Notes
Introduction
1.Thomas Rogers, “Celtics Top Knicks at Garden, 94–84,” New York Times, November 9, 1973.
2.Peter L’Official, Urban Legends: The South Bronx in Representation and Ruin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020), 2.
3.Kevin Baker, “ ‘Welcome to Fear City’: The Inside Story of New York’s Civil War, 40 Years On,” Guardian, May 18, 2015.
4.Michael Burke, Outrageous Good Fortune (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984).
5.“The Crisis of the Black Spirit,” Ebony, October 1977, 142.
6.Jamel Shabazz, A Time before Crack (Brooklyn: powerHouse Books, 2005), 145.
1. “Then I’ll Save”
1.Bill Verrigan, “It’s a New Deal for Knicks,” (NY) Daily News, October 25, 1975; Sam Goldaper, “Haywood Wants DeBusschere’s No. 22,” New York Times, October 25, 1975.
2.Mike Lupica, “Spencer Haywood Lights Up the Garden,” New York Post, October 25, 1975; Goldaper, “Haywood Wants”; Bill Libby, Stand Up for Something: The Spencer Haywood Story (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1972), 282.
3.Verrigan, “It’s a New Deal.”(NY) Daily News.
4.Spencer Haywood with Scott Ostler, Spencer Haywood: The Rise, the Fall, the Recovery (New York: Amistad, 1992), 169.
5.Freddie Lewis discussion with the author, October 2016.
6.Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty, Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success (New York: Penguin Press, 2013), 55.
7.George Kalinsky and Pete Hamill, Garden of Dreams: Madison Square Garden, 125 Years (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004), 67.
8.Spike Lee with Ralph Wiley, Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997), 15.
9.Chris Herring, Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks (New York: Atria Books, 2022), 122.
10.Leonard Koppett, “Knicks Reap Harvest of Awards,” New York Times, May 15, 1973.
11.“Knicks Take Their Final Bows at City Hall,” New York Times, May 16, 1973.
12.Mike Glenn discussion with the author, October 2016.
13.Harvey Araton, When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks (New York: Harper, 2011), 296.
14.Phil Elderkin, “NBA Basketball,” Sporting News, June 23, 1973, 53.
15.Pete Axthelm, The City Game: Basketball in New York from the World Champion Knicks to the World of the Playgrounds (New York: Harper’s Magazine Press, 1970), 73.
16.Earl Monroe with Quincy Troupe, Earl the Pearl: My Story (New York: Rodale, 2013), 333.
17.Araton, When the Garden Was Eden, 69.
18.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Quiet Leader,” New York Times, May 12, 1973.
19.Mort Zachter, Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy of a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach (New York: Sports Publishing, 2019), 150.
20.Willis Reed with Phil Pepe, A View From the Rim: Willis Reed on Basketball (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1971), 166.
21.Walt Frazier and Ira Berkow, Rockin’ Steady: A Guide to Basketball and Cool (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974), 14.
22.Walt Frazier with Dan Markowitz, The Game within the Game (New York: Hyperion, 2006), 14.
23.“Knicks’ Frazier Says He Prefers Blacks to Whites,” Jet, February 27, 1975.
24.Lee, Best Seat in the House, 42.
25.Thomas Rogers, “Knicks Bow 85–69,” New York Times, October 21, 1973.
26.“Listless Knicks Battered by Bullets Here, 101–84,” New York Times, October 24, 1973.
27.Joe Whittington, “NBA East,” Sporting News, November 10, 1973.
28.Thomas Rogers, “Knicks Conquer Pistons,” New York Times, December 27, 1973.
29.Sam Goldaper, “Pistons Beat Knicks, 96–91,” New York Times, February 2, 1974.
30.Sam Goldaper, “DeBusschere’s Special Stamp Goes on Big Victory for Knicks,” New York Times, March 27, 1974.
31.At 68–14, the 1972–73 Celtics were one game better than the legendary 1985–86 Celtics, who posted a 67–15 record on their way to winning the 1986 NBA title.
32.Martin Lader and Joe Carnicelli, eds., Pro Basketball Guide 1973 (New York: Cord Sportfacts, 1972), 83. ABC aired the “Jerry Lucas’ Super Kids Day Magic Jamboree” in November 1972.
33.Araton, When the Garden Was Eden, 294.
34.Jackson and Delehanty, Eleven Rings, 58.
35.“Bronx Residents Lose Road Fight: Expressway Route Affirmed as Estimate Board Votes to Buy Mid-Section Land,” New York Times, December 3, 1954; Matt Sedensky, “Bronx up Close: Decades Later, Doing the Cross Bronx Expressway Right,” New York Times, October 7, 2001.
36.Steve Hager, Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984), 1.
37.Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2002); Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005).
38.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 18.
39.Ivan Sanchez and Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño, It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop’s First Latino DJ (Brooklyn: powerHouse books, 2009), 13.
40.Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Hanover, N.H.: Wesleyan University Press, 1994), 34.
41.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 9.
42.Hager, Hip Hop, 10.
43.“ ‘Taki 183’ Spawns Pen Pals,” New York Times, July 21, 1971.
44.Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal, eds. That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2004), 23; Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 122.
45.George J. Lankevich, New York City: A Short History (New York: New York University Press, 2002), 219.
46.Will Hermes, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (New York: Faber and Faber, 2011), 27.
47.Rose, Black Noise.
48.Clint Roswell, “Willis Reed Makes It Official,” (NY) Daily News, September 20.1974.
49.Dave Hirshey, “Porter Eyes DeBusschere’s Former Job,” (NY) Daily News, May 29, 1974.
