Julius Erving - The Doctor (2013)

what's your most memorable dr. J move or story finally the camp that he did in Lansing way started all the way down at the other end of the court and he had all the kids stand up and clap and I like I swear to God that manjeong it looked like to me from about the top of the key and he was just in the air when did it look like he just stopped anything there was a time when history was chronicled by word of mouth and the stories that were passed down from one generation to the next we'll call legends through the ages they grew and grew today legend is a overused word and in the world we live in where history is recorded in every way you could imagine they can't really exist anyway but if you look hard enough you could still find them out there maybe the very last of descartes so there's a rumor out there that dudes still Duncan who spread in the room me unless you have the ticket stub to prove it you probably never saw Julius Erving when he changed the game of basketball you had to rely on someone else to tell you just how great dr. J was the legends incredible the real story is even better [Music] he was Michael Jordan before that wasn't Michael Jordan I think I do try to emulate him everyone would be like to dr. J to do things in today's games guys cannot be the legend preceded him whatever he wins the chance is where you couldn't see I can't show you how we did it but believe me he did it Joey's jumped over his head we always looked at dr. J as like an alien he was the coming of a new age Julius truly was a legend but the entertainment my friend is in the style [Applause] [Music] who are you are you so unimportant that we should know about I used to play professional basketball I beg you well you are pretty tall I'm actually leaning right now play for the nets when they were in Long Island and 76ers a defunct team called Virginia Squires name is Julius Erving that's you well that's not you sir really it's just for yourself yeah it's been a long time since coming back still home long islands always gonna be my home this is Campbell Park right here I did 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 Kelly and her three kids lived in the 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 always 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 you looked up to geez 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 them home and mom would cook them up but there was no doubting the brothers favorite place to play right outside their door Campbell Park was a special place for me we probably went there every day even when it's know it or rained it the snow and you shovel snow and 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 practising with the basketball team back in 1962 somebody came in and sit down there are two young men that would like to speak to you so I went outside and we stood Julius Erving and Archie Rogers they both aged 12 and they asked me if they could play a festival in Salvation Army and at the time this area was all white nobody on the team but being Julius was african-american but we would children and we didn't feel the racism watching I have 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 gains something that would stay with him the rest of his life on the court I made a point to know him all the rules so you know you watch the party I was ready to make a call he ball went out off his leg it always make an excuse you know you pushed me you grabbed me your hold of my jersey or maybe like a professor you know weighing you down in the lecture hall so I started calling him professor what do you know what do you like the doctor and every time we would see each other professor 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 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 had 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 them before which isn't bad you know we don't we go now 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 and 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 was there and juice is coming out on the fast break and he was at the foul line and Julius goes up in the air [Music] 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 dumped 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 the marvel at the freshman who seemed like he could fly a lot of the kids got a chance to start watching it and they saw what I saw Julius was a 6-3 jumper they jumped like you 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 Erving his basketball career was starting to take off while his connection with his family stayed strong that February bhavan came up on my birthday we spent time on campus the dorm 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 they're gonna get to the bottom of it it's going to be treatable and it hit 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 simply I just got a call from mom and mom was not doing good maybe they don't know he's gonna make it through the night you know I gotta go I say hey man let's go I'll Drive it was 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 you know I heard his mother scream I just just cry out he's a really tired and [Music] you know they need to come and get me he's talking about angels [Music] now the last thing he said to me [Music] I mean I go back and you know everybody's there at the house and I just go to Paulo I say I gotta be by myself things we had done those journeys to par bicycle rides you know all those things we're not gonna happen again the finality of that it's overwhelming it's the same sort unfair [Music] sometimes when I dream I dream about living in the Attic with my brother so this place has come back to me many many times and now I'm back in it [Music] in this bedroom for Marvin we spent a lot of time planning for the future he's always gonna be 16 you know man plans and God laughs [Music] when I went back to school after his funeral all I could do is take a spirit with me so when I lined up against an opponent who was only thinking of beer one you know now I got two spirits in there 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 the first game you got in on this court here in played like a bomb you was a bomb so when juror became the rocket he'd read to be known in the basketball world as a great player or 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 in you wait to Julius another who's Julian time in the NBA but I care about Julius Tom Hoover had never heard of him but soon enough the kid named Julius was doing things that no one at the Rucker would ever forget [Music] at the baseline he'd done some gothics the ball out to throw the lentil court for a fast-break he jumps up in the air and catches the ball and throws her now Charlie Scott shot a long shot and Julius Cain took it out of the air and dope that took the raki I said I'll need to see anything else this was it really no good basketball and you know if you could do something real nice you know they showed it appreciate them 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 to funk around 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 if he named little Hawk he went over to the announcer and said I'm not the little that's Connie honk so then they call him the claw man the claws got the ball going I was like a bigger one