Dr. J - the Special

OK, my Dr. J story: Back in the early '80s (can't remember exactly when), the Sixers played an exhibition game in my little non-NBA town. I got assigned to do a feature on him, so went to their shootaround and got him for a couple of minutes before they went back to the hotel. He could tell I needed more time, so he invited me back to the hotel and spent about an hour answering every inane question I had.

Thought that was pretty amazing, especially considering his status. What was more amazing was the next day after the story ran. I had a morning flight to an assignment. At a connecting hub airport, I'm eating breakfast during the layover, totally oblivious to everything. I notice a presence next to me. I look up, and it's Erving, saying he just wanted to thank me for the story. Considering I was (and still am) a nobody, I'd rank him atop the list of class guys I've ever dealt with.

 

Nobody disputes Jordan was the better player. That's an argument than can not be sustained.
That being said Dr. J was THE MAN - the Alpha and Omega (apologies to Connie Hawkins, Dominque Wilkins and Clyde Drexler) - when it came to taking it to hoop and dunking.
Jordan's mid-air hand switch is nada compared to the Dr.s' inbounds, out of bounds, inbounds, behind-the-backboard, underneath-the-glass layup.
The. Man.
Period.

 

Jesus. That's awesome.

 

I recall one of the Milwaukee newspapers, on Erving's last visit or maybe during that final playoff series, running a tribute story or package. The jump inside went to a double-truck that featured, behind the stories and photos, a shaded outline -- life size -- of one of Erving's hands. Damn near big enough to fill up the two pages, IIRC.

 

I interviewed a couple of Ladner's relatives and his coach about 10 years ago. Needless to say, they had very nice things to say about Dr. J.

I've always thought Ladner would have been a crowd favorite in the NBA too. The man played with abandon and had Burt Reynolds-like looks.

One of those family members or the coach indicated the Dallas Cowboys were interested in Ladner during his Southern Miss. days even though he didn't play college football.

 

+1. Really cool story, Guess Who. Thanks for sharing.

 

I loved the last shot of the film, with the present-day Doctor throwing down a dunk.

Had the pleasure of interviewing a few times late in his career and then again at the 50th All-Star Game in 1997.

 

Loose Balls is amazing...I have read it about 10 times. Pluto is an underrated basketball writer...check out 48 Minutes as well.
I love ABA history and one way I have found to really learn a lot and bring a lot of the ABA players to life is through collecting mid-1970's basketball cards. It's pretty expensive, but the 1974-75 Topps Basketball set is loaded with ABA players. Here is a link to the checklist (ABA players are in the second half of the set):
http://www.baseball-cards.com/vintage-baseball-cards/k-1974-1975-topps-basketball.shtml
The 1975-76 set is my favorite because of the photography. Mostly headshots, but there are some sweet afros.

 

okay, i've resisted posting this remembrance until now. the year i covered the nba (knicks then nets) was the '82-'83 season. as the postseason begins i'm assigned this takeout: is this the year dr. j gets his nba championship? so i go to a knicks shootaround to get hubie brown, former coach of aba's kentucky colonels on julius.

so i toss up my 'talk about julius' question to hubie, who could be a tough interview unless he was in a good mood and/knew and liked you a bit. i had started the season covering hubie's knicks, then switched to the nets when the ny daily news hired harvey araton away from the post. hubie often expressed how he admired my 'professionalism' in accepting the switch to the lesser of the two ''beats' without bitching and moaning so i knew he'd give me a thoughtful answer.

what we got instead was the most memorable answer of my career for this kind of feature, an answer so picturesque i allowed to run in full, three consecutive graphs worth. this isnt it verbatim but is close enuf. if you're familiar with hubie's voice and its rhythm you can hear it in your head:

'hey, let me tell you something, people in the nba think they know doc, but the have no idea of what he was like when he had it all going on. the only people who know the real doc are the people who saw him in the a..b..a.. 'cause he was incredible. i mean, he'd come into your building and turn the whole crowd around.

'so, when we played the nets in kentucky, we had this rule: if doc came down the court ahead of everyone on a break and you didnt foul him at the foul line it was a $100 fine. 'cause if he got past the foul line, here's what would happen: he'd take off, and then your white guys would go up, and your black guys would go up... and then your white guys came down, then your black guys came down... and DOC'S STILL UP THERE, EFFIN' AROUND!

'and he'd finish by slamming that ball through the hoop, and your crowd is going nuts! i mean, he'd turn your crowd around. guys would be up in their seats, slapping hands and bleep...and man, how artis (gilmore) HATED when doc came to town, 'cause he'd just come down the lane and throw dowm dunks on him, or on the other end come from the blind side and swat away his hooks or dunks. THAT was julius erving.'

again, obviously not verbatim -- hey, it's been 30 years -- but that's the gist.

 

Hubie told me that same story a few years ago. I think he amended the amount of the fine to $50, but what the hey. Might just be one of those things he forgot over time. He did emphasize that Doc could "turn your whole building against you."

 

I am laughing my ass off. I am also in the club Hubie Brown told this story to...in the media dining room at what was then Gund Arena in either '93 or '94.

 

I think Hubie related that story in Loose Balls as well. Why not? It's a great story.

As for the doc of the Doc, I finally watched it this weekend (with my 10-year-old son, a big Erving fan). It's a good primer if you don't remember him from back in the day, but it seems like Erving is almost too big for this treatment. It's really hard to get how big a deal he was. I'm not sure this doc did it, but it's a good start if you've never heard of him. I did like how right in the intro how they defined him as a legend, and last of his kind -- a legend in the sense that so few saw what he did. Imagine now, a guy like Erving flying under the radar all the way to pro basketball. Ain't never gonna happen.

Obviously, they weren't going to go deep into all his personal and family issues. They mentioned his son who died, but they weren't going to mention the drug problems he had. Actually, Erving's personal life was a mess behind the "We want to be the Kennedys" facade, although I'm not sure, like Jordan, he had a domestic life created for appearances' sake. You wonder if trying to save the ABA and keep the NBA afloat, and all his graciousness toward others, was too much to allow him to concentrate on any level on his family. Of course, his fucking around and having children out of wedlock didn't help.