As the American Basketball League prepares for its inaugural tip-off, the league looks back and honors four special — and sometimes lesser-known — heroes of professional basketball.
Every professional sports league eventually develops its own history, traditions and legends. But the ABL also recognizes that its story is being written on the shoulders of those who came before it.
Some of those individuals are household names. Others may be less familiar to today’s basketball fan.
But each made an important contribution to the game.
For its inaugural season, the American Basketball League is proud to name four of its major individual awards after four distinguished basketball figures: Stan Albeck, Nevil Shed, Derrick Gervin and Mel Daniels.
The Stan Albeck Coach of the Year Award
Stan Albeck’s name may be familiar to basketball fans because of his long coaching career, which included stops with the New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls.
But there is another important chapter in Albeck’s career that is sometimes overlooked.
Before becoming an NBA head coach, Albeck served as an assistant coach with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association under legendary head coach Hubie Brown. The Colonels captured the ABA championship in 1975. Albeck’s professional coaching career would span 46 years and include both the ABA and NBA.
He was a teacher, a leader and a coach whose career demonstrated the importance of preparation, leadership and commitment to his players.
It is for those qualities that the American Basketball League proudly names its Coach of the Year Award in honor of Stan Albeck.
As the ABL begins its own coaching history, the league believes it is fitting that its top coaching honor carry the name of a man who devoted his life to teaching the game.
The Nevil Shed Regular Season Most Valuable Player Award
Nevil Shed starred for Texas Western College, playing a key role on the team that made basketball history in 1966.
Led by legendary coach Don Haskins, Texas Western defeated Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats, 72–65, in the NCAA Championship game. The Miners became the first team to win the NCAA championship with five African-American players in its starting lineup, a victory that became an important moment in both basketball and American history.
Shed was part of a remarkable Texas Western team whose players included Bobby Joe Hill, David Lattin, Willie Worsley and their teammates. The victory over Kentucky featured future basketball stars on the opposing side as well.
But Nevil Shed’s story didn’t end with that historic championship.
Known by many as “Coach Shed,” he has devoted countless years to giving back to young people through coaching and mentorship in the San Antonio community. His impact reaches far beyond points, rebounds and championships.
For the ABL, that makes his story particularly meaningful.
The American Basketball League proudly names its Regular Season Most Valuable Player Award in honor of Nevil Shed.
“Yes, I am friends with Coach Shed,” said ABL Commissioner and Founder Mac Claire, “but I challenge anyone to tell me who is a greater unsung hero in terms of not only basketball, but American history? They come no finer than Nevil Shed.”
The 1966 Texas Western team was later enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a team in 2007, further cementing its place in basketball history.
The Derrick Gervin ABL Scoring Champion Award
Derrick Gervin comes from a family with some serious basketball genes.
Everyone knows about “The Iceman,” George Gervin, Derrick’s older brother and one of the great scorers in basketball history.
But Derrick Gervin could score with the best of them, too.
A standout at the University of Texas at San Antonio, Gervin was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1985 NBA Draft. After beginning his professional career in the CBA, Gervin eventually got his NBA opportunity with the New Jersey Nets, playing two seasons in the NBA alongside players including Derrick Coleman and the late Dražen Petrović.
But the NBA was only one chapter of Gervin’s career.
He became a CBA Scoring Champion in 1990, helped win a CBA Championship in 1992, and became a two-time Israeli League scoring champion, leading the league in 1996 and 1998. He was also named Israeli League MVP in 1995.
There is also a special connection between Gervin and another ABL honoree.
Before their professional careers were complete, Nevil Shed and Derrick Gervin crossed paths at UTSA — Shed as coach and Gervin as player.
Today, Gervin, like Coach Shed, continues to devote time to young people, coaching basketball and mentoring youngsters in lessons that extend well beyond the court.
The ABL is proud to recognize a player whose career was defined by one of basketball’s most difficult skills: putting the ball in the basket.
The American Basketball League proudly names its ABL Scoring Champion Award in honor of Derrick Gervin.
The Mel Daniels ABL Championship MVP Award
Detroit native Mel Daniels was one of the great stars of the American Basketball Association and one of the foundational players in the history of the Indiana Pacers.
A fierce competitor, Daniels was a powerful rebounder who was tough around the basket. Perhaps his greatest presence, however, was felt on the defensive end of the floor.
Daniels was drafted by the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals, but chose instead to begin his professional career in the ABA with the Minnesota Muskies during the league’s inaugural 1967–68 season. He was named the 1968 ABA Rookie of the Year.
In 1968, Daniels joined the Indiana Pacers, beginning the defining chapter of his professional career.
He became a three-time ABA Champion, a two-time ABA Most Valuable Player, a seven-time ABA All-Star, and a three-time ABA rebounding champion. He also led the ABA in rebounding three times and was named to the All-ABA First Team four consecutive times.
Daniels later played for the Memphis Sounds and the New York Nets as the ABA era came to a close.
His No. 34 hangs proudly in the rafters of the Indiana Pacers’ home arena, and Daniels was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.
For a player whose career was defined by toughness, competitiveness, leadership and winning, there may be no more appropriate name for the ABL’s ultimate individual honor on championship night.
The American Basketball League is proud to name its ABL Championship MVP Award in honor of Mel Daniels.
When an ABL player rises to the occasion on the biggest stage and helps lead his team toward a championship, he will have an opportunity to receive an award carrying the name of one of the ABA’s true champions.
A Legacy Before the Legacy
The American Basketball League is beginning its own history.
But the league also believes that beginning something new does not mean forgetting those who came before.
Stan Albeck. Nevil Shed. Derrick Gervin. Mel Daniels.
Four men. Four different basketball journeys. Four different contributions to the game.
And now, four names that will become part of the ABL’s history.
The ABL isn’t just beginning a new era of professional basketball. We’re remembering the people who helped make that era possible.
That’s the finished version I’d use for the site. And the Mel Daniels paragraph now correctly says Cincinnati Royals. No wife-induced scolding required. 😂🏀