50.Sam Goldaper, “Gianelli Is Putting More Weight into Knicks’ Lineup,” New York Times, September 16, 1973.
51.Goldaper, “Gianelli Is Putting More Weight.”
52.Red Holzman and Harvey Frommer, Red on Red (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 128.
53.Kay Gilman, “The John Gianellis: He’s 6–10, She’s 5–4,” (NY) Daily News, October 20, 1974.
54.“Nets Regain Top Spot; Kings Trounce Knicks,” New York Times, January 18, 1975.
55.“NBA All Star Voting Results 1975–Phoenix,” Just All Stars. Accessed May 1, 2020, https://www.justallstar.com/nba-all-star-game/voting/ballot-1975.
56.Keith Blauschild discussion with the author, March 2020.
57.Rick Telander, “He’s Not Hot Stuff, He’s My Brother,” Sports Illustrated, March 2, 1981.
58.Larry Merchant, “Living Dangerously,” New York Post, April 11, 1975.
59.“Barnett: Knicks’ Leader in Punting and Prayer,” Sporting News, March 1, 1975, 14.
60.Bill Verigan, “Barnett Produces in Knick of Time,” (NY) Daily News, April 12, 1975.
61.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 146.
62.Zachter, Red Holzman, 194.
63.Bob Ryan, “Knicks Gamble on Walk, Thin Question Mark,” Sporting News, February 22, 1975, 21.
64.Ryan, “Knicks Gamble,” 21.
65.Araton, When the Garden Was Eden, 30.
66.Dick Young, “Why Irish Wouldn’t Fight Garden Ouster,” (NY) Daily News, May 26, 1974.
67.Burke, Outrageous Good Fortune, 343, 362.
68.Joseph Durso, Madison Square Garden: 100 Years of History (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979), 221.
69.Alan Hahn, 100 Things Knicks Fans Should Know and Do before They Die (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2012), 2–3; Durso, Madison Square Garden, 247.
70.Thomas P. Oates, “Selling Streetball: Racialized Space, Commercialized Spectacle, and Playground Basketball,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 34, Issue 1 (2017), 94–100; Kalinsky and Hamill, Garden of Dreams, 23.
71.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks to Divest Holzman of Either Coach or Manager Role,” New York Times, February 18, 1975.
72.Sam Goldaper, “Donovan Resigns: Hearing Set on Charges Knicks Tampered,” New York Times, March 22, 1975.
73.Peter Vecsey, “Champagne at Clyde’s Pad Greets Kings’ Victory,” (NY) Daily News, April 7, 1975; Judy Klemesrud, “Clyde,” New York Times, February 16, 1975.
74.Vecsey, “Champagne at Clyde’s.”
75.Leonard Lewin, “Clyde Has a Block Party,” New York Post, April 7, 1975.
76.Bill Verigan, “It’s Win or No Tomorrow for Knicks,” New York Times, April 10, 1975.
77.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 145.
78.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 146.
79.Mel Lowell discussion with the author, March 2020.
80.The Association for Professional Basketball Research, Accessed May 1, 2020, http://www.apbr.org/attendance.html; Bill Verigan, “Knicks Make the Playoffs,” New York Times, April 7, 1975.
81.Mal Florence, “The Big Men: A Look at Dominant Figures in the Game: Wilt, Abdul-Jabbar, Thurmond,” Basketball Digest, November 1973, 48.
82.Sam Goldaper, “Burke Is Retiring from Garden Posts,” New York Times, September 20, 1981.
83.The draft picks netted Milwaukee Dave Meyers and Junior Bridgeman; the young players were center Elmore Smith and guard Brian Winters.
84.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Pursuing M’Ginnis,” New York Times, August 20, 1974.
85.Sam Goldaper, “McGinnis Sues to Be a Knick,” New York Times, May 24, 1975.
86.Bill Verrigan, “76ers Call M’Ginnis Signing Piracy,” (NY) Daily News, May 31, 1975.
87.Pete Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA (New York: Atria Books, 2020), 10.
88.Lawrence F. O’Brien, No Final Victories: A Life in Politics—from John F. Kennedy to Watergate (New York: Doubleday, 1974), 1.
89.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 10.
90.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 16.
91.Norm Miller, “Hawks Draft Thompson, Webster,” (NY) Daily News, May 30, 1975.
92.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 18.
93.Welcome Back Kotter, “Basket Case,” episode 2, directed by Bob LaHendro.
94.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Ask Lakers: Can We Open Talks with Wilt?” New York Times, September 27, 1975.
95.Pat Putnam, “The Fortune Cookie Smiled,” Sports Illustrated, November 3, 1975.
96.Bill Verigan, “Knicks Hope to Land Wilt; Seek Permission for Talks,” (NY) Daily News, September 29, 1975.
97.Bill Verigan, “Knicks Off to See Wilt; Compensation for LA,” (NY) Daily News, October 16, 1975.
98.Verigan, “Knicks Off to See Wilt.”
99.Putnam, “The Fortune Cookie Smiled.”
100.Jim O’Brien, “The Wilt Chamberlain Impasse,” New York Post, October 23, 1975.
101.Lee, Best Seat, 15.
102.Judy Klemesrud, “Donald Trump, Real Estate Promoter, Builds Image as He Buys Buildings,” New York Times, November 1, 1976.
103.Themis Chronopoulos and Jonathan Soffer, “After the Urban Crisis: New York and the Rise of Inequality,” Journal of Urban History 43, no. 6 (2017): 856.
