@@jasonlohrke6024 I couldn't believe it myself. She didn't put the name of the doctor in the note, so my class counselor asked the name of the doctor. I said "Dr. Erving;" he wrote "Dr. Irving" on the back of the note. Catholic school so really strict. I had a ball. Lol. Thanks mom!
So amazing! Thanks for sharing! My dad use to call me Dr. J when I played ball. 🤣 I use to make up all kinds of tricks on the court to try and get a basket. But I knew by the time I hit high school that music was my main passion and I was not gonna make the NBA being only 5’ 10”. But then Spud Web happened!!! 😂
The problem the NBA and the ABA had in the 1970s was a certain White Powder that was prolific among the players. It was not a clean wholesome game. Now the NBA's problem is that everyone there is a political activist. People dont want to hear players political opinions, they want to see them play, and then talk about the game.
Well is their viewership down ? I watched the finals and wound up likeing that Milwaukee team and found myself rooting for them but I understand what you mean about athletes using their platform to perform activism or just virtue signal and I think that's just the new reality in America ever since the schools started all that symbolism and the awareness ribbons were everywhere.
@@TuveanYGloir Yeah that pussy ass Larry Bird disrespected the ambassador of the game. Julius was gonna whip that ass regardless. Larry lucky Barkley didn't choke him into submission. He learned his lesson.
Met him and his wife (God rest her soul) when I was working a Janitor job while in high school at the Echelon Mall real early one Saturday morning hours before the mall was to open! They had access to the mall before anyone showed except the Store’s personnel! He took the time to acknowledge my existence in the world. Encouraged me to continue my education! To this day I believe that the words he spoke to me took my life in a completely different direction (for the better)! As great of an athlete he was he is by far an even greater man!
Right On Brahh ❤ that's Sick..My Older Brother Just Met Him at Yonkers Cafe and he complimented my Brothers Swagg and Says 'Dammn Young Blood',, I love those Threds. My Brother says it's an Honor Sir. 1 Favs of All time..and..Let's take a Pic. Soo Meeannn Love Dr.J and they did.
@@ajkhan8048 Spot on. Viv had more swag than any other sportsman other than Ali that I can recall growing up. A class above his batting peers. Still is the man. Unmatched natural ability, self confidence and real humility. Dr J has the same qualities.
Can't imagine how dope it would be to say you watched Dr. J live at Rucker Park. That is so dope. What an organic and incredible gathering of human beings. You love to see it. No money involved. Just pure love of a sport. A past time. Truly something special to just draw attention to that level like that.
the thicker the sole of the shoe the more it will absorb your jump power(assuming similar material). Jumping is easier in chucks - but running for long periods in chucks is a bit painful so thick cushion shoes tend to win out over a long and fast game.
My personal favourite player of all time. Class, dignity, style and amazing talent. Dr. J may not be considered the GOAT however he showed those who followed how to become the GOAT.
I can honestly say ' I was there"! Went to U MASS when he did in the same dorm JFK. I was on the top floor (22nd) he was on either the 12th or 14th with my boy George Mumford (room mates) who came from the same neighborhood in Roxbury (Boston) as I did. Julius, George, brothers from the campus and from the team would go around neighborhoods in the state and kick ass. One time they played a game at Malcolm X Park in Roxbury and while they were trying to stop J, George laid 55 points on them. Al Skinner from the Nets and Pistons was there. He would later be the Basketball coach for Boston College. The basketball coach Pitino played with J at U MASS in the back court. George is the Psychologist for the Miami Heat and has worked with the Bulls with Jordon and Lakers when they had Shaq and Kobe. He allows teams to become winners wherever he goes even when he worked with BC when Skinner was their coach. Everything this video says was true. I still to this day tell people about the game I watched J play at Ruckers. Those days NBA guys could play there and there was no clap back. The bridge they talk about in the video I walked across to get to the park. I was coming from my peoples place in E Harlem (E 97th, 2nd and 3rd Aves. My girlfriend at the time told me he was playing at Ruckers and I still thank her for that. It was a beautiful summer day in NYC. It was a beautiful vista of people to the left, right and center of me and as they stated in the vid, people were on the roofs and bridge. People...I don't know how I did it but somehow I got to the front of that chain link fence. If my memory serves me well Bob Love forward for the Bulls played there that day too. This was the summer of 72' I believe. Regardless, it was a monumental image that will never escape me as long as I pay rent on this planet.
