Basketball - When Greatness Meets Class...

has been a long time since coming back it's still home Long Island Oh is gonna be my home this is Campbell park right here I'll get a water tower Campbell Park I mean its birthplace of basketball for Julius Erving I had a window in my bedroom that would look across at the park and I could look out here see all the kids playing especially on the weekends buildings gone but the essence of it is still there my mind julius winfield irving ii was born on February 22nd 1950 on Long Island the middle child of Callie and Julius senior his parents divorced when Julius was three and six years later his father was killed in a car crash Kalli and her three kids lived in a housing project and julius's biggest job was looking out for his younger brother Marvin Marvin was smart very book smart but you know he was the one who always got sick he had asthma he willeth break out with rashes that may be more protective you know subbing in for the father's role and you know being more than a big brother he was more a bookworm but he was cold he was uh he looked up to genius it was a great little brother to have I have great memories of him riding on the handlebars of my bike because we were very adventurous we would take a drop line and fish in the lake and fish for sunfish and and bring him home and mom will cook him up but there was no doubting the brothers favorite place to play right outside their door kalma Park was a special place for me we probably went there every day I mean even when it's no it arraigned if the snow to shovel snow at you play basketball but apparently one morning was just too cold for Julius and his friend Archie so they got on their bikes to find a place they could play inside I was practicing with the basketball team back in 1962 somebody came in and sit down they were two young men that would like to speak to you so I went outside and we said Julius Erving and Archie Rogers we both aged 12 and they asked me if they could play a basketball in Salvation Army and at the time this area was all wife nobody on the team but me in Julius was african-american but we were children and we didn't feel the racism watching our two black kids and ten white kids and we became a team when Julius was 13 his mom moved the family into a house he played ball at rules of our high school and thanks to his best friend on a team he gained something that would stay with him the rest of his life on the court I made a point to know him all the rules and sir you know you walked the part I was ready to make a call we've all went out off his leg it always make an excuse you know you pushed me you grab me a hold of my Jersey I mean is like a professor you know weighing you down in the lecture hall so I started calling him professor so what do you know I'll be your here argue me what are you like the doctor and every time we would see each other you know I'd look up there as a doctor if the professor and it was just an inside joke in those days everyone else called him jewel on the court where he wasn't much more than a good player who went out of his way to blend in I remember one time it was a fast break and he was in the front of the break and he stopped to pull up to wait for the rest of us to get down court and coached just got up and screamed at him what are you doing Buster by his senior year Julius was only six foot three he'd become one of his team's best players but drew little college interests only one Scout even bothered to see him play his Julius after I saw him play and I rated him before which isn't bad you know no piano I'm rating him here as a six three and a half forward God that's not a bad rating because he had no rating no one thought he was gonna be that good no one knew he was alive as a player but at the playground Julius was a whole different player everything always went well at the park especially if you would do things that were a little different than the things that the other kids were doing I had a lot of tricky stuff around the basket putting it up left-handed right-handed jumping over people in one afternoon on the blacktop the secret of Julius Erving got out for the first time he didn't know that I would sue and juice is coming out on a fast break and he was at the foul line and genius goes up in the air I close my eyes because I thought he wasn't going to be able to go that far in the air but he just glided then he jumped on that was beyond my imagination in the act like it was no big deal coach Wilson has seen enough he made a call to an old friend who just so happened to be the head coach at the University of Massachusetts and by the next fall at UMass others have begun to marvel at the freshmen who seemed like he could fly a lot of the kids got a chance to start watching and they saw what I saw Julius was a 6-3 jumper they jumped like he was seven-foot that was the buzz that went around the school I had a frequent caller who bombarded me with propaganda about this freshman basketball player at the University of Massachusetts named Julie Irving his basketball career was starting to take off while his connection with his family stayed strong that February Marvin came up on my birthday we spent time on campus Madonn and he was complaining about pain in his joints and had a rash they go home and he's in the hospital you know the doctors were running tests my mindset is you're gonna get to the bottom of it it's gonna be treatable and it he'll be alright the doctors diagnosed Marvin with lupus in over the next three months his condition deteriorated my mom calls me and she says you need to come back home he certainly I just got a call from mom and Marvin's not doing good and you didn't know he's gonna make it through the night yeah I gotta go I say hey man let's go I'll Drive he's just why he just was thinking about his brother