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Dave Slipher was working Pacers game before Slick LeonardSlipher has likely seen more Pacers and Fever games than anyoneSeason ticket holder Gloria Inkenbrandt on Dave Slipher: ‘He’s always looking out for us’
INDIANAPOLIS — How remarkably far back Dave Slipher’s career as an Indiana Pacers usher goes can be told from inside the school halls of Carmel High in 1968.
That’s where Bobby “Slick” Leonard, who was coming off a pro basketball playing and coaching career, was selling class rings for Herff Jones.
Slipher, a student at the school, happened to be an usher at the Indiana State Fair Coliseum where he’d had a conversation or two with Leonard, who sat in his section at Pacers games for the team’s inaugural season in 1967.
Needless to say, Slipher was a bit taken aback to see Leonard inside his school and asked Leonard what he was doing there, which led Leonard to ask Slipher, “How would you like to help me out?”
Leonard went to the school office and secured a pass so that Slipher could work for him during his study hall, writing out sales receipts for the rings, yearbooks and trophies Leonard was selling.
During one of those study halls, a school secretary came rushing in to tell Leonard he had an urgent phone call.
“So, he goes to take the phone call. He comes back and he says, ‘Can you keep a secret?'” Slipher said. “And I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘They just fired Larry Staverman, and I’m going to be the new Pacers coach.'”
That’s how far back Slipher’s career as a Pacers usher goes. He was with the team as a high schooler from the very start, from the Pacers’ first ABA game in 1967. He was there before Leonard.
Through nearly six decades of ushering, 51 of those for Pacers Sports & Entertainment, Slipher has watched the ABA Pacers turn into the NBA Pacers. He’s watched the WNBA explode. He’s gone from working inside the Coliseum to Market Square Arena to Conseco Fieldhouse to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to, finally, Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
He’s had more celebrity encounters than he can name. Among his favorites: The iconic entertainer Liberace once asked Slipher to go on tour with him as a novelty salesman. He was in college so had to say no. Pacers star Reggie Miller struck up a friendship with Slipher’s son and even gave him a pair of his All-Star shoes.
But one of Slipher’s favorite memories came in 1983 when the entire Pacers usher staff wore tuxedos (Slipher’s was all white) for the team’s first game after Herb and Mel Simon took over the franchise.
But mostly, the highlight of his career has been the devoted fans who sit in Slipher’s sections. Those people have meant the most to him.
And that is why, 58 years later, Slipher is still around — making him the longest serving usher in Pacers history.
As Slipher, 73, worked a Fever game this month overseeing Section 1-20, he stopped what he was doing when he saw a couple taking photos of one another with the court in the background. “Can I help you?” he asked.
Slipher then offered to take a picture of the two together. He takes a lot of pictures. But every now and then, a longtime fan will see Slipher and ask for a selfie with him.
That floors Slipher. He is no celebrity. Just a guy who fell in love with this wonderful, electric, side gig of ushering as a kid and could not give it up.
“It’s the people, yeah, the people,” Slipher said. “These people have all been my family for 58 years.”
‘My parents taught us the value of the dollar’
Slipher has most likely seen more Pacers and Fever games than anyone. Through the years, he has missed “very few home games.” His 2025 stats: Slipher worked all but one Pacers game and missed only two Fever games.
Being around for the Pacers NBA Finals run, to see the team battling for a championship for the first time in 25 years (when Slipher was 48), was an emotional moment for Slipher.
Seeing the WNBA explode during the Caitlin Clark era has been almost unbelievable. There was a time in Slipher’s life when “I didn’t even imagine women’s basketball would ever be,” he said.
Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, women’s basketball wasn’t really a thing. And, if it was, few people showed up to watch.
“And later on when they started talking about the WNBA, I got kind of excited,” said Slipher, “because I went, ‘Hey, there’s some more events to work.'”
For most of his time as an usher, Slipher had a full-time job as an elementary school teacher in Carmel. Slipher did that for nearly 40 years, both fourth and fifth grades, before he retired in 2012.
Teaching and ushering were in his blood.
Slipher’s mom, Becky, was a longtime first grade teacher in Carmel. His dad, Chuck, was a career machinist on the Monon Railroad, but he also had his own side hustle — being an usher for the city’s biggest events.