People around the country didn't see Dr. J in his prime. If they did then he would be talked about like Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron. Whoever has the ABA archives need to release them, because that was when Doc was at his best.
Yes thanks for sharing, wasnt any Cable or Wifi back then, and no Station would put something on tv about kids from the hood. But, was good to see him in the NBA where he developed an all around game and on good teams with other stars of the day....
I used to watch him in the ABA, I think it was channel 9 here in the New York area that carried Nets games. The ABA at that time had the most fun to watch guys. George Gervin David Thompson etc.
Dr. J changed pro basketball and: 1. He played D 2. He did not travel 3. He played against great D, unlike the open spaces NBA players run through now. 4. He wore the Converse All Stars
Doctor J was probably the most influential basketball player of all time. I used to watch him with the Nets. His success in tha ABA set up the merger with the NBA in 76-77. although I was an NBA fan at the time, the merger was the best and most exciting thing to happen to basketball. Nobody brought more excitement to a game than Doctor J. Other players may have gotten more hype later but he was the real deal and brought his own hype.
Dr.J was and will always be the man who changed basketball forever! His moves and his style are still what makes the sport so great today. We all knew we were witnessing greatness when we watched him play even in the ABA. As kids growing up in NJ he was all we talked about and the one we all mimicked when we played. Truly a revolutionary in the basketball world. We all wanted to be "The Dr."!!!
+bear claw Mr Bear Claws statement sums it up best(comes closest to the truth). The Doctor was prime time so much so that people in my hood stopped watching the NBA and was watching the ABA instead. He revolutionized the game. The New York Nets playing out of Nassau Coliseum was the game to watch on tv. Now that is the history of it from a Harlem NYC perspective from someone growing up at that time period and thats why the NBA took over the ABA.
Yeah now you know that's throwback good old days any kid to try to attempt that today will get in trouble sitting on the ledge and roof like that cuz it's illegal
Thats what brought the ppl. U had to see it for urself. Thats how legends were made. I decided to look at Dr. J's career stats ABA/NBA individually and combined. He was hooping on both ends of the court.
Amazing to see people sitting on the edges of the roof and in trees to see Dr. J! He's one of my all-time favorites and I had the pleasure to interview him a couple of times.
I fell in love with basketball just watching Doctor J playing. And I envy so much all those people who could just walk to Rucker Park in NY and watch him playing heavenly baskeball !
In '77 or '78 I had business with Billy Cunningham. I went to the Sixers practice at Weidner College. I brought my 8 yr old kid along. Practice was just ending. My kid was eagerly hoping to get up close with some players. Instead, they all walked away from him and down to their loccer room. But Dr J walked all the way across the gym, patted my boy on the head and talked to him a bit. My son still remembers it as one of the highlights of his life.
MC - I'm just curious, what impact did this have on him? You know what I mean? We all have moments, experiences, that stay with us and influence us throughout our lives, this HAD to be one of those for your fathers.
Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, I feel really blessed to have been able to watch Doctor J and many others. What a fantastic time to be alive in those days! Praise God for giving us people like him with such wonderful Talent and great memories also :-)
To have lived in NY and be blessed to have witnessed Broadway Joe, the '69 Mets, Willis Reed and the champion Knicks, Secretariat, Muhammad Ali and Julius Erving was to be born in a time of overflowing blessing!
I lived across the bridge from Rucker and spent a lot of time watching pros and future pros playing there. I played Junior Rucker with my brother one summer. I too grew up in the '60s. I left in '72 when I joined the USAF.