the trip was generally a three plus our trip and we did it under two we flew and he you know literally jumped out the car running up the stairs his mother was in the room and uh you know I heard his mother scream I just just cry out he sound really tired and you know they need to come and get me he's talking about angels now the last thing you said to me man plans and God laughs when I went back to school after his funeral all I could do is take a spirit with me so when I line up against an opponent who was only thinking a bit one you know now I got to spirit Sydney I got mine I got my brothers I have a slight advantage by his junior year Julius had grown to six foot six and averaged 27 points and 20 rebounds a game but the rules restricted his play because at the time the NCAA still prohibited Duncan he had to save that for the playgrounds and after the school year was up he began heading to the most famous playground of them all since the 50s Rucker Park in Harlem had hosted summer tournaments that brought names as big as world Chamberlain and Connie Hawkins to the blacktop to play a version of the game where style was essential to the substance your first game you got in on this court here in plate like a bum you was a bum so when juror seven came to rocket he needs to be known in the basketball world as a great player oh he would have probably figured out a way to deal with his books and keep his grades high we played him the first game and they kept saying you wait to julius gets it you wait to Julius an hour who's Julia listen time in the NBA when I care about Julius Tom who had never heard of him but soon enough the kid named Julius was doing things that no one at the Rucker would ever forget at the baseline he dunce and the guy takes the ball out to throw the limp and forth for a fast break he jumps up in the air and catches the ball and throws it down Charlie Scott shot a long shot a Julius Cain took it out of the air and dope that's it the right way I said I need to see anything else this was it people here in Harlan they really know good basketball and you know if you do something real nice you know they show their appreciation he came down one time I had the angle on him he dunked the ball so bad the ball hit me in the top of the head my teeth fell out on the ground the crowd roared I had scrambled the gravel the funk the ground and put him back in my mouth that helped build his reputation it was just one thing left for Julius to earn at the Rucker they would call him different names a little Hawk he went over took the announcer and said I'm not the little that's Connie honk so then they call him the claw oh man the claws got the ball going I was like I think I wonder who he's talking about he's calling me the quad I didn't want to be the cloth they will call him all sorts of name oh what a rebound by black Moses like Moses where you talking about he said if you want to call me anything call me the doctor so you know they say well the doctors operating tonight all of a sudden dr. J dr. J dr. J was your favorite basketball player dr. James why behind me up on the roof it's a school they were all on the roof kiju the greatest crowd in the history of the rock up role is you had people up in the trees sitting on branches everywhere you looked around there were people it wasn't even standing room only people could not see enough of the game we had people on the bridges this is when the legend of dr. J's started mom it was 1971 for years now the playground style of basketball had been growing though you wouldn't have known it from watching an NBA game Bradley drops from the table star ABA founded in 1967 it was a whole different story we played at Street cannonball you know where we pushing it up guys get up in there they like oh make changes put it around here let me do some of this yeah we were entertaining you know we come down dunk on you you know come now make a tricky move we're planning a league that endorses discovery and there my friend is the very dramatic brand of basketball which can be enjoyed only in the ABA we always felt the NBA with that old slowdown ball they come on run plays and me oh come on man see that was like the NBA was ashamed of dunking and the ABA embraced it there wasn't anything like this and if you'd loved basketball you had to love this I was in New York for a navy a meeting and they mentioned the fact that there was this player up in New England that was so spectacular Julius Erving and I'd never heard of them and he proceeded to extol all the virtues of health greated being professional basketball and with that conversation I moved forward to see if I could sign them to a contract at this time I even know the Virginia Squires were but my mother probably made six to eight thousand dollars a year and I was being offered $125,000 guaranteed for four years you know the rest was history to most of the basketball world Julius Erving was a athletic young prospect and nothing much more but dr. J had found a perfect new thing before his game Oh he was just shocked and the minute he got to the APA he is Wow I developed my own style of play which is our playground stylist be elusive real freelance stop serving I thought I knew Julia served as a basketball friend and then I went and watched some guy they called dr. J I never saw this guy look at that move behind the back all of a sudden he's coming in off the foul line he's coming in off the wings he's dunking back with it was like watching two different players even in the freewheeling ABA dr. Jay dazzle but if you weren't in the building to witness it you probably didn't see him in action in here that you know this guy playing for some team in Virginia the Squires was flying through the air me like what who is he most of what we knew about him came from game stories box scores maybe a tiny film clip