel Daniels	American Basketball Association All Star Game Most Valuable Player 1972	Succeeded by Warren Jabali
Preceded by Paul Westhead	Denver Nuggets head coach 1992–1995	Succeeded by Gene Littles
Preceded by Mike D'Antoni	Denver Nuggets head coach 1999–2001	Succeeded by Mike Evans (interim)

Persondata
Name	Issel, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 25, 1948
Place of birth	Batavia, Illinois
Date of death
Place of death