@@c.a.g.3130 I grew up within walking distance of Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds. I watched the Yankees from the Bleachers on numerous occasions. We used to watch the Mets from the hills outside the Polo Grounds. We had transistor radios to hear the play-by-play announcers.
It was tough not seeing Dr. J/ABA in NBA cities like Milwaukee, back during the 1970’s. We used to get ABA player cards mixed in w/NBA players. I had an Erving “Virginia Squires” card, an Artis Gilmore “Kentucky Colonels” card, Darnell Hillman & George McGinnis “Pacers” cards. I could just kick myself for not taking care of those rare things.
I lived out my boyhood fantasies on the hardtop court of P.S. 132 in Queens, N.Y. imitating this legend and his signature "finger roll". "I got next" was the code word for declaring next man up in the epic one-on-one marathon battles where hard contact and expletives were the order of the day. Made me tough and gave me an edge for life!!!
And some people have the nerve to say Dr J isn't/wasn't a top 15 player of all time! He definitely still should be on every top 15 of all time list! His influence on the game and on its popularity was and is immense! If I could only have one retro basketball jersey it definitely would be Dr J's!
I grew up on Long Island, NY and used to play at a park that Dr J used to play at before he went away to college. I can't tell you how honored I felt to have played there and I used to try and imagine what it was like when he was there. Everyone around town back then knew about it. He was a legend on Long Island back in the 70s-early 80s.
***** Oh you like stats; good then Karl Malone is a greater scorer than MJ, and Stockton is a better overall PG than Magic Johnson b/c he has more assists...oh yeah steve nash has 2 mvps which means he's better than at least 33 hall of famers...
A gentleman except when it had to do with wives. Two children outside of his marriages, including tennis pro Alexandra Stevenson whom he refused to have anything to do with until she was 28.
I live in Virginia, and was lucky enough to see Dr. J play live at the Hampton Coliseum when he played in the ABA for the Virginia Squires team. I still have the ticket stubs somewhere.
I still have a Dr. J Converse poster in my old bedroom at my parent’s house. Room looks the same as it did in the 80’s. Doc was in a NJ Nets #32 jersey. The poster was about five feet by two feet wide. I also had Converse posters of George “The Iceman” Gervin, and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. I am still a Converse Chuck Taylor wearer. 👍. Sixers will always be my team, because of Doc, Toney, Cheeks, Moses and Bobby Jones.
Doc is the nice guy you can ever meet , gentle, down to earth person, he the greatest basketball player I ever met, with the Nets in the ABA and the SIXERS in the NBA
I was fortunate enough to have been born and raised in Philadelphia in the 60's 70's and 80's and growing up watching the 76ers The Doctor Jules Irving " Dr J " was my all time favorite basketball player 🏀
Someone here recently called Dr. J, the "Jimi Hendrix of basketball." So apropos. Erving left an acquaintance, Coach Al McGuire, dumbfounded at the N.I.T. (then a big deal). Pat Summerall praised him at UMass as the "next Connie Hawkins." So I followed Dr. J with the Virginia Squires. Of course he was spectacular, as well as obscure. This enhanced the ABA mystery about him. There will never be another Dr. J.
Was a middle school basketball player in Chicago during Jordan's rookie season and watched his entire career there. But my first impression of the game was Dr. J as a toddler in the mid 70's, my first basketball idol. Him and Magic are my favorite players.
I saw that documentary, and thought it was AWESOME!! For those that are saying that Doc was/is overrated, u are forgetting one thing. Yeah, he had some holes in his game...he might not have been the best defender....or the best dribbler!! But was he was and IS, is an inspirational player!! He brought a lot of people TOGETHER! Doc became the "face" of the NBA!! He inspired people like Jordan and so on!! So to criticize his game or say he was overrated isn't fair because AT THAT TIME he was almost the perfect man....not player! Julius Erving was a HERO to alot of young black kids growing up....including myself!