of a given play and word of mouth the games just were not televised my brother was in Navy in Virginia he kept telling his kid man he's a bad boy I kept getting newspapers sent to me about this great kid named Julius Erving I was scoring 28 29 points again and I thought to myself Julius Erving finally a great Jewish basketball player you're hearing these reports this are tacular swooping out of nowhere guy that is just doing things that have never been seen before even the NBA was taking notice and coming hard after him to make the switch something that ABA couldn't afford to let happen so after two years in Virginia Squires owner Earl Foreman knew what he had to do I was as much concerned with his plane for the ABA almost as I was with his plane for the scores and I contacted the owner of the Nets and worked out an arrangement in 1973 Forman sold the league's leading scorer to the New York Mets I was in Ocean City Maryland I got a call and I said god I got to go back to New York now just on vacation with my kids and family and I said well I said what's going on well we just got dr. Jay I said I'll be there in 10 minutes the ABA is biggest star was headed to its biggest stage julius erving was going home to Long Island New York has always been my home and I'm very pleased and happy that I'll be able to play out my career here come back to Long Island life could not have been better I mean it was such great anticipation coming to play basketball in the place where I was born and raised this building was brand spanking new the identity of the nets now is Brooklyn but you know my time here my era here I think was very very special the doctor debuted in New York in October 1973 instantly transforming his hometown team into a contender and doing it with a style that could be defined in just one word cool dr. J was the epitome of cold if you look up the definition of cool in the 1970s it says see Julius Erving and it starts with the afro doc be up there so high that fro you stuff you know kind of like fly in the back dr. J wasn't as the coolest man in the building it was the coolest man in the area code in the state in the time zone in the country the thing that was so cool about doc was the size of his hands his hands are so big that when he holds a ball it's like him holding a tennis ball if you went up and tried to block it I mean he just move it over here and slam it down so he could do anything with it and when he would cradle the ball and be like this on a post and to be the face sort of went with it and if you can get the hair up like that at the same time he was terrifyingly good man I can't believe that job I've never seen one like he became a cult figure everywhere we went they all they wanted to do was see Julius if you came to see him play you was gonna leave this shaking your heads and man that kid flat-out play go on god I played for a coach who said you know what we got this game plan you're they working you need to do something we're playing Kentucky dr. J's on a fast break an artist Gilmour said my no amano he's waiting for Doc now Gilmore for people that don't know is seven foot two with a 5-foot afro doc flew right over Gilmore's there doctor whether I was bringing the ball up court or getting it off the board I was going to determine the outcome in the game serving with the basketball he's trying to party in his first season playing just a few miles away grew up dr. J won the scoring title and his first MVP they carried the next to their first championship he was the king of the ABA and life was also good off the court it was a beautiful time I mean I have a wife and I have two sons and I'm very happy very excited about the prospects for the future with a woman who I adore and who I'm going to spend the rest of my life with and basketball seemed to be taking care of itself but while the next things important other-- MVP award as the doctor continued to soar to him all around him the league was still struggling to lift its own fortunes it was always that challenge of being the other league not having the major television contract not getting the notoriety we would be NBA we had the greatest franchises we had the greatest players the ABA was good basketball it was fun basketball but it wasn't the NBA the war between the leagues was now nearly a decade old and the ABA was losing by 1975 the American Basketball Association was a little bit like the Titanic after it hit the iceberg kind of listening to the left and taking on water there was a race when they had the fastest car was probably gonna get their checks cash first as soon as they gave you a check you rush to the bank to make sure that they can take worth clear we played at Utah one night and we've got to go to San Diego to play the next night and all of a sudden we can't go because San Diego folded the ABA needs a profitable network television contract they can't get that as the lead now exists without merging with the NBA so that means the alternatives for this lead is consolidation or collapse is sometimes seem like the only thing grieving life into the ABA was his signature star no matter how tired he was he always had time for any reporter anybody that wanted part of his time he had time for them he understood and felt the obligation that he had to try to help keep this league afloat and nothing the doctor did will be more memorable than all-star weekend in 1976 when the ABA dreamed up another gimmick perfectly suited for his gifts good evening everyone this huge record-breaking crowd here at McNichols arena about to bear witness to one of the most spectacular events in professional basketball the slam dunk contest the field included the highest flies in the league but even they knew there was only one guy to watch the New York that's the fabulous dr. J Julius Erving I was going up against Doc I have a chance