who he's talking about he's calling me the claw I didn't want to be the cloth they will call them all sorts of me oh what a rebound by black Moses but Moses what are you talking about he said if you want to call me anything call me the doctor so you know they said well the doctors operated why the school they were all on the roof he drew the greatest crowd in the history of the Rucker Pro League you've 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 where the legend of dr. J's started 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 but the upstart ABA founded in 1967 it was a whole different story we play that Street cannonball you know where we pushing it up guys get up in the air they like oh they change it put it around here let me do some of this yeah damn we were entertaining you know we come down dunk on you you know come now make a tricky move we're playing in a league that endorses discovery my friend is the very dramatic brand of basketball which can be enjoyed only in the ABA we always fill the NBA with that old slowdown ball they come out run plays to me come on man we want to 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 it wasn't just the red why the blue ball that was unconventional the ABA had the three-point shot ball girls and it seemed like any gimmick that would draw more fans into the stands and maybe the boldest idea of all was how the league attracted players away from his old arrival by doing one thing the NBA would sign college underclassmen and high school players the ABA would take anybody if you were an eighth grader and they thought you could play they'd sign you up which led a desperate owner and a desperate league to zero in on the junior from the University of Massachusetts who had torn up the Rucker League I was in New York for an ABA meaning 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 they proceeded to extol all the virtues of them help created 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 a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars guaranteed for four years and then the rest was history - most of the basketball world Julius Erving was the athletic young prospect and nothing much more but dr. J had found a perfect new venue for his game [Music] he was just shackled in the minute he got to the ABA he is I developed my own style of play which is our playground stylist be elusive real freelance style I thought I knew Julius Erving as a basketball player and then I went and watched some guy they called dr. J I never saw this guy a little of a suddenly 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 you'd hear 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 and he kept telling this kid her man he's a bad boy I kept getting newspapers sent to me about this great kid named Julius Irving who was scoring 28 29 points a game and I thought to myself Julius Erving finally a great Jewish basketball player you're hearing these reports this spectacular swooping that 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 spars and I contacted the owner of the Nets and worked out an arrangement in 1973 foreman 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 they're 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 ABS 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 of my career here this is New York Long Island's Nassau Coliseum home of the Nets it's passed the buck night here a 5 dollar and fifty cent ticket for only a buck it's also bread night free loaf of bread for every fan only 93 hundred fans who passed the buck here 9300 fans could see the second-place Nets 9300 fans $9,300 to see the fabulous Julius Erving the great dr. J coming 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 spankin new the identity of the nets now it's Brooklyn but you know my time here and my era here I think was very very special [Music] the doctor debuted in New York in October 1973 instantly transforming his hometown team into a contender and doing it with the 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 stop to be up there so high that fro you stuff you know kind of like fly in the back [Music] dr. J wasn't as the coolest man in the building he 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 he 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 poster there be it 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 he became a cult figure and 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 get it flat out play I played for a coach who said you know what we got this game plan did they work you need to do something we playing Kentucky dr. J's on a fast break an artist Gilmore it's a mano a mano he's waiting for dr. now Gilmore for people that don't know is seven foot two with a 5-foot afro doc flew right over Gilmore's there whether I was bringing a ball upcourt or getting it off the board I was going to determine the outcome of the game 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 [Applause] tension because the king of the ABA in 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 I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with and basketball seem to be taking care of itself but while the next season bought another MVP award as the doctor continued to soar all around him the league was still struggling to lift its own fortunes there 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 to create these franchises and 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 what's clear we play the Utah one night and without a go to San Diego to play the next night and all of a sudden we can't go because San Diego father the ABA needs a profitable Network television contracts you can't get that as the league now exists without merging with the NBA so that means the alternatives for this league is consolidation or collapse it sometimes seem like the only thing breathing life into the ABA was the sickness of 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 that dr. day will be more memorable than all-star weekend in 1976 when the ABA dreamed up another gimmick perfectly suited for his gifts [Music] huge record-breaking crowd here at McNichols arena about to bear witness to one of the most spectacular events and professional basketball the slam dunk contest the field included the highest flyers 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 its hand unbelievable with each doubt that night the show got better and better and the greatest of them all will become a piece of basketball or dr. J measured off from the foul line then went back to midcourt I didn't know what it was gonna do to be honest which 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 it was bigger than I think what anybody thought it was gonna be you know cause 2013 we still talking about so now how special was that right at 1976 season the ABA was on his last legs eventually shrinking down the seven teams [Applause] [Music] but dr. J was still flying high capturing his third scoring title his third and VP and leading the Mets back to the finals but they faced a talented Denver Nuggets we had four great players with a Dan Issel Bobby Jones Ralph Simpson a Marvin Webster myself [Music] dr. J was amazing Bobby Jones is a greatest defensive player ever to play the game and dr. J had his weight [Music] we knew what a