Mel Daniels and Bob Netolicky: Best friends to the end

Bob Netolicky began his day Friday with a phone call from his best friend, Mel Daniels. Even though they had chatted the night before about the Indiana Pacers, Daniels wanted to spend more time with Netolicky.

About 12:30 p.m., Netolicky said Daniels asked him the usual questions: “Hey, how are you doing? I’m feeling good. You want to go to lunch?”

They agreed on Lincoln Square Pancake House in Westfield. Netolicky arrived a little after 1 p.m. He ordered coffee, grabbed two menus and told the waiter his former Pacers teammate would join him. Daniels was usually late anyway. After 20 minutes, Netolicky began to wonder where Daniels was. He called Daniels 10 minutes later. No answer. Netolicky ordered soup. He called again, after another five minutes. Still no answer.

“I had this crazy premonition,” Netolicky told the IndyStar in a telephone interview Saturday. “I thought, maybe something is wrong.”

He told the waiter that he would run up to this buddy’s house, make sure he was OK and that they would be right back. It took Netolicky 15 minutes to get from the restaurant to Daniels’ home and farm in Sheridan. A truck Daniels had received from the Pacers about a year ago was running, but motionless.

Netolicky ran to the truck and found Daniels slumped over in the driver’s seat. Netolicky turned off the truck and checked Daniels for a pulse. None. He called 911. Then for 20 minutes, while still on the phone with emergency response, he performed CPR on Daniels. But Netolicky knew the sad reality. His friend, Mel Daniels, had died.

“My heart kind of hit the floor,” Netolicky said. “It was almost like a surreal experience. I couldn’t believe what was really happening. Unfortunately, the worse thought I had was the outcome. It was a very, very rough day.”

Netolicky, 73, declined to speak to reporters Friday after Daniels’ death. On Saturday, just before the Pacers honored Daniels with a moment of silence before their home game, Netolicky reminisced about his teammate. Daniels was 71.

“Even when I was pulling him out of the car and working on him, I was having this (feeling), ‘My gosh,’” Netolicky said. “I was almost glad I was there because we were so close. If anybody had to find him, thank God it was me. I’m fortunate he didn’t get in his truck and was driving down the road. It could have been a lot worse. I guess it was his time.”

As Netolicky followed the ambulance to Riverview Hospital in Noblesville, he called Daniels’ wife, CeCe, who was out shopping. Then former teammate Darnell Hillman, legendary coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard and Pacers consultant Donnie Walsh. He told them all to meet him at the hospital and that Daniels was in bad shape.

The doctors confirmed Netolicky’s fear. The doctors did not tell Netolicky the cause of death. He was pretty sure he knew, though.

“I’m not stupid,” he said. “It had to be a heart attack. It was just inevitable. It was going to happen some day, but I wished it had waited a few years.”

Netolicky had been with Daniels throughout his heart problems for many years. Two weeks ago, Daniels had quadruple bypass heart surgery.

When Hillman, Leonard and Walsh arrived at the hospital, they did not know that Daniels had passed away. Netolicky, along with CeCe, had to tell Daniels’ loved ones the unfortunate news. He said the emotion in the waiting room was disbelief.

When CeCe finally left the hospital, she looked at Netolicky and said two words: “Thank you.”

Netolicky said he thought of many memories from his almost 50-year friendship with Daniels after not getting much sleep Friday night. He first met Daniels when they were in college in the 1960s as opponents, with Netolicky at Drake and Daniels at Burlington Junior College in Iowa. Netolicky said he was thankful God made them teammates in the American Basketball Association.

“Playing against him was a very hard thing to do,” Netolicky said. “He was strong, mean, the toughest guy you would ever see on the court. He had one thing in his mind and that was to win. He wasn’t dirty, but he was what I would call driven.”

As teammates, the Pacers dominated the ABA.

Daniels, with Netolicky with him on the court, led the Pacers to three ABA championships in four years, won the league’s Most Valuable Player award twice and made seven All-Star appearances. The Pacers retired his No. 34 jersey in 1985 and he later earned induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He averaged 19.4 points and 16.0 rebounds during his six seasons with the Pacers.

Netolicky called Daniels a loyal, passionate and honorable man.

He said it was great to see so many people express their love for Daniels, including former teammates, Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and current players on social media.

“I knew it would be like that because I knew how everybody felt about Mel,” Netolicky said. “I noticed the outpouring on Facebook and things like that. The younger generation in this town, I hope they take a good, hard look. They have no idea what kind of player this guy was. Anybody who could have had a chance to play with a guy like this has to consider himself super fortunate. That’s the way I feel. I was the luckiest guy in the world to play play with him.”

Before Saturday’s game, the Pacers showed a video tribute of Daniels. It showed a highlight of him dunking, his retired number in the rafters and a photo of him smiling and holding the ABA’s signature red, white and blue basketball. The public address announcer called Daniels a champion.

The Pacers plan to have a celebration of Daniel’s life during halftime of Wednesday’s game. A public memorial service will be held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Thursday afternoon with more details to be finalized.

Netolicky plans to attend the service. He is not sure whether he will speak about Daniels during the memorial. He still cannot believe his best friend is gone.

“Still, today,” Netolicky said, “I keep thinking he’s going to call me on the phone.”

Call Star reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.