104.Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 115; Oliver Allen, New York, New York: A History of the World’s Most Exhilarating and Challenging City (New York: Atheneum, 1990), 308.
105.Kevin Baker, “ ‘Welcome to Fear City’—The Inside Story of New York’s Civil War, 40 Years On,” Guardian, May 18, 2015.
106.Jeff Nussbaum, “The Night New York Saved Itself from Bankruptcy,” New Yorker, October 16, 2015.
107.Lankevich, New York City, 219; Baker, “ ‘Welcome to Fear City.’ ”
108.Nussbaum, “The Night New York Saved Itself from Bankruptcy;” Kim Phillips-Fein, Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2017), 2.
109.Frank Van Riper, “Ford to City: Drop Dead,” (NY) Daily News, October 30, 1975.
2. “You Don’t Get to Rebuild If You Are the New York Knicks”
1.Gavin Newsham, “When Pele and Cosmos Were Kings,” Guardian, June 9, 2005, https://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/jun/10/sport.comment.
2.Spencer Haywood with Scott Ostler, Spencer Haywood: The Rise, the Fall, the Recovery (New York: Amistad, 1992), 92; Marc J. Spears and Gary Washburn, The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball, and the Making of an American Iconoclast (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2020).
3.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 94.
4.Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship on and off the Court (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2017), 140.
5.Spears and Washburn, The Spencer Haywood Rule, 58.
6.Sean Deveney, “Spencer Haywood’s Hall of Fame Eyes Opened by Fiery Jesse Owens Speech at 1968 Olympics,” Sporting News, September 10, 2015.
7.Spears and Washburn, The Spencer Haywood Rule, 57.
8.Pat Putnam, “The Fortune Cookie Smiled,” Sports Illustrated, November 3, 1975.
9.Harvey Araton, When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks (New York: Harper, 2011), 259.
10.Harthorne Wingo discussion with the author, October 2016.
11.Red Holzman and Harvey Frommer, Red on Red (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 15.
12.Marc Tracy, “Magic Number,” Tablet, June 3, 2010.
13.Mort Zachter, Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy of a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach (New York: Sports Publishing, 2019), x.
14.Zachter, Red Holzman.
15.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 170.
16.Based on points allowed per one hundred possessions, the Knicks finished fourteenth in the eighteen-team league.
17.Michael K. Herbert, “How to Win? A Big Center and Defense,” Basketball Digest, March 1976, 4.
18.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks out of Playoffs after Defeat,” New York Times, March 31, 1976; Mike Lupica, “Knicks Glad to Go Home,” New York Post, April 12, 1976.
19.Sam Goldaper, “Donovan Gives Views on Why Knicks Folded,” New York Times, April 1, 1976.
20.Bill Libby and Spencer Haywood, Stand Up for Something: The Spencer Haywood Story (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1972); Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood.
21.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 173.
22.Will Hermes, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (New York: Faber and Faber, 2011), 117.
23.Al Harvin, “Haywood, as Disc Jockey, Plays for New Audience,” New York Times, September 15, 1976.
24.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 174.
25.Spears and Washburn, The Spencer Haywood Rule, 112.
26.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 177.
27.Spears and Washburn, The Spencer Haywood Rule, 133.
28.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 177.
29.Pat Putnam, “The Fortune Cookie Smiled,” Sports Illustrated, November 3, 1975.
30.Jason Belzer, “NBA Renaissance Man: Earl Monroe Building a Business Empire off the Hardwood,” Forbes, May 7, 2013, https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbelzer/2013/05/07/nba-renaissance-man-earl-monroe-building-a-business-empire-off-the-hardwood.
31.For the best explanation of the merger from the perspective of the ABA, see Terry Pluto, Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990).
32.Bill Verigan, “Knicks Only Challenge to 76ers in Atlantic,” (NY) Daily News, October 18, 1977.
33.Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007), 3.
34.Miguelina Rodriguez, “Burn, Baby, Burn: The 1977 Blackout and Riots,” in Neil Smith and Don Mitchell, eds., Revolting New York: How 400 Years of Riot, Rebellion, Uprising, and Revolution Shaped a City (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2018), 221.
35.Quoted in Jonathan Abrams, The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (New York: Random House, 2022), 4.
36.Imani Kai Johnson, “Battling in the Bronx: Social Choreography and Outlaw Culture among Early Hip-Hop Streetdancers in New York City,” Dance Research Journal 5, no. 2 (August 2018): 67.
37.“Experienced Vandals,” The Cyber Bench: Documenting New York City Graffiti, accessed July 28, 2020, @149st, https://www.at149st.com/xvandals.html; Jaap de Jong, “The Fifth Element? A Study on the Common Ground Where Hip-Hop Meets Basketball,” MA thesis, Utrecht University, 2019.
38.Steve Hager, Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984), 31.
39.Onaje X. O. Woodbine, Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion: Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 42.
40.Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), 77.
41.Quoted in Abrams, The Come Up, 4.
42.Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2002), 26, 41.
43.Israel, dir., The Freshest Kids (Los Angeles: QD3 Entertainment, 2002).
44.Fricke and Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all, 65; Hager, Hip Hop, 33.
45.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 92, 96. In 2016, Bambaataa was accused of sexual assault on minors and, although he denied the allegations, resigned as head of Zulu Nation. See Kiersten Willis, “Afrika Bambaataa Steps Down as Zulu Nation Leader amid Reports of Child Sexual Assault,” Atlanta Black Star, May 9, 2016.
46.Fricke and Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all, 3; Abrams, The Come Up.
47.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 97.
