Mel Daniels

Melvin Joe Daniels, known as Mel Daniels, was an American professional basketball player born on July 20, 1944 who died on October 30, 2015. He played in the American Basketball Association for the Minnesota Muskies, the Indiana Pacers and the Memphis Sounds, and in the National Basketball Association for the New York Nets. He is regarded as one of the greatest players in ABA history: he was a two-time ABA Most Valuable Player, a three-time ABA champion and a seven-time ABA All-Star, and he is the all-time ABA rebounding leader. In 1997 he was a unanimous selection to the ABA All-Time Team, and in 2012 he was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, recognition of a career spent largely in the league that rivaled the NBA before the two merged.