The Doctor was the ABA and he kept the NBA afloat through the late seventies. I always loved his game and always loved how classy he was and has been off the court I got a chance to meet him back in 98 and he was so cool and down to earth.
cflo1386 Man how I envy you!! When I was in college at Memphis State University, which is now the University of Memphis. He came to the school to speak. I found out about it late, the day OF and raced to the auditorium. ...and just missed him!! I was sick and hurt. That was back in 86....
I don't know that he was a bad defender but he liked to gamble on defense and sometimes that backfired on him. Dr. J was just fun to watch.. he had a certain grace, style and intelligence that came with all that athleticism. We haven't seen it since.
Christopher Socha @ Christopher, hey I agree 300%! I only said he MEY have had some holes in his game because he wasn't perfect. I knew he wasn't THE greatest jump shooter. And also he wasn't THE greatest dribbler. Nobody was a more devoted fan than I!! But I'm a realist too. But to call him OVER RATED is insane!!!
+UrbanSipfly Also: right baseline, up and under with his body behind the backboard, reverse. I think it was against the Lakers too. We all went out and practiced it about five thousand times after that. Not even kidding, used it in games. Total grand larceny. At 6'3" I wasn't going to bust my teeth on the rim like he did, but I could do _that_ move. You'd even see guys trying to get the right wing and fake their guy middle, so they could get a chance to go baseline and do it, for like three years after he did it on TV.
He is in that conversation. I put MJ, Wilt, Kobe, Bird, Lebron, Kareem, Magic , Oscar and West safely ahead of him. Then you can slot him anywhere after that.
Because his best prime years were in the ABA. That's why they need to include those stats in all time stats and people would have a much different perception
leon scott Yes and we don't have enough to fill the labor workforce. The crumby jobs nobody wants. Janitors, Tellers, etc. While I agree with your notion, it's just not possible for everyone to do what they love.
As a native SoCal guy and a man that to this day has continuous love for my man Earvin Magic Johnson, there was one love I had before him......that player was Dr. J....
He was my first sports hero. Actually got to see him when I was in high school! He was nearing the end of his career but drained a halfcourt shot at halftime!
I saw Dr . J when he was 20 playing in the old ABA in Indpls. Truly a special gifted athlete made it look so easy ! Met him after the games . A real gentleman , class act ! 😃🙋♂️🏀
Still my absolute favorite basketball player of all time. I moved to Philly early 80s and saw him play for the Sixers many times. He was amazing. As a side anecdote, I was once on a flight from Philly to Denver with the entire Sixers squad (they flew commercial back in those days) and the film shown on the inflight entertainment was Woman in Red. When Gene Wilder checked into the hotel under the name Julius Erving the passengers went crazy with cheers and laughter. He’s a legend.
See how the crowd was able to gather and enjoy on the roof top in the trees thats a picture of the good old days they say i wasn't born then but looked like fun in the community .
Growing up in Oregon in the 70s and 80s, the image of Julius that sticks with me always is when The Blazers Maurice Lucas and Sixers Darrell Dawkins squared off in a fight in the 76-77 NBA Finals. Chaos on the court, and the camera pans to Dr, J, sitting down at the opposite free throw line, just waiting patiently to play ball again. Always so smooth, so cool and calm and an athletic wonder. He had his moments as any human does, (I remember one in particular with Larry Bird) but always loved his overall game and demeanor. Lots of class.
Dr J is Top 10 all-time in raw talent and #1 is pure style and class. Every player who came up after 1970 wanted to be Dr J, and had to settle for whatever they got!
This is what is missing today in life, authenticity ! Growing up in the 70s in Toronto we used to play soccer before school, recess, lunchtime,recess again and after school and weekends, being Croatian background it is cultural just like these guys in Harlem !
Kenyon Martin I don't think he abandoned her he just didn't help raise her. He did provide financial support though and they do have a relationship now. He knocked some chick up when he was married and already had a family of his own and she wanted to keep the baby. The only real moral outrage here is that he cheated on his wife. Don't even know if the sports writer wanted him helping her raise the child.