I knew I had it's here and now the doctor goes to work unbelievable with each joke that night the show got better and better and the greatest of them all will become a piece of basketball law dr. J measured off from the foul line then went back to midcourt I didn't know what he was gonna do to be honest with you he took off running with those short shorts and his afro was blowing in the wind just before the free throw line he takes off and bam before that no one had seen that first came the stunned silence the gasp of disbelief and then the roar of approval and the winners Julius Erving it was bigger than I think what anybody thought it was gonna be you know cause 2013 we still talking so how special was that by the 1976 season they being was on his last legs eventually shrinking down to 17 me but dr. J was still flying high capturing his third scoring title his third and VP in leading the Mets back to the finals when they faced the talented Denver Nuggets we had four great players we had a missile Bobby Jones Ralph Simpson a Marvin laughs in myself but they had dr. J he gets without without dr. fly ball game here's a shot these doors buzzer the Nets win Julius Erving finishes up with 45 points and a shot stun crowd dr. Jade was amazing Bobby Jones is a greatest defensive player ever for the game dr. J had his weight there is Julius Erving he better take charge guy we knew where the ball had to go and but no one had a problem with it he just played tremendous yabbies almost 40 plus a game 15 rebounds a lot of assists he was really a difference in it serious and the law do everybody's hugging and he pulled champagne all over my head it was just it was just a tremendous celebration sweet as ever was I tell you now this is we've started something to watch average for the years to come we're going to try this one right now come in champagne good party you know was done then it was done in the summer of 1976 pro basketballs two leagues at long last came together with the NBA absorbing for 88 franchises including the New York nets but in the cruel twist Nets owner Roy boulders new league millions of dollars in entrance fees and couldn't afford to keep the superstar who had kept his team and his league alive for so long I'd kept telling white boat you can't do this I mean you know you we're never gonna be able to replace this guy it's like selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees I called Billy Mel keone and I did ask him he's Julius Erving available and Billy said no two weeks later Billy called back and he said Julius Erving is available I immediately called our new owner Fu Jeane Dixon and he said tell me Pat who is Julius Erving I said well let me just described him as the Babe Ruth of basketball Union I welcomed with open arms that without the things thank you very much my pledge to be that was the doctor had finally arrived in the NBA but by now all of pro basketball had seen better days in 76 we needed help that the two leagues had battered each other to pieces and image you know the league was not healthy after the epic Celtic dynasty of the 60s and transcended stars and teams of the early 70s basketball seemed poised for a golden age but instead the perception of the sport had changed dramatically the lead was viewed as having too many african-americans being at the heart of drug issues players being overpaid and the seventy people were afraid of all these things white folks didn't know what to make of it and sponsors didn't know what to make of it do I want to be associating my brand with this and now there was an influx of new players from the league that glorified the playground letting in the sideshow of the ABA our business may have been bad but the stubborn fans of the NBA said well we don't need those guys because they're not playing a real brand of basketball but there was an undeniable curiosity about the biggest of all making his debut I want to see Julius Erving more than I've ever wanted to see any athlete in my life because you'd heard so much and he was supposed to be so different I think everybody would say show us show us how good are you really from you master Rucker Park Virginia to Long Island the exploits of dr. J had long been a tall tale more than anything else and now and fell he was about to prove that the hype is real dr. brothers where this guy come from me you know look at what he does out the court my god you know there was nobody like him doc is bad is that he wasn't Colburn operation Julius was like that bird coming in on weighing swooping in dunking on people it was just something to see when you finally got to see this guy played it felt like someone was giving you a gift Julius oops time oh my gosh they just do that really did he just do that garden gym and we're in Philadelphia at the time doctor of a sudden I see 18,000 people stood to rise to their feet and I'm thinking like Oh something bad is about to happen here maneuvers we'll go back in high school in college and tell your teammate did you see dr. J yesterday you'd even remember what the score was did you see the moves that he put on doctors picked the ball over one hand without even touching it with the other one and windmill two said boy I like his arm stretch from over here all the way like rubber man the Poway crazy me and our daughters over there oh oh good Nick win the world basketball day have you ever seen anyone better than I you know I have he was the first guy I have a solid em brakes air brakes he was going to the basket straight and all of a sudden he's here it's not going Sally I would say someone like a girl never sounded before the NBA had never seen a player like dr. J or a team like the 76ers who's supporting cast included George McGinnis Doug Collins and a brash pair of youngsters and they all play like stars they will be free never met a shot at in