48.Joseph G. Schloss, “ ‘Like Old Folk Songs Handed Down from Generation to Generation’: History, Canon, and Community in B-Boy Culture,” Ethnomusicology 50, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 413.
49.Pete Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA (New York: Atria Books, 2020), 157.
50.Ivan Sanchez and Luis “DJ Disco Wiz” Cedeño, It’s Just Begun: The Epic Journey of DJ Disco Wiz, Hip Hop’s First Latino DJ (Brooklyn: PowerHouse books, 2009), 41.
51.Fricke and Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all, 131.
52.Leonard Koppett, “Knicks Down Lakers, 102–97, in Opener,” New York Times, October 22, 1976; Bill Verigan, “Knicks Nip Lakers, 102–97 in Garden Opener,” (NY) Daily News, October 22, 1976.
53.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Lose to Kings at the Buzzer,” New York Times, November 24, 1976.
54.Anthony Paige, “Ticky Burden Unhappy but Still a Knick,” New York Amsterdam News, December 18, 1976.
55.Sam Goldaper, “M’Adoo Deal Seems Near; Knicks Bid,” New York Times, December 7, 1976
56.Goldaper, “M’Adoo Deal.”
57.Charley Rosen, God, Man, and Basketball Jones: The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Professional Basketball (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1979), 133.
58.Curry Kirkpatrick, “Shoot if You Must … I Must, Says McAdoo,” Sports Illustrated, March 8, 1976.
59.Shawn Fury, Rise and Fire: The Origins, Science, and Evolution of the Jump Shot—and How It Transformed Basketball Forever (New York: Flatiron Books, 2016), 206.
60.Jim Baker, “Buffalo’s Bob McAdoo: The NBA’s Top Scoring Machine,” Basketball Digest, November 1975, 42.
61.Dave Cowens discussion with the author, October 2016.
62.Steve Hershey, “The NBA’s 10 Most Valuable Players,” Basketball Digest, December 1977, 49; Michael DelNagro, “McAdoo about Something Boffo in Buffalo,” Sports Illustrated, March 18, 1974.
63.“Vindication,” in Pro Basketball ’75–’76 (New York: Pocket Books, 1975), 148.
64.Steve Cady, “A New Gunner for the Knicks,” New York Times, December 11, 1976.
65.Bill Verigan, “Burke Got McAdoo for N.Y. as well as for Knicks,” (NY) Daily News, December 11, 1976.
66.Jim O’Brien, “Fans Go Wild Again over Knicks,” Sporting News, January 22, 1977, 5.
67.Paige, “Ticky Burden Unhappy.”
68.Joe O’Day, “Groin Pull Delays M’Adoo’s Knick Debut,” (NY) Daily News, December 11, 1976.
69.Pete Axthelm, The City Game: Basketball in New York from the World Champion Knicks to the World of the Playgrounds (New York: Harper’s Magazine Press, 1970), 95–96, 100.
70.Walt Frazier with Neil Offen, Walt Frazier: One Magic Season and a Basketball Life (New York: Crown, 1988), 146.
71.Ernestine Bradley, The Way Home: A German Childhood, an American Life (New York: Pantheon Books, 2005), 172, 187.
72.Sam Goldaper, “Pistons Routed as Forward Gets 34 in 3 Periods,” New York Times, December 27, 1976.
73.Sam Goldaper, “76ers Down Knicks on McGinnis Shot,” New York Times, December 26, 1976.
74.Mel Davis discussion with the author, February 2017.
75.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 157.
76.Butch Beard discussion with the author, October 2016.
77.Dave Anderson, “Defining What the Knicks Are Not,” New York Times, January 25, 1977.
78.Joseph G. Schloss, “ ‘Like Old Folk Songs Handed Down from Generation to Generation’: History, Canon, and Community in B-Boy Culture,” Ethnomusicology 50, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 416.
79.Shea Serrano, The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year since 1979 (New York: Abrams Image, 2015).
80.Robert Ford Jr., “B-Beats Bombarding Bronx: Mobile DJ Starts Something with Oldie R&B Disks,” Billboard, July 1, 1978, 65; Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola, Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011), 55.
81.Quoted in Abrams, The Come Up, 19.
82.Schloss, “ ‘Like Old Folk Songs,” 420.
83.Joseph G. Schloss, Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls, and Hip-Hop Culture in New York (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 61. As one B-boy explained, “A breakdancer is someone who has learned the dance for mercenary reasons while a B-boy has learned it through a commitment to the culture.”
84.Israel, The Freshest Kids. Toprock is footwork done while standing; downrock is done with hands and feet on the floor.
85.Hager, Hip Hop, 32.
86.Schloss, Foundation, 29.
87.Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal, eds., That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2004), 18.
88.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 116.
89.Forman and Neal, That’s the Joint!, 37.
90.Imani Kai Johnson, “Battling in the Bronx: Social Choreography and Outlaw Culture among Early Hip-Hop Streetdancers in New York City,” Dance Research Journal 5, no. 2 (August 2018): 64.
91.Sam Goldaper, “Kings Conquer Knicks, 112–105 on 36–19 Edge in Last Period,” New York Times, January 30, 1977.
92.Anderson, “Defining What the Knicks Are Not.”
93.Mike Lupica, “Earl Monroe: The Magic Show Is Back,” Basketball Digest, March 1977, 18–23.
94.David Halberstam, Breaks of the Game (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981), 245.
95.Spike Lee with Ralph Wiley, Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997), 70.
96.Lupica, “Earl Monroe,” 20.