Slipher was barely six years old when his father started bringing him to the State Fair Coliseum in 1958. As Chuck worked hockey games, Globetrotters and other events and concerts, Slipher would hang around, and it was absolutely magical.
By the time Slipher was 12, his dad had him helping out with ushering duties. “I was just grandfathered in back in those days,” he says.
But it wasn’t just for sporting events. Chuck also worked at other venues around the city, the Murat Theater, Tindall Armory for boxing and wrestling and many nights at Starlight Musicals. Which meant Slipher did, too.
After doing a fine job of selling popcorn at Starlight, the guy in charge of programs asked Slipher if he’d be interested in selling the programs. At 13, that was a definite yes for Slipher.
“I wanted to have money to be able to do what I wanted to do and not have my parents have to give me money,” he said. “My parents taught us the value of the dollar.”
Of all his jobs as a teen, which also included mowing yards, Slipher’s career as a Pacers usher stuck. Even after he graduated from Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee with a degree in elementary education.
As a young, new teacher in Carmel, on Pacers game nights, Slipher wouldn’t go home after the bell rang. He would head straight to Market Square Arena. He very quickly rose through the ranks.
From 1980 to 2021, Slipher was in charge of all the ushers. Scheduling, placement, assigning supervisors and being there as a friendly, supportive coworker.
“When I was in charge, I treated everybody like a member of my family,” Slipher said. “I did not look at it as me being their boss. I looked at it more as ‘we all work together.'”
‘He has a way about him’
Through all those long 58 years, a lot has changed. Slipher has watched paper ticketing turn to entry with mobile devices. He used to smoke inside the arena as an usher and so did the fans. He’s given that bad habit up long ago and so did the arenas.
Concessions went from popcorn and hotdogs to the current fare at Gainbridge — chef-inspired creations and outside restaurants like Chick-Fil-A, Hot Box Pizza and a shake bar by Steak ‘n Shake.
And there are more rules, more security, Slipher said, but at the heart of it all, the most important part of what he does has not changed.
“Well, the fans are the same,” he said. “They are just here at the arena to cheer for their team.”
And they’re almost always well behaved. Very seldom does Slipher run into many issues as an usher.
“The biggest problem is when I have to — when they’re really wanting to stand in the aisle and they don’t want to move,” he said. “And then I usually go, ‘You see those cameras up there? They’re watching me.’ Blame it on the camera, I do.”
Slipher has a way about him, says usher Pam Ault, who met Slipher at Market Square Arena 26 years ago and was captivated by his jovial persona. “He’s got a great personality, great sense of humor, very friendly, very nice.”
Harley Monroe was hired by Slipher 30 years ago, and has learned a lot from him, traits he tries to emulate as an usher himself. “He’s conscientious and approachable, just a really nice person.”
When Alissa Britigan, senior event services manager for Pacers Sports & Entertainment, took the lead of the usher team in December, Slipher was the first to offer a helping hand.
“Dave made me feel so welcome and was excited to share his wealth of knowledge as I learned about the venue and grew to know the staff,” Britigan said. “It’s been obvious to me from the start that he genuinely cares about the success of this organization. He is incredibly passionate about the fieldhouse and making lasting memories for not only the guests that come through our doors, but his fellow ushers as well.”Â
When Slipher gave up his role in supervising in 2021 to go back to ushering, he was asked what section he’d like to work.
Slipher wanted Section 1-20, which also serves people with disabilities. Slipher has a disability himself. In 2013, doctors found an abscess on his spinal cord. While they were able to take care of the issue, “some of the poison went into my spinal cord,” he said.
“And they told me I’d never walk again.”
Slipher does walk but not like he used to. He doesn’t have full feeling in his legs and says his feet “always feel like I’m walking on foam rubber.”
Still, as he spotted a fan in a wheelchair coming toward his section at the Fever game last month, Slipher made a beeline to her seat and was there before she arrived to welcome her.
“He’s a very kind, sweet man. He does that every game,” said Gloria Inkenbrandt, a season ticket holder. “He makes sure nobody gets in here that’s not supposed to be. He’s always looking out for us.”
That’s all Slipher’s really ever wanted to be known as, a really nice person who looks out for people, who helps all those fans who show up for the game.
“Throughout his many years, he may have experienced changes in venues, teams, technology and leadership,” said Britigan. “But his passion has clearly never faltered.”
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on X: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.