Daniel Paul Issel (born October 25, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. An outstanding collegian at the University of Kentucky, Issel was twice named an All-American en route to a school-record 25.7 points per game for his career. The American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1971, he was a six-time ABA All-Star and a one-time NBA All-Star. A prolific scorer, Issel remains the all-time leading scorer at the University of Kentucky, the second-leading scorer of all time for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, and the second-leading scorer of all time for the American Basketball Association itself. Upon Issel's retirement from the NBA in 1985, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving were the only professional basketball players to have scored more career points. Issel was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. Early life Issel was born in Batavia, Illinois, son of Robert and Elanor Issel, and grew up with sister Kathi and brother Greg. Robert Issel owned and operated Issel Painting & Decorating. Issel attended Batavia High School, graduating in 1966 as an All-American playing for Coach Don Vandersnick. Issel led Batavia to Regional titles his last two years. As a senior, Issel averaged 25.8 points on Batavia's 26–3 team. Growing up in Batavia, Issel's backyard was adjacent to his friend Ken Anderson’s back yard. Anderson became a National Football League quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals and the 1981 NFL Most Valuable Player. Another Batavia High School teammate was future sports announcer Craig Sager, who was a freshman at Batavia when Issel was a senior. Said Issel of his Batavia teammates: “What Batavia instilled in all three of us — myself, Kenny, and Craig — was a solid work ethic." According to Sports Illustrated, Don VanDersnick showed Issel how to dunk by training him with a volleyball and had Issel jump up and grab the rim 50 times each day at practice. Issel did not start for Batavia High's basketball team until he was a junior and considered himself fortunate that he had VanDersnick as his coach, saying, "If he'd told us that if we dove off a water tower it would make us better basketball players, there would have been a line waiting to do it." College basketball career Issel was recruited by Northwestern, Illinois and Wisconsin, but he chose Kentucky. Issel then played college basketball at the University