97.Jeff Duncan, “Remembering the Night Pistol Pete Scored 68 points,” Times-Picayune, February 25, 2017, https://www.nola.com/sports/pelicans/article_2a81c7aa-908c-5809-a469-6494ba4688bd.html.
98.“Maravich: 68 in Rout of the Knicks,” New York Times, February 26, 1977.
99.Spears and Washburn, The Spencer Haywood Rule, 134.
100.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 159.
101.Zachter, Red Holzman, 228.
102.Bill Verigan, “Knicks Win, But Phil Calls ’em Losers,” (NY) Daily News, April 11, 1977.
103.Jim O’Brien, “Jerry West and Willis Reed: ‘Why the Game was Better in Our Day,’ ” Basketball Digest, May 1977, 35.
104.Alex Ogg with David Upshal, The Hip Hop Years: A History of Rap (New York: Fromm International, 2001), 41.
105.Hager, Hip Hop, 45.
106.David Toop, Rap Attack 3: African Rap to Global Hip Hop (London: Serpent’s Tail, 2000), 29.
107.Sam Goldaper, “Nets Seeking to Move to Jersey, Sue Knicks Over Effort to Block It,” New York Times, July 7, 1977.
108.“O’Brien Backs Knicks’ Stand on Nets’ Move,” New York Times, July 9, 1977.
109.Bill Verigan, “Nets Draft Bernard King,” (NY) Daily News, June 11, 1977.
110.Mike Glenn discussion with the author, October 2016; Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Pick Williams and Nets King in First Round,” New York Times, June 11, 1977.
111.Mike Saunders discussion with the author, March 2020.
112.Glenn discussion, October 2016; A. J. Woodson, “BW History: Ray Williams,” Black Westchester Magazine, November 2, 2016.
113.James Goodman, Blackout (New York: North Point Press, 2003), 23, 47; Abrams, The Come Up.
114.Rodriguez, “Burn, Baby, Burn,” 223.
115.Goodman, Blackout, 83, 93.
116.Rodriguez, “Burn, Baby, Burn,” 218–19.
117.Kevin Baker, “ ‘Welcome to Fear City’—the Inside Story of New York’s Civil War, 40 Years On,” Guardian, May 18, 2015.
118.Quoted in Rodriguez, “Burn, Baby, Burn,” 219.
119.Martin Gottlieb and James Glanz, “The Blackout of 2003: The Past; The Blackouts of ’65 and ’77 Became Defining Moments in the City’s History,” New York Times, August 15, 2003.
120.James Goodman, Blackout (New York: North Point Press, 2003), 192.
121.Lee Dembart, “Carter Takes ‘Sobering’ Trip to South Bronx,” New York Times, October 6, 1977. The boundaries of the South Bronx have changed over time. Initially “South Bronx” referred just to the Mott Haven neighborhood, below 149th; now it encompasses everything south of Fordham Road.
122.Joanne Reitano, The Restless City: A Short History of New York from Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Routledge, 2010), 191.
123.Quoted in Ivor L. Miller, Aerosol Kingdom: Subway Painters of New York City (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012), 187.
124.Quoted in Abrams, The Come Up, 26.
125.Joe Flood, “Why the Bronx burned,” New York Post, May 16, 2010.
126.Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 2.
127.Rodriguez, “Burn, Baby, Burn,” 224.
128.Peter L’Official, Urban Legends: The South Bronx in Representation and Ruin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020), 2.
3. “The Flashiest Losers in the League”
1.“Ed Koch Funeral: Former Mayor’s Coffin Exits to ‘New York, New York,’ ” Associated Press, February 4, 2013.
2.Robert D. McFadden, “Suspect in ‘Son of Sam’ Murders Arrested in Yonkers,” New York Times, August 11, 1977.
3.Allan Tannenbaum, New York in the 70s (New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2011), 9.
4.Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 2.
5.Tom Robbins, “The Other New York Awaits Its Leader,” in New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg, ed. Marshall Berman and Brian Berger (New York: Reaktion Books, 2007), 152–65.
6.Soffer, Ed Koch, 146.
7.Sam Goldaper, “Reed Begins His Task of Rebuilding Knicks,” New York Times, September 21, 1977.
8.Sam Goldaper, “Old Knicks Show New Tricks in Victory over Bucks,” New York Times, October 2, 1977.
9.Steve Hershey, “Clyde Is Slower, but He Can Still Boost Cavs,” Sporting News, October 29, 1977, 40.
10.Walt Frazier with Dan Markowitz, The Game within the Game (New York: Hyperion, 2006), 71.
11.John Papanek, “Clyde, Laughing Cavalier,” Sports Illustrated, November 7, 1977.
12.Bill Verigan, “Frazier Considers Retirement or Cavs,” (NY) Daily News, October 9, 1977.
13.Tony Kornheiser, “The Gospel according to Willis,” New York Times, October 16, 1977.
14.Kornheiser, “The Gospel according to Willis.”
15.Jim O’Brien, “Knicks’ Big Mac Really Big Bust on Defense,” Sporting News, April 8, 1978.
16.Phil Jackson and Charley Rosen, More than a Game (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001), 50.
17.Sam Goldaper, “Reed’s Debut Is Successful as Knicks Win,” New York Times, October 19, 1977.
18.Bill Verigan, “The Knicks’ New Clyde,” (NY) Daily News, October 20, 1977.
19.George Kalinsky, Phil Berger, and Dennis D’Agostino, The New York Knicks: The Official Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration (New York: IDG, 1996), 149.
20.Papanek, “Clyde, Laughing Cavalier.”
21.Bryan Miller, “Maxwell’s Plum, a 60’s Symbol, Closes,” New York Times, July 11, 1988.
