The Indiana Pacers are a professional basketball team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They are members of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Pacers play their home games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, which they share with their WNBA counterpart, the Indiana Fever, also owned by Herb Simon.

The Indiana Pacers began play in 1967 as members of the American Basketball Association (ABA), in which they won three championships and created a dynasty. In 1976, the Pacers moved from the ABA to the NBA. The financial strains from the move led to the ending of the Indiana dynasty and the beginnings of many struggles for the Pacers organization in the subsequent decade. The acquisition of Reggie Miller in 1987 marked the start of a long resurgence for the franchise that peaked with its appearance in the 2000 NBA Finals. The Pacers would miss the 2007 playoffs for the first time since 1997. They returned to the postseason in 2011.

In early 1967, a group of six investors (among them attorney Richard Tinkham, John DeVoe, Chuck DeVoe, sports agent Chuck Barnes and Indianapolis Star sports writer Bob Collins) pooled their resources to purchase a franchise in the proposed American Basketball Association.

Indiana (ⁱ/ɪndiˈænə/) is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 15th most populous of the 50 United States. Indiana is the least extensive state in the continental US west of the Appalachian Mountains. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis, the second largest of any state capital and largest state capital east of the Mississippi River.

Before it became a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Angel Mounds State Historic Site, one of the best preserved ancient earthwork mound sites in the United States, can be found in Southwestern Indiana near Evansville. Residents of Indiana are known as Hoosiers. The etymology of the word is disputed, but the leading theory as advanced by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society has "Hoosier" originating from the upland South region of the U.S. as a derogatory slang term for a rough countryman, a country bumpkin.

Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is a former American NBA basketball player and coach. Drafted into the NBA sixth overall by the Boston Celtics in 1978, Bird started at small forward and power forward for thirteen seasons, spearheading one of the NBA's most formidable frontcourts that included center Robert Parish and forward Kevin McHale. Due to chronic back problems, he retired as a player in 1992. Bird was voted to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1996 and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. He served as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 1997 to 2000. In 2003, he assumed the role of president of basketball operations for the Pacers, which he currently holds. He is the only person in NBA history to be named Most Valuable Player, Coach of the Year, and Executive of the Year.

Larry Bird was born in West Baden, Indiana, the son of Georgia (née Kerns) and Claude Joseph "Joe" Bird. He grew up in both West Baden and the adjacent town French Lick, which earned him the nickname "the Hick from French Lick" in his professional basketball career. Bird recalled how his mother would make do on the family's meager earnings: "If there was a payment to the bank due, and we needed shoes, she'd get the shoes, and then deal with them guys at the bank. I don't mean she wouldn't pay the bank, but the children always came first." According to Bird, his being poor as a child "motivates me to this day". He sometimes was sent to live with his grandmother due to the family's struggles. The Bird family's struggle with poverty was compounded by the alcoholism and personal difficulties of Joe Bird, who likely suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from serving in the Korean War. Joe Bird committed suicide on February 3, 1975, when Larry was 18 years old.

Frank Vogel (born June 21, 1973) is head coach for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. Vogel previously served as a scout for both the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards, and was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.

Vogel grew up in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey. During his eighth grade year, he was featured in an episode of Late Night with David Letterman during the Stupid Human Tricks segment, in which he spun a basketball on a toothbrush while brushing his teeth. For high school, he attended Wildwood High School. Vogel went to college at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA, where he was a starter for the Division III basketball team. Vogel transferred after three years to the University of Kentucky to become a student manager, and play for the junior varsity team.

Vogel began his career as the head video coordinator for the Boston Celtics under head coach Rick Pitino. He retained that position for five years before being promoted to assistant coach. After coaching with Boston, Vogel went on to become an assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers. Vogel left the 76ers to become an advance scout for the Los Angeles Lakers from 2005–2006 and the Washington Wizards from 2006-2007. Vogel then became an assistant for the Indiana Pacers under former Celtics colleague Jim O'Brien. In 2011, after O'Brien was fired from his head coaching position, Vogel was named interim coach. As interim coach, Vogel led the Pacers to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Vogel was officially named as the Pacers' head coach on July 6, 2011.

Lance Stephenson, Jr. (born September 5, 1990 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers. He was drafted with the 40th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. He is a 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) shooting guard and attended Lincoln High School in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. Stephenson won city basketball championships in all four years of high school, and is New York State's all-time leading scorer in high school basketball. After his senior year he was named New York State Mr. Basketball and was named to the McDonald's All-American Team in 2009.

Stephenson first caught the attention of scouts at age 12, when Clark Francis, a talent evaluator, saw him play at Rumble in the Bronx AAU tournament. And before his first year of high school, he attended the Adidas ABCD Camp, where he challenged O.J. Mayo to a one-on-one game.

In the summer of 2005, Stephenson enrolled at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, but he only attended the school for three days, before the school lost in the championship game of a youth league and he did not win the tournament MVP. The following week, Stephenson did not return to classes at Bishop Loughlin, and was attending Abraham Lincoln High School near his home in Coney Island.National Basketball Association players Stephon Marbury and Sebastian Telfair had also attended and played basketball at Lincoln High. Head coach Dwanye Morton said, "{Stephenson} always talked about outdoing Sebastian, outdoing Stephon,", and called him "The best I've ever had at Lincoln." Stephenson went on to lead the Railsplitters to the city title that year.