life and Here I am you give it to me I'll shoot it without a first guy got it shouting weebly street ball or the Philadelphia 76ers the greatest collection of individual talent ever assembled on one basketball team and it would be the most talented player of all who changed his game for the good of the group Pat Williams was the GM clearly said look we're gonna be a better team we don't need a guy score 30 every night we don't need a guy to dominate every night we got stars on our team and I accepted that so many people ask when will the real dr. J show oh doesn't bother you the two guys you beat out and scoring the Aviator ban and Thompson have now passed you on the NBA well the scarring is an individual statistic and I think the objectives of the team are things that have to be paramount and have to come first he didn't want to rock the boat he was too nice a man to say hey I'm dr. J you know but it worked as the sixes made it to the NBA Finals to play their polar opposites the Portland Trailblazers we represented the team game making the other people better the 1977 finals were almost a morality play in the eyes have a lot of people this was a basketball world the old world taking a stand against these invaders and protecting the women and children from these from these crazy people and as the series began it was best to hide the women and children the dr. Rhea merged as if to show the basketball world who its best player was once a fall to the basket Portland's team concept looked to be no match for Irving individual brilliance as the dock powered the sixes to a two nothing seriously the Layton game to everything would change it was a division - created by that fight and Portland used it as a rallying cry Portland pulled together and we pulled apart Portland you know how to wait for the guy to come off answer ball where we were a meant get over there get the ball what's wrong with you I'm pasty you know boy was it was a bit different the blazes stormed back to take the next three games of the series Oh the secrets for the Blazer the reeling sixes faced elimination in Game six and the doc responded with a finals performance for the ages well that's just two great players going against one another and Julius won that battle Julius roaring to the basket and Julius unbelievable she never stopped coming at you and there is this one moment where I thought it handles on the fly with 40 points Earvin carried the sixes all night long but in the closing seconds they needed a basket to tie the score we go to the huddle and you know guys are saying that they can beat their man Philly coach jeans shoe we called the final play for George McGinnis here we go the end baton Oh when the game comes down to the very end how can you not get the freakin ball in his hand when the game is over the dot said uh going over there to the other room and congratulating guys and I look to Daryl I I'm from Brooklyn nothing you said even rolled it and congratulate pickup going over there fight and he said yes we're gonna go over there you know and congratulate these guys and we did we did even in defeat Irving's performance had been unforgettable even though the Trailblazers won that series by the time that finals was played Julius Erving was a star of the NBA even as great as he is now he's going to be greater jalisa so much guys appreciate that like it was always like Julius was so cool the language was like you indubitably these rings are significant because they represent important associations I mean I was so happy as a young black man who cared about language and presentation and image the Julius Erving sounded the way sounded major corporations decided that they wanted this guy to endorse their product the idea to the black guy would be the face of a national brand that was really radical after years of underground stardom dr. J's popularity had exploded with a universal appeal that was unprecedented I remember a lady saying I would want my kids to grow up and be like the top and evil white people you know dot blacker to me you know me there's a fight people they would like I want my kids that world would be like this man and I was like wow man that's that's that's some serious stuff right there as the 1980s dawn the journey they had begun in a Long Island housing project had taken Julius Erving to a Philadelphia mansion keep y'all yeah dad he and his wife turquoise now at four children as they welcome daughter Jasmine and son Cory to the Finn we're having a lot of discussion in our house about you know the Kennedys who we admired and from an african-american perspective I mean we wanted to be that type of family and we were on what I thought was a pretty good cause Julius was every players role model so when the biggest college star in the country wanted some advice about leaving school early there was only one person he wanted to talk to I got him on the phone I said I'm trying to turn pro thinking about it you know what's the pros and cons he said look come on out to Philly and you can stay with me for the weekend and I'm like what so I couldn't wait to get off the phone darling all my friend I'm going to Philly I'm gonna stay at dr. J's house back on the court dr. J was now the captain of a Six's team that had been rebuilt around them and while he no longer had his fro he still had plenty of game in 1980 the sixes returned to the finals the face of Los Angeles Lakers and the doctors former houseguest mares Jillian the doctor was in peak form as the sixes fought to split the series first four games and he was never more breathtaking than on a play Layton game for man he did a move which his all-time greatest move I've seen magic and I was sitting there and we were sitting right on the baseline and with dr. J left his feet he didn't know what he was gonna do when we cut him off baseline he started