22.Frazier, The Game within the Game, 83.
23.Doug Smith, “Knicks Will Stand Pat,” New York Post, December 6, 1977.
24.Mike Saunders discussion with the author, March 2020.
25.John Papanek, “Big Men the Knicks Got, but a Team They Ain’t,” Sports Illustrated, December 12, 1977.
26.Mike Lupica, “Things Shaping Up for Haywood?,” (NY) Daily News, December 24, 1977.
27.Doug Smith, “Haywood Seethes on Bench as Knicks Bow,” New York Post, December 21, 1977.
28.Bill Verigan, “Spencer: I’m Treated Like Plague,” (NY) Daily News, December 22, 1977.
29.Doug Smith, “Talking with Willis Cools Off Spencer,” New York Post, December 21, 1977; “Knicks Go Cold at End and Bow to Cavs,” New York Times, December 23, 1977.
30.Jim O’Brien, “When Reed Shakes His Fist, Knicks Listen,” Sporting News, December 24, 1977.
31.Kalinsky, Berger, and D’Agostino, The New York Knicks, 261.
32.Mel Lowell discussion with the author, March 2020.
33.Stan Fischler, “Werblin to Try His Green Thumb on Garden,” Sporting News, January 7, 1978, 17.
34.Robert McGill Thomas Jr., “Sonny Werblin, an Impresario of New York’s Sports Extravaganza, Is Dead at 81,” New York Times, November 23, 1991.
35.Lowell discussion with author.
36.Phil Berger, “Making It Happen at the Garden,” New York Times, September 30, 1979.
37.Hubie Brown discussion with the author, February 2020.
38.Lowell discussion with author.
39.Berger, “Making It Happen at the Garden.”
40.Fred Ferretti, “Youths Roaming through Midtown Terrorize and Attack Passers-By,” New York Times, September 27, 1976.
41.George Kalinsky and Pete Hamill, Garden of Dreams: Madison Square Garden 125 Years (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004), 168.
42.Tom Werblin discussion with the author, February 2020.
43.Lowell discussion with author.
44.Harvey Araton, When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks (New York: Harper, 2011), 16.
45.Kalinsky, Berger, and D’Agostino, The New York Knicks, 130.
46.Saunders discussion with author.
47.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Need a Breath of Fresh Air: A Victory,” New York Times, January 22, 1978.
48.Jim Cleamons discussion with the author, November 2016.
49.Tony Kornheiser, “Knicks: Behind Big Mac Attack,” New York Times, January 30, 1978.
50.Kornheiser, “Knicks: Behind Big Mac Attack.”
51.Bob McAdoo discussion with the author, October 2016.
52.Kornheiser, “Knicks: Behind Big Mac Attack.”
53.Alice Echols, Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture (New York: W. W. Norton, 2010).
54.Judy Klemesrud, “Discotheque Fanatics Mob Latest Addition to Scene: Rating the Discos ‘Playpen’ Area,” New York Times, June 9, 1978.
55.Klemesrud, “Discotheque Fanatics.”
56.McAdoo discussion with author.
57.Butch Beard discussion with the author, October 2016.
58.Bernard King and Jerome Preisler, Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons on and off the Basketball Court (Cambridge, MA: DeCapo Press, 2017), 153.
59.Michael Weinreb, Bigger than the Game: Bo, Boz, the Punky QB, and How the ’80s Created the Modern Athlete (New York: Gotham Books, 2010), 75.
60.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 160.
61.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Top Pacers; Haywood Scores 37,” New York Times, February 10, 1978.
62.“Notes, Quotes & Comments,” Basketball Digest, June 1978, 16.
63.Peter Maas, “A Long Way from Carolina,” New York Times, March 6, 1978.
64.Jackson and Rosen, More than a Game, 51.
65.Bill Verigan, “Knick MD Backs Frazier’s Claim,” (NY) Daily News, April 16, 1978.
66.Bill Verigan, “Here Come ‘Bump-and-Bang’ 76ers,” (NY) Daily News, April 16, 1978.
67.Dave Anderson, “Spencer Haywood’s Strange Vibes,” New York Times, April 16, 1978.
68.As of 2023, it remains the worst loss in Knicks playoff history.
69.Bill Verigan, “Knicks Humiliated by Philly, 130–90,” (NY) Daily News, April 17, 1978.
70.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Suffer through Rerun of Horror Show,” New York Post, April 19, 1978.
71.Bill Verigan, “76ers Enjoy Bullying Mild-Acting Knicks,” (NY) Daily News, April 20, 1978.
72.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Teeter on the Brink of Extinction,” New York Post, April 21, 1978.
73.Paul Zimmerman, “Knicks’ Checkbook Style of Play Just Didn’t Work,” New York Post, April 21, 1978.
74.Mark Ribowsky, “This Big Mac’s Got a Lotta Beefs,” Sport, August 1978, 43.
75.Cleamons discussion with author.
76.Peter Braunstein, “ ‘Adults Only’: The Construction of an Erotic City in New York during the 1970s,” in America in the Seventies, ed. Beth Bailey and David Farber (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2004), 129–30; Jonathan Mahler, The Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of the City (New York: Picador, 2005), 124.
77.Samuel R. Delany, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (New York: New York University Press, 1999), 91.
4. “Meminger’s Law”
1.Shea Serrano, The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year since 1979 (New York: Abrams Image, 2015), 8.
2.Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2002), 184, 189.
3.Fricke and Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all, 196.
4.Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), 130.
