Don’t Mess with The Dipper: The Time Mel Daniels Tried to Fight Wilt Chamberlain

You had to be one tough SOB to willingly want to fight Wilt Chamberlain, who stood over 7 feet tall with a 7 foot 8 wingspan.

Mel Daniels was this and a hell of a lot more and he wasn’t one to back down.

This is the drama and comedy of their infamous 1974 skirmish.

Mel Had a Fight Every Other Night

According to his former Indiana Pacers teammate George “Big Mac” McGinnis, this was par for the course for Big Mel, who got into fisticuffs every other night in his prime.

Besides being tougher than $2 gum stuck to the bottom of your sneaker, some have called Mel Joe Daniels the most underrated Hall-of-Famer of all time!

After doing some heavy-duty preliminary research for this story, which consisted of checking Mel’s Basketball Reference page, I can see why.

During a 10-year career (lifespans and career spans were shorter back then), Mel notched:

• 1967-68 Rookie of the Year
• 7 All-Star appearances
• 2 MVP awards
• And 3 ABA Championships

A Hall-of-Fame resume in any era.

Mel also didn’t mind mixing it up and once said:

If there was a fight, it wasn’t just one-on-one, it was 12-on-12.

With fines back then being a measly $25 on average ($154.72 adjusted for inflation), players had every incentive to let the fists (and some elbows) fly.

That’s exactly what happened when Mel’s Pacers played the San Diego Conquistadors during Wilt’s sole season as their head coach…which he casually skipped a game in the middle of for a book signing event for his just-published autobiography – Wilt: Just Like Any Other 7-Foot Black Millionaire Who Lives Next Door.

How Wilt ended up in the ABA is a matter of contract legalities, indifference, and cold hard cash. But that’s another story for another day.

C’mon Guys, Let’s Get Wilt

As per The Handle Podcast, who spoke with Mel’s teammate and best friend Bob Netolicky during the 1973-74 season. It all started when Mel and Colonialists…I mean Conquistadors guard Flynn Robinson got into it.

All of a sudden, everyone’s on the floor – it wasn’t just one-on-one, it was 12-on-12. That is until Wilt gets in the middle of the scrum, brouhaha, tilt, and parts it like Moses parted the Red Sea.

Mel is still trying to get at Flynn at this point and is swinging at him amidst the chaos.

The Q’s coach as the Conquistadors were known, Wilt Chamberlain walked right up to Mel, proceeded to pick him up off the ground like a toddler with his feet dangling in the air, and told him to calm down before he gets put in a timeout😮‍💨

At this point, Mel is incensed and motions to his teammates “C’mon guys, let’s get Wilt!” they look at each other, look back at Mel, and say “You gotta be crazy.” We’re not messing with the Dipper.

San Diego didn’t win very many games with Wilt as their coach, but they won the battle that night.

If you enjoyed this story, you may also like Wheelchair Basketball in Turkey Was a War Zone or Connie Hawkins Bitchslapped the NBA in Court.