walking in there got the ball in one hand and we said man you got to come down there's no way you can stand at that loud inside join us in the air Cooper nicer Oh so we asked him to do it again we've never seen anything like that before it was crazy I didn't realize how long I had been in the air but I knew I didn't have any legs left but I didn't have any hang time left I fell on the floor there's another group Julia's head again left the mark like none other but a few nights later back in Philadelphia it was magic who upstaged the doctor in the game six clincher ladies forward and guard magic played every position and they want a road game in Philadelphia that broke our hearts from the time Julius arrived in Philadelphia any year we didn't win a title was a failure 1980 had marked the fourth season with Julius and without a championship in 1981 doc would be the league's MVP but come up short again in the playoffs this time to Larry Bird and the Celtics the one thing that eluded Julius was winning a championship in the NBA and here he was now taking a back seat to Magic Johnson out in Los Angeles and Larry Bird up in Boston so many would say well you want an ABA what does that mean that doesn't mean anything that was a minor league you got to win over here at the end of the day if you win a championship as an NBA player it's on your chest forever if you don't you're always viewed as not quite a champion in 1982 the sixes would follow Julius back to the finals again and again they lose to the Lakers the Lakers are the world champion there's always so many times you can get near the top of the mountain and then not get over because if you're the man you have got to be the man and overcome everything it was great doubt the Julius would ever get it done a lot of folks around the league began to say great star not gonna win a championship I had a sense that the window was closing and there's nobody to blame you look in the mirror first you say what could I have done differently but there was another viewpoint on dr. J's inability that win it all and it didn't all fall on his shoulders it's not how good you are any children your team this and dr. J's team just wasn't good enough one of the things that you know we learned and that Boston obviously learned is that every single year you gotta compliment your stars by getting other players I mean you can't just have one guy you know he needed a little bit of help they needed against somebody with Julius they got the right man at the right time fella by the name of Moses Malone like Julius Moses had started in the ABA and now the dominant inside force would be Doc's partner and another chase for a title in thinking about Moses that's a dimension that I've never played with in a 12-year career they just complimented each other's talents so well in the 1982-83 season the sixes would have fallen away the league's best record they'd won by 25 it was a bad night and I mean just crushing teams and while Moses Malone ended up as Philly's top scorer dr. J still led the team in highlights and none would be more memorable than a late-season breakaway against LA I was there when he had that famous dunk against the Lakers literally stole the ball right in front of me they're gonna be yes he's got a Carey gown slam dunk and mina-san sakes go play I can't explain it I mean it was just like this intense release of emotion it was incredible it was one of those moments as a kid that's just tattooed in my in my memory the doctor made has been fictional play the rock the baby and what is it sleep when dr. Jake broke down the sideline I was like okay this is my chance to make a great player gets a great player but that didn't happen so I just said you know let me duck my hand and get out of the way Gophers just duck the greatest dunk of all time and you know what if you're gonna get dunked on by anyone why not let it be the best in the game the Sixers in Lakers would meet again in the NBA Finals and Philly for a change was not only the favorite but also the sentimental choice we and everybody against us but the world was against that I've never seen the country want to cheer for one guy because what he admit to lead and would he get done for the game of basketball it was barely ever any doubt as doc in the sixes swept Los Angeles the Philadelphia it was such a relief like a brick that was sitting over your head waiting to hitch it and suddenly went the other way and now wasn't there anymore all have a special nod to dr. J Julius Erving this has to be a great great night for him I saw like the jubilation on his face just like like relief just we did we finally did it even though we would love to be to begin you know love to keep him in that pain yeah yeah but you give those who really deserve it they're just doing when it's time I just remember I hugged him as tight as I've ever hugged anyone in my life I was so happy for him because if there was ever a player that deserved to have that one little piece that he was missing for his legacy he had it pout les julius erving was an NBA champion it wasn't quite that easy cuz I've been trying to get here for seven years Julius was no longer the kid with the crazy hair who changed the game he was 33 now Oh for a basketball player even go on most nights you never know it but a new era had begun in the NBA and he never get a chance and another time and as the years continue to roll by the final question in the career of Julius Erving was how long would it last and in the fall of 1986 he let everyone know quite simply I just notify the 76s that I attend pleased to be my last year in the NBA and one of the main reasons why was because I'm constantly asked this one last three years his timer would give fans and plays across the league a chance to express their face this man's athletic ability all of that the man's class those