5.Quoted in Jonathan Abrams, The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (New York: Random House, 2022), 49.
6.Chuck Wielgus Jr. and Alexander Wolff, The In-Your-Face Basketball Book (New York: Everest House, 1980), 38.
7.Bakari Kitwana, Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America (New York: Civitas Books, 2006).
8.Wielgus and Wolff, The In-Your-Face Basketball Book, 54, 41, 47.
9.Onaje X. O. Woodbine, Black Gods of the Asphalt: Religion: Hip-Hop, and Street Basketball (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 4, 9.
10.Wielgus and Wolff, The In-Your-Face Basketball Book, 59; Thomas P. Oates, “Selling Streetball: Racialized Space, Commercialized Spectacle, and Playground Basketball,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 34, no. 1 (2017): 94–100.
11.Woodbine, Black Gods of the Asphalt, 42.
12.There were other basketball hotbeds at this time, to be sure. Philadelphia, and its famed Baker League where Earl Monroe earned the nickname “Pearl,” and Boston, where the Celtics won more than a dozen titles in the sixties and seventies and with a rich playground heritage that Onaje X.O. Woodbine brings to life in Black Gods of the Asphalt, merit consideration. But New York City stood head and shoulders above them then.
13.“Power Memorial Academy: A Brief Chronology,” https://www.powermemorialacademy.com/files/Design/PowerStory.pdf.
14.Pete Axthelm, The City Game: Basketball in New York from the World Champion Knicks to the World of the Playgrounds (New York: Harper’s Magazine Press, 1970), viii.
15.Sam Goldaper, “Will Knicks Bid for Thompson if He’s Free?,” New York Times, February 20, 1978.
16.Sam Goldaper, “A Trade for Abdul-Jabbar? Whisper Becomes a Rumor,” New York Times, May 9, 1978.
17.Harvey Araton, “Nets Give Jackson Reprieve,” New York Post, June 9, 1978; Sam Goldaper, “Nets Get Phil Jackson as Part of a Settlement with Knicks,” New York Times, June 9, 1978.
18.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Pick an Unknown,” New York Post, June 9, 1978.
19.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Lose Again: Settle for a Guard,” New York Times, June 10, 1978.
20.Goldaper, “Knicks Lose Again.”
21.Araton, “Knicks Pick an Unknown.”.
22.Harvey Araton, “Knicks’ Draft Choices Cram Backcourt,” New York Post, June 10, 1978.
23.Goldaper, “Knicks Lose Again.”
24.Sam Goldaper, “Walton Asks for Trade and Blazers Agree to It,” New York Times, August 5, 1978.
25.“Walton, Knicks to Meet,” New York Times, August 6, 1978.
26.Curry Kirkpatrick, “Heavens, What a Year Ahead!” Sports Illustrated, October 16, 1978.
27.Kirkpatrick, “Heavens, What a Year Ahead!”
28.Kirkpatrick, “Heavens, What a Year Ahead!”
29.Quoted in Charley Rosen, Sugar: Micheal Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018), 16.
30.“Richardson Is Older, Wiser and Better,” New York Times, November 6, 1980; Rosen, Sugar, 17; Armen Keteyian, Harvey Araton, and Martin F. Dardis, Money Players: Days and Nights inside the New NBA (New York: Pocket Books, 1997), 88.
31.Quoted in Rosen, Sugar, 12.
32.Michael Shapiro, “I’m at the Edge of a Cliff,” Sport, April 1984, 102.
33.Rosen, Sugar, 18.
34.Mike Glenn discussion with the author, October 2016.
35.Mike Saunders discussion with the author, March 2020.
36.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 160
37.Glenn discussion with author.
38.Bob McAdoo discussion with the author, October 2016.
39.Vincent M. Mallozzi, Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 2.
40.Wielgus and Wolff, The In-Your-Face Basketball Book, 136.
41.Nelson George, Elevating the Game: Black Men and Basketball (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), 75.
42.Quoted in Woodbine, Black Gods of the Asphalt, 45.
43.Mallozzi, Asphalt Gods, 153.
44.Harthorne Wingo discussion with the author, October 2016.
45.Axthelm, The City Game, 141.
46.Rick Telander, Heaven Is a Playground, 4th ed. (New York: Sports Publishing, 2013), 23.
47.Woodbine, Black Gods of the Asphalt, 17.
48.Telander, Heaven Is a Playground, 42.
49.Dick Young, “Rose’s Case before Public,” Sporting News, October 28, 1978, 14.
50.Harvey Araton, “Willis Sick of the Rumors,” New York Post, November 7, 1978.
51.Journalist Harvey Araton used the phrase “vote of confidence” and blamed himself, at least in part, for the reaction of Knicks management to Reed’s request for team support. Araton discussion with the author, September 2016.
52.Gene Ward, “No Support for Willis; Promises to Talk,” (NY) Daily News, November 8, 1978.
53.Phil Pepe, “Holzman Replaces Reed,” (NY) Daily News, November 11, 1978.
54.McAdoo discussion with author.
55.Glenn discussion with author.
56.Harvey Araton, “Holzman Must Pick,” New York Post, November 12, 1978; Pepe, “Holzman Replaces Reed.”
57.Red Holzman and Harvey Frommer, Red on Red (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 163.
58.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 163, 165.
59.Spencer Haywood with Scott Ostler, Spencer Haywood: The Rise, The Fall, The Recovery. (New York: Amistad, 1992), 182.
60.Harvey Araton, “Same Old Problems Taint Knicks’ Opener,” New York Post, October 13, 1978.
61.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 166.
62.Glenn discussion with author.
