Knicks Legends Awards Not a Thing of the Past
Knicks Legends Honored During Halftime Ceremony |
He succeeded … and then some!
“From the standpoint of the franchise, I always wanted to reach back and make sure all the players knew they were welcomed here and part of our family,” he said. “I think it is important for our players to understand the history and tradition of excellence that the Knicks have here and have stood for so they have something to shoot for.”
Walsh was equally enthralled by the reception they received from the raucous Garden crowd.
“I was really pleased with how it all turned out. I was particularly pleased with the reception that the legends got. I could tell when I gave them the ring or trophy that it touched them. They were happy, and I was really happy with that part of it. It was deafening (on the floor), and that is what touched the legends,” he said.
Walsh also knows that what made this award so special for them was that they got a chance to receive it alongside one another. Dick McGuire, Carl Braun, Richie Guerin, Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Bernard King and Patrick Ewing all have a unique, special bond with each other that goes far beyond the basketball court. To a man, they consider themselves family and credit each other for their great success in the league.
“My dad told me that the most meaningful part was that he was receiving this award at the same time as Richie Guerin and Dick McGuire,” said Susan Braun, who accepted the award on behalf of her father. “Dick had been his roommate for seven years, and not only were they great teammates, but they were dear friends. Richie Guerin is Uncle Richie to me. So they played basketball together and became a tight knit family and for my dad to be honored at the same time as these people who he has formed such a real close relationship with, that means the most.”
Whether they knew it or not, Braun, Guerin and McGuire set the stage and provided the blueprint for future generations of Knicks superstars.
“I was a big fan of guys like Carl and Richie when I came into the league,” said Reed. “When I first started playing here, Carl would come to quite a few games because he lived in the city. And Richie I knew because I played against him and watched him when he was a player-coach. These guys, they are the Knicks.”
In that context, it’s no surprise that Reed and Frazier developed the same relationship during their days together on Broadway.
Hours before the on-court ceremony on March 23, the two stars from the Knicks championship heyday stood a few feet apart in front of a crowd of reporters, crediting each other for their greatness while telling stories that only increased the other’s already mythical status.
“If the captain didn’t do what he did, we wouldn’t have won,” Frazier said of Reed. “He making the first two baskets set the tempo and the crowd became involved. But you know what happened? When he came onto the court, we were just as flabbergasted as everyone else, I saw (Jerry) West and I saw (Elgin) Baylor and I saw Wilt Chamberlain, three of the greatest players ever, just mesmerized. They just stopped doing what they were doing and were looking at Willis. And at that point, I said to myself, ‘We got these guys!’. It gave me so much confidence to see those guys so enthralled with Willis and with what he was doing that he came onto the court, I got a lot of confidence from that.
“This guy can barely walk,” he continued, unable to stop talking about his good friend. “He was in a lot of pain. What I didn’t know until a couple of years ago was that he had been over to The Garden at 9:00am that morning the day of the game to try and get ready for that night. I’ll never forget Bill Bradley telling him, ‘You know Willis, if you can just give us a few minutes, that’s better than anyone else than we have. A lot of people thought it was premeditated the way he came out on the court, but we kept going into the locker room where Willis was into the Trainers Room, and Coach (Red) Holzman said, ‘Hey, get out of here. Whether Willis plays tonight or not, we have to play together.’ So at that point, they closed the door to the Trainers Room and we had no idea whether he would play or not. But we knew we needed him.”
Reed, however, credits Frazier for helping him achieve the ultimate goal – an NBA Championship.
“They could have given Clyde the MVP because I had nothing to do with that particular honor,” he said. “What we got and accomplished together is what we wanted, and that was to win a championship and win a ring. To do that, that was significant. “
Reed, forever known as “The Captain,” also said part of what made the ceremony special was reconnecting with the fans – the same ones he connected with when they won their titles.
“That was the first time we actually had a chance to win a championship. And remember, 11 out of 13 years, the Celtics won it, so there was a draught where everything was going to Massachusetts. So it was a great moment for all the fans in Knicks history that suffered through all those losses and didn’t have a chance to win a championship. And we all had a chance to enjoy it together. I had a chance to enjoy (tonight) with another set of fans, and that is special too.”
Many have asked whether the Knicks legends would be limited to just these seven players, and according to Walsh, the answer is no.
“I definitely plan to do it again,” he said with a proud smile. “When you do it the way we did it with decades, let’s say there are three players deserving of it in a decade, well only one got it. Now I don’t know if we will do it next year again or in a few years, I have to sit and talk. That’s the way it was with this. But there are plenty more Knicks players who deserve to be honored.”