legs been router ology of elder statesmen type class dignity it was pretty cool his great skill compared to play has entertained so many for so long on the Boston parquet but no tribute is more emotional than an ax he received from his ol ABA team he was the ABA he revitalized the NBA ladies and gentlemen dr. J for Julius Erving where does he write what maybe Jesse Owens not the J had left the court but even without him he didn't have to look hard to see his likeness was dr. Janus but the real Julia stayed out of the limelight making special appearances now and then as the next generation of superstars made sure the pay their respects the back I didn't know what to do then all of a sudden I found the guy who started it all dr. J was sitting over there he was looking at me and he pointed like going back and do the free-throw line the modern game dr. J ed shaked soared to new heights in his retirement and became a global phenomenon but julius erving would return to the headlines in the spring of 2000 and not for reason he or anyone else could have ever imagined nearly a month ago dr. J Julius Erving youngest son Cory was missing he went out to buy bread for a cookout and did not come back how do you live with this every day Julius mr. parent's worst nightmare this is day 26 for us basketball great Julius Erving is offering a reward for help in locating his 19 year old son five weeks go by you're helpless it was controlling our lives this was this was it this is the only thing that matter I just want him to come home or somebody to let us know what happened to and we're holding on and hoping that uh it's going to turn up sad news this morning a tragic discovery in Florida where authorities announced they believe they have recovered the body of basketball legend Julius Erving 'he's missing son searchers found Cory Irving's car submerged in a pond near the Irving family home there's a little deja vu I lost my brother I was 19 now Cory was 19 detectives say they believe the son of basketball legend Julius Erving simply took a fatal turn on his way home it's like you got to being ripped out this there's an empty emptiness what's the worst thing that ever happened in my life a toll on our family was insurmountable insurmountable everybody dealt with it differently and I think the way that my dad deals with most things in his life is the way that he dealt with my brother passing in that you got to pick yourself up dust yourself off and carry on with life and my mom wasn't prepared to do that it became very very difficult for us to relate to one another after that fact and it wasn't a long period of time before we went our separate ways anybody that would spend time with him would never imagine the loss that he's dealt with but he has a positive spirit and energy and as far as it relates to that legacy that is him I think he's still creating it I don't think it's done yeah there's something called essence in essence I think is you know how you want people to feel about you it's not that important that the whole world knows who I am and knows what I did that's not how I function to me I like to keep the carrot out in front of me I like to think that best day of my life the best time of my life is is yet to come he glances in the mirror and looks forward everyone else sees them and looks back it's just one more contrast in the life of Julius Erving just one more complication of the impact of dr. J the singular performer and consummate teammate the coolest superstar who ever lived the father and brother forever grappling with loss the Pioneer who could get lost in history the icon who so many still hold on to the way in which commentators journalists talked about this guy doctor jails so much reverence I'm like I want to be dr. beat you know I was a kid but I don't know that I'd be dr. Boyd that they were not for dr. Jade you rocked the baby and what are the sleep your hero is someone who inspires you I look at that dog my wife thinks I'm crazy because I start to get a little teary eyed she's like you're crazy I go this is this is what is helped me you know achieve what I've achieved growing up in Philly and watching the great dr. J everyone's that highlights but after all of these years you still go who could have told that he would become one of the greatest players and people to ever step onto a basketball court and will always be no matter who comes behind them that male is universally loved his magnificent performer who had the ultimate gift he made people happy he helped young players like Larry nine understand that we had to be more than just a basketball player when greatness meets class that's what God created an actor Jack chaos in the air promenade right unfortunately I didn't get to see much of dr. J when I was a kid and really didn't see the true creative player that my people spoke about but he left the game he left with a lot of class and a lot of dignity and and that respect from their peers and that's something that if I don't even win a World Championship win MVP or whatever that is something I would love to walk away from the game in half there was a time in basketball not even that long ago when you weren't able to see the most exciting player in the world night after night on the court so news got around by word of mouth contains were passed down from one generation to the next so it's important to keep the greatest story of that era alive that way the legend can live forever you

Channel: S Schotel

Views: 2,918,607

Rating: 4.7259831 out of 5

Keywords: Julius Erving (Basketball Player), National Basketball Association (Organization), American Basketball Association (Sports Association), Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sixers, Nets, Moses Malone

Id: diKGxzmhIIY

Length: 59min 52sec (3592 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 28 2013