Out Of The Old Black Bag
OUT OF THE OLD BLACK BAG
The Legend of Willis Reed — Part 1
Musical Accompaniment: “Basketball” by Kurtis Blow.
“Or when Willis Reed stood so tall
Playing D with desire, it’s Basketball”
It is said that winter must be cold for those with no warm memories. On May 8, 1970 an event occurred that I would not only privately remember, but would report upon for the next 53 years. It has come time to share it with The PediaBlog on its anniversary!
On July 20, 1969, members of the human race for the first time landed on the moon and took “one giant step for mankind.” But one month earlier, those of us with whom I had graduated from high school had already become official members of a “generation lost in space.” Over the next year my baby-boomer generation of confused, highly-vulnerable individuals transitioned into adulthood, buckling under the heavy weight of historical events beyond our control: the riots protesting the unpopular Vietnam war, culminating in the “March Against Death” in Washington, D.C.; the fatal shootings by National Guardsmen of 4 students at Kent State University who were protesting the USA’s invasion of Cambodia (“Four Dead in O-hio”); the abrupt ending of the Kennedy family’s reign as American political royalty when Teddy drove off a bridge at Chappaquiddick, killing his female passenger; 500,000 fatalities in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the Bhola tropical cyclone; the untimely break-up of the Beatles, our spiritual and existential advisors, following the debut of their last recorded album, “Abbey Road.” All of these were against the backdrop of the Cold War with the Soviet Union internationally and the deepest national wound of all, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968.
Fortunately for an anxious, bookworm-ish boy hanging onto hope by a thread in the New York Metropolitan area, there were periodic distractions. The music festival at Woodstock in the summer of 1969 was preceded a few months earlier by the incredulous upset of the NFL champion Baltimore Colts by the upstart AFL champion New York Jets, led by the magic of “Broadway” Joe Namath. These two historic events were followed by the even more incredulous upset of the dominating Baltimore Orioles by the previously hapless “Amazin” New York Mets in the 1969 World Series! We should have been on top of the world, but we still lacked a legitimate hero!
For those of us who “stank” at sports and were only able to entertain our fantasies as legitimate “athletes,” there was playground basketball, or “B-ball” if you wanted to appear “cooler” than the rest. Every playground in New Jersey and “The City” had a full court on asphalt, and some of their backboards were lucky enough to still have chain baskets on the rims (these were rarely, if ever, replaced). In the summer evenings on break from school — although our dedication did not preclude shoveling the snow and playing during Christmas break, too — we congregated at these hallowed watering holes to “forget about life for a while.” I imagined I was the masterful Bob Cousy dribbling behind his back and through his legs, or the diminutive 5-foot 7-inch Nate “Tiny” Archibald leading the league in scoring. However, when I was down-and-out, needed a kick in the keister, or felt physically or psychologically lame, I imagined that I was Willis Reed.
Willis Reed Jr., who grew up in Louisiana in the segregated South, was a star at Grambling State University before spending an illustrious 10-year professional career with the New York Knickerbockers (1964-74); he later became a successful coach and a general manager for the rival New York Nets. However, he will forever be remembered for walking onto the court on the evening of May 8, 1970. (1972 publicity photo)
To be continued…
source https://www.thepediablog.com/2023/05/08/out-of-the-old-black-bag-42/
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