ball had to go and but no one had a problem with it he just played tremendous yeah almost 40 plus a game 15 rebounds a lot of assists he was really the difference in essence [Applause] one everybody's hugging and he pulls champagne all over my head it was just it was just a tremendous celebration [Music] [Music] good party was done you say good morning to everybody how are you doing I'm Julius Erving I've been in this building a long time but it's kind of nice to be here in the summer of 1976 pro basketballs two leagues at long last came together with the NBA absorbing four ABA franchises including the New York nets but in a cruel twist Nets owner Roybal owed his 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 kept telling boy boat you can't do this I mean you know you we're never going to 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 his 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 F Eugene Dixon and he said tell me Pat who is Julius Erving I said well let me just describe him as the Babe Ruth of basketball Union I welcomed with open arms very much 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 avidity 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 it seemed poised for a Golden Age but instead the perception of the sport had changed dramatically the leak was viewed as having too many african-americans being at the heart of drug issues players being overpaid in the seventies 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 star of all he's 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 in Philadelphia he was about to prove [Applause] [Music] [Applause] where'd this guy come from you know look at what he does out at the court my god you know there was nobody like him [Applause] Dawkins bad news was like that bird coming in on the 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 swoops oh they just do that really did he just do that [Applause] Guardian and we're in Philadelphia at the time a sudden I see 18,000 people stood to rise to their feet I'm thinking like something bad is about to happen here you will go back in high school and college and tell your teammate did you see dr. Chaney yesterday you'd even remember what the score was did you see the moves that he put on doctors pick the ball over one hand without even touching it with the other one and windmill to support like like his arm stretched from over here all the way like rubberband [Music] oh the cow were crazy [Applause] me and dad doctors over there Oh Oh get win the world basketball day have you ever seen anyone better he was the first guy I ever saw with air brakes air brakes he was going to the basket straight and all of a sudden he said it's not going salaries I would say someone like a girl before the NBA had never seen a player like dr. J for a team like the 76ers who's supporting cast included George McGinnis Doug Collins and a brash payoff youngsters and they all play like stars they will be free who never met a shot at in life and Here I am you give it to me I'll shoot it what I'll take first guy got it shattered Whibley street ball they are 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 change his game for the good of the group Pat Williams who was the GM clearly said look we're gonna be a better team we don't need a guys score thirty 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. Jays show oh doesn't bother you the two guys you beat out and scoring in the ABA Durbin and Thompson have now passed you in the NBA well as far as an individual statistic and I think the objectives of the team are the 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 of 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 and for all to the basket Portland's team concept looked to be no match for Irving individual brilliance as the dock powered the sixes to a to nothing Susie [Applause] but Layton game to everything the changed [Applause] there was a division that created by that fight and Portland used it as a rallying cry Portland pulled together and we pulled apart know how to wait for the guy to come off answer ball where we were a man get over there get the ball what's wrong with you I'm past that you know boy it was it was a bit different the blazes stormed back to take the next three games of the series [Applause] secrets for the blazar the reeling sixes faced elimination in Game six and the doc responded with a Finals performance for the ages [Music] unbelievable she never stopped comprehension and there is this one moment where I found it handled [Music] [Music] 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 James Xu we call the final play for George McGinnis [Music] [Applause] when the game comes down to the very end how can you not get the freakin ball in his hands when the game was over the doctor said going over there to the other room and congratulate the guys and I looked at their like I'm from Brooklyn I'm like you said even Lowell didn't congratulate he got let go their 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 Trail Blazers won that series by the time that finals has played Julius Erving was the star of the NBA if for the remainder of the 70s that star would rise higher than ever every time he came to town that was the game to be at the game with Jews Irvin was playing playing against dr. J he's what dr. J he's taken his team all the way he needs improve it be easier when a phenomenon happens a phenomenon happens [Applause] in the flame it seemed like every Sunday you were on national TV playing somebody because people wanted to see the doctor he was carrying the weight of the league on his children he realized he was an ambassador for the league he was the ultimate ambassador for the lead the NBA supports Special Olympics why don't you he was so senatorial he was so gracious there was nobody like the man known as dr. J even as great as he is now he's going to be greater it was always like Julius was so cool the languages like 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 of 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 two top and evil white people you know dot blacker to me you know I mean there's a white people they were like I want my kids the 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 that had begun in the Long Island housing project had taken Julius Erving to a Philadelphia mansion [Music] he and his wife turquoise now at four children as they welcome daughter Jasmine and son Cory to the ferry 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 now got him on the phone I said I'm trying to turn pro thinking about it you know what's the pros and cons and he said look come on out to Philly and you can stay with me for the weekend back on the court dr. Jay was now the captain of a sixes 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 to face the Los Angeles Lakers and the doctors former houseguests where's Julius the doctor was in peak form as the sixes forth 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 is the all-time greatest move I've seen magic and I was sitting there and we were sitting right on the baseline and when dr. J left his feet he didn't know what he's gonna do when we cut him off baseline he started walking in there he got the ball in one hand and we said wait a minute he's got to come down [Applause] [Applause] Jerris in the air kupo nicer hmm should we ask 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 so fell on the floor just another rule Julius 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 magic played every position and they want a row a 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 with powder championship how many more I owe user out there we owed you one we owed you to what the hell are they gonna win something here 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 [Applause] 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 wanted 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 there's only 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 that 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 said what could I have done differently but there was another viewpoint on dr. J's inability to win at all that it didn't all fall on his shoulders it's not how good you are it's how good your team this and dr. J's team just wasn't good 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 need it against somebody with Julius and 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 what I mention that I've never play with in a 12-year career [Music] [Applause] they just complimented each other's talents so well [Applause] in the 1982-83 season the sixes would have fallen away the league's best record they won by 25 it was a bad night and me 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 the 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 he's got it here we go [Applause] and the doctor made a sensational play I can't explain 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 when dr. Jake broke down the sidelines I was like okay this is my chance to make a great play it gets a great player but that didn't happen so I just said you know let me duck my head and get out of the way go first 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 never seen the country want to cheer for one guy because what he had meant to leave in what he had done for the game of basketball there was barely ever any doubt as dock in the sixes swept Los Angeles it was such a relief like a brick that was sitting over your head waiting to hitch in and suddenly went the other way and now wasn't there anymore [Music] the dr. J Julius Erving this has to be a great great night for him [Applause] [Music] 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 we would love to keep them in their pain but you give those who really deserve it there just do when it's time I just remember I hugged him as tight as I've ever heard anyone in my life I was so happy for him [Music] 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 out [Applause] at long last julius erving was an NBA champion it wasn't quite that easy because 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 old for a basketball player even go on most nights never know it but a new era had begun in the NBA and he'd never get a chance and another title 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'd let everyone know quite simply I've just notified the 76ers that I think this would be my last year in the NBA and one of the main reasons why was because I'm constantly asked this last three years [Music] his timer would give fans and players across the league a chance to express their faiths you have to admire this man's applicability and important beyond all of that the man's class [Music] [Applause] those legs been around watching of elder statesman type class dignity it was pretty cool [Music] they most respected tomorrow adversary whose great skill compared to play has entertained so many for so long on the Boston parquet but no tribute is more emotional than the honor he received from his ol ABA team he went the ABA he revitalized the NBA ladies and gentlemen dr. G [Applause] [Music] it's it for Julius Erving where does he write the Robinson Joe DiMaggio dr. J had left the court but even without him he didn't have to look hard to see us like this that 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I didn't know what to do then all of a sudden I found the guy who started it off dr. J was sitting over there he was looking at me and he pointed like going back and do the free throws [Music] the modern game dr. J ed shaked soared to new heights in his retirement and became a global phenomenon but julius erving will 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 and 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 I last this was this was it this was the only thing that mattered I just want him to come home or somebody to let us know what happened 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 [Music] 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 as as an empty emptiness [Music] was the worst thing that ever happened in my life a toll on our family was [Music] 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 [Music] [Applause] [Music] probably be feminine [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm amazed when I see people 40 and 50 they haven't lost anybody obviously I can't relate to that but I might not be as strong an individual as I am and have had the ability to adore the hard times without those tragedies having happened anybody that would spend time with him would never imagine the loss that he's dealt with he has a positive spirit and entity 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 to 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 [Music] the way in which commentators journalists talked about this guy dr. J was so much reverence like I want to be dr. feet you know I was a kid but I don't know that I'd be dr. Boyd that they were not for dr. J I rocked the baby and what if this leap your hero is someone who inspires you and 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 has 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 they 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 man is universally loved this magnificent performer who had the ultimate gift he made people happy he helped young players like Larry and I understand that we had to be more than just a basketball player when greatness meets class that's what God created and dr. Jack [Applause] I think he changed the game in ways that a lot of people don't really talk about simple fact if you ever hear Michael Jordan talk he always say he looked up and aspired to be like dr. J so there's no dr. Jaden you know Mike would have never had someone to look up to and it feels no my again you know as guys like myself who looked up to Mike [Music] unfortunately I didn't get to see bunch of dr. J when I was a kid [Music] and really didn't see a true creative player that a lot of people spoke about but when 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 way and be peeled whatever that is something I would love to walk away from the game in half there was a time and 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 and tails 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 [Music] [Music]

Channel: VL

Views: 502,094

Rating: 4.8115058 out of 5

Keywords: Dr., The Doctor, Documentary, the doctor documentary, julious erving the doctor, Julius, Erving, [2013]

Id: AvO4ZqZC5aA

Length: 69min 28sec (4168 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 16 2018