63.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 165.
64.Mike Lupica, “New Knicks Need Monroe’s Class,” (NY) Daily News, November 7, 1978.
65.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks and Holzman Are Changing Styles,” New York Times, November 14, 1978; Jim Cleamons discussion with the author, November 2016.
66.“Notes, Quotes and Comments,” Basketball Digest, March 1979, 14.
67.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Rolling On; Nets Routed, 140–118,” New York Times, November 22, 1978.
68.Tony Kornheiser, “Knicks: A Team Seeking Teamwork,” New York Times, December 27, 1978.
69.Mort Zachter, Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy of a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach (New York: Sports Publishing, 2019), 218.
70.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 169
71.Rosen, Sugar, 22.
72.Harvey Araton, “Knicks’ Top Pick Demands Trade,” New York Post, January 5, 1979.
73.Rosen, Sugar, 21, 22.
74.Bill Verigan, “Haywood to Jazz,” (NY) Daily News, January 6, 1979.
75.Marc J. Spears, The Spencer Haywood Rule: Battles, Basketball, and the Making of an American Iconoclast (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2020), 138.
76.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Trade Haywood to New Orleans,” New York Post, January 6, 1979.
77.Jeff Pearlman, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s (New York: Gotham Books, 2014), 48.
78.Spears, The Spencer Haywood Rule, 146.
79.Haywood, Spencer Haywood: The Rise, The Fall, The Recovery, 192–093.
80.Pearlman, Showtime, 82.
81.Pearlman, Showtime, 90.
82.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Drop Fifth in a Row, 122–105,” New York Times, January 29, 1979; “Knicks’ Holzman Finds Silver Lining,” New York Times, January 26, 1979.
83.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Lose, 107–104; Streak Is Now at Six,” New York Times, January 30, 1979.
84.Harvey Araton and Mike Marley, “McAdoo Traded to Celtics,” New York Post, February 12, 1979.
85.D’Agostino, Garden Glory, 164.
86.Harvey Araton, “Sonny: We’ve Got Nothing to Lose,” New York Post, February 12, 1979; Sam Goldaper, “Werblin Recalls McAdoo Deal: The Start of Knicks’ Road Back,” New York Times, February 10, 1980.
87.Randy Harvey, “When It Came to Building a Championship Team, Boston’s Red Auerbach and a Supporting Case Had All the Answers and, Eventually, the Top Players: The Making of the Celtics,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1985.
88.Malcolm Moran, “McAdoo Frets over Family, Back Pay,” New York Times, February 13, 1979; McAdoo discussion with author; Bill Verigan, “Mac: Thought I Had Found a Home,” (NY) Daily News, February 13, 1979.
89.Verigan, “Mac.”
90.Verigan, “Mac.”
91.Jeffrey Lane, Under the Boards: the Cultural Revolution in Basketball (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007), 128.
92.Goldaper, “Werblin Recalls McAdoo Deal.”.
93.Boston sent McAdoo to Detroit as compensation for signing free agent M. L. Carr and received two first-round picks as well. One of those choices was the first pick of the 1980 NBA draft, which they flipped to the Golden State Warriors for McHale and Parish.
94.Sam Goldaper, “McAdoo Gone, Knicks Set to Rebuild,” New York Times, February 13, 1979.
95.“What the Hell Happened to … Tom Barker?,” Celtics Life, accessed December 4, 2020, http://www.celticslife.com/2014/09/wthht-tom-barker.html.
96.D’Agostino, Garden Glory, 165; Glenn discussion with author.
97.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Pitiful Season Closes on Sour Note,” New York Post, April 6, 1979.
98.D’Agostino, Garden Glory, 167.
99.Araton, “Knicks Pitiful Season.”
100.“Notes, Quotes and Comments,” Basketball Digest, June 1979, 18.
101.Sam Goldaper, “Dear Knicks: Fans Offer Suggestions on Draft Picks,” New York Times, June 5, 1979. In 1986, Garland went on tour with his half-sister as a background vocalist, having lasted just one season in the NBA.
102.Dave Sims, “Magic, Greenwood 1–2 in Draft,” (NY) Daily News, June 26, 1979.
103.Harvey Araton, “Cartwright Gunning for No-Trade Contract,” New York Post, June 26, 1979.
104.Harvey Araton and Leonard Lewin, “Knicks Pick Bill Cartwright,” New York Post, June 25, 1979.
105.Jerry Izenberg, “Character Reference,” New York Post, June 26, 1979.
106.Roy S. Johnson, “Were It Any Other Year … Bill Cartwright Would Be the NBA’s No. 1 Rookie, Not Just the Knick MVP,” Sport, March 17, 1980.
107.Bill Cartwright discussion with the author, October 2016.
108.Araton, “Cartwright Gunning for No-Trade Contract.”
109.Bill Verigan, “Knick Fans Like Choice of Cartwright,” (NY) Daily News, June 26, 1979.
110.Harvey Araton, “Webster: I’m the Center,” New York Post, June 27, 1979.
5. “Black, White, Green, or Red”
1.David Halberstam, Breaks of the Game (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981), 30.
2.Walt Frazier with Neil Offen, Walt Frazier: One Magic Season and a Basketball Life (New York: Crown, 1988), 23, 24.
3.Dave Anderson, “About the All-Black Knicks,” New York Times, October 25, 1979.
4.Harvey Araton, “Garden Priority: Build a Winner,” New York Post, October 23, 1979.
5.Jack Krumpe discussion with the author, March 2020.
6.Mike Saunders discussion with the author, March 2020.
7.