I remember his legendary lay-up in the air, out of bounds ("suspended animation") against the Lakers. Have never seen anything like it before or since. Even when you see it, it's hard to believe!!! Amazing Talent (when the Doctor Operates).
Dr. J was my all - time favorite player, but also a huge fan of "Tiny" Archibald when he played for KC Kings. Hard to even imagine his career scoring stats if they had the three point shot in his day !
Nate "Tiny" Archibald lead the league in SCORING AND ASSISTS '71 - '72 for KC - OMAHA. He was speedy & slick as hell - always one of my favorite players
I so enjoy watching the great Dr. J, do his thing!!! I still get goosebumps seeing him in all his heavenly greatness!!! Thank you Julius (Dr. J) Irving, you are the best!!!👍👍👍
the Doc won my city a nba championship. the only MF ring the sixers will probably ever get while I'm still alive! thanks for the memories doc .. and thanks for that tomahawk dunk you did on michael cooper from the lakers back in the day. 1 of the top 5 best dunks of all time. that dunk has stood it's test of time!
I mean you guys got some mean ass rookies, meanwhile here at the wizards we only got beal and he's gonna be good but not hall of fame level. So enjoy the build up since you guys always get good rookies and in the last 10 years our only good drafted player was Wall. I cri.
plus unless you plan on dying in the next 10 years you'll definitely see us AT LEAST in a conference finals with the young core we have all we really need is a guard and well get that in the draft next year which they say might be the best draft since 96 , okafor led us in scoring and is impossible to guard with his back to the basket, noel was 3rd in defensive mvp voting last year , embiid is looking like a beast , and we get the lakers pick , the chance to switch picks with the kings (thanks hinkie) and our own first rounder and if ben simmons stays healthy on top of all that and can better his shot no one in the league would be able to compete with us period this is the most excited ive ever been about the sixers since they traded the goat in 06
Kenny Jackson You guys are legit so lucky doe that you don't have a dumbass mentality. Out of the last 10 years wizards have 1 player that has played in the all star game. 1. 1!!!!!! WTF.
lol you act like it's crazy to not want your kids dangling their legs off a 2 story building with no railing. I think you're taking the whole "EVERYONES A SNOWFLAKE NOW" thing to an unbalanced level.
What a great player! I first saw him live in the ABA playoffs with the then-New York Nets playing against my beloved Kentucky Colonels. Everyone in the arena in Louisville was afraid of what he could do with the ball. I remember the dagger falling with a last second 3 from Dr J, and the crowd just groaned miserably.
Apparently you haven't really watched a "Streetball" game, and watch that "And 1" stuff that they show you. Go to The Rucker in NYC, or 10th and Louden Ave in Philly and watch a game.
I'd love to man, but i dont live in the city lol... thats why i'm sayin i wish it happened where i live... small town in VA... we had our own type of Rucker... haha... where we had to almost get in fights to play, winner stayed on for hours and people came to watch... but that was 10 years ago up here... too much And 1 and Streetball is nothing but dancing with a ball and calling someone out... where i'm from man we win at all cost... yeah that means playing a zone too lol....
Edijis: I would like 2 take the moment 2 say " thanku " 4 this video. I'm 65 and u taught me things regarding the " Great Dr. J " that I never knew! This video is so significant 4 the young ones 2 see and 2 watch " greatness personified" in Dr.J and 4 them 2 see themselves in him! There'll never b e another like him! Thanku Godbless.
Mark Drouin Im from the lafeyette area originally and my first nuggets game was against Dr. J and the Sixers and that cemented it for me. You are absolutely right about the Doc being a gentleman! He personifies the word class. To few of these kids playin now have it.
When she was a kid, my mother used to watch him play at Nassau Coliseum as a member of the Nets. It's so cool that someone I'm directly related to was able to witness his greatness.
Dr. in his prime was a top 2 or 3 in B-ball at that point. He was an unstoppable clutch offensive force. His Net years were awesome. He dominated that league.
J could elevate, go around a defender, and emerge gracefully on the other side of the rim after momentarily being behind the backboard. It was like he floated in mid-air.
