New York Knicks center Willis Reed takes a brief break to look during a… [+] Game at Madison Square Garden in 1973.
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The original captain – Willis Reed, not Derek Jeter – will always be remembered for his iconic entrance to Madison Square Garden. The limping walk. Marv Albert’s signature radio announcement, “Here comes Willis, and the crowd is going wild.” The grainy video shows a crazy, sold-out most famous arena on earth.
Reed, the New York Knicks Hall of Famer who died Tuesday at the age of 80, scored just four points against Wilt Chamberlain and the Lakers in the deciding Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals as the Knicks won the game and their victory celebrated first title.
But Reed’s legend was forever cemented in New York sports history after his inspirational feat of basically standing on one leg, a sporting feat that ranks alongside Joe Namath’s famous guarantee a year earlier, in January 1969, as the Jets quarterback correctly predicted his team would topple the favorites Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl.
Reed later helped the Knicks win their second championship in 1973 — to date, the last time the Knicks won a championship — before moving to coaching and front office posts after his playing days ended. In addition to coaching the Knicks, he was the head coach of Creighton University in the early 1980s and later coached the New Jersey Nets before being hired as that team’s general manager.
Despite Reed’s iconic status in basketball and New York sports circles, the Hico, Louisiana native has always been humble and never malicious or eager to steal the limelight like so many athletes past and present.
“I tell everyone all the time, greatest thing that ever played for the Knicks? I say Patrick Ewing,” Reed said in a 2017 interview, referring to former Knicks great and fellow Hall of Famer Ewing.
“I wish I was his size,” Reed added, laughing.
Reed’s game status was in doubt leading up to 1970’s Game 7 at the Garden. He injured his right thigh in Game 5 – also at MSG – and was a scratch in Game 6 at the Forum in Los Angeles, a Lakers loss. When the series returned to the garden for the crucial Game 7, all the excitement revolved around whether Reed would play or sit.
The rest is history.
When Reed showed up in the Garden Tunnel before tipoff, the home crowd roared with excitement. Reed’s performance and game performance overshadowed even teammate Walt (Clyde) Frazier’s 36 points/19 assists. Frazier was the game’s top scorer, defeating both Chamberlain (21 points) and Jerry West (28 points).
As the decades passed and the Knicks continued to fall short of NBA summits, whenever asked about his Knick title years and basking in Gotham championship glory, Reed would always mention his teammates before any individual accomplishments.
“We were lucky, a lot of guys gave a lot,” Reed said in that 17 interview. “We had some great moments, really great moments.”
During a 2016 interview for a New Yorker News Before he was honored at The Miami Project’s Great Sports Legends gala in the fall, Reed paid himself a rare compliment when he said his greatest professional accomplishment was when the Knicks lost his No. 19 jersey to the Garden roof beams had withdrawn.
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“I was the first jersey ever to be retired by the Knicks,” Reed said. “That says something. It says you played there for a few years and did a little better than a lot of people. For me, that was my biggest single award.”
There have been great Knick players who have followed Reed, including Ewing, and in the decades since Reed last graced the hardwood, the sport’s global popularity and player salaries have continued to rise.
Reed never showed anything other than gratitude and respect for the game and the people around it. He even took a neutral stance when former Knick enforcer Charles Oakley had a legal battle with Garden chairman and Knicks owner James Dolan in 2017.
“It’s a dire situation that saddens me as a former player and fan of the Knicks and Mr. Dolan and Charles,” Reed said. “I grew up in a time when things were a little different. Hell, I remember when Mr. Irish (founder and president of Knicks, Ned) used to come through the Garden, everyone was busy doing something. You might have thought that he was a really big bad guy, but he really was a nice man. I hope (Oakley and Dolan’s situation) works out for the good of all.”
That kink loyalty never wavered, and Reed always projected hope for the only NBA franchise he played for, even as the title drought continued.
“I’ll always be a fan,” Reed said News in 2016. “I tell people, ‘You don’t appreciate winning unless you were a loser.’ Hopefully the Knicks get a chance to settle it. I think it might happen. The sooner the better.”
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