An All-Star History of the Indiana Pacers
By Jon Washburn
1985-1990: The Stansbury Years
In 1985 and 1986, a slight, mediocre bench player named Terrence Stansbury nearly upset some of the greatest dunkers that have ever lived with one of the more iconic dunks in Dunk Contest history: The Statue of Liberty. In back-to-back seasons, Stansbury finished third to guys named “Air,” “The Human Highlight Film,” and “Spud.”
Indiana fans hadn’t had much to cheer for since the ABA folded. Stansbury would help hold them over for a few years.
Then, after a depressingly long 12-year hiatus of Pacers’ players making the All-Star Game, a young Reggie Miller broke drought by in 1990. Reggie only scored 4 points in 14 minutes of action, but he did reach the semi-finals of the 3-point shootout in 1989 and then narrowly lost to the immortal Craig Hodges in the finals of the 1990 contest.
Unfortunately, Reggie was never really a “stand-still set shooting” type, and this would be the closest he ever came to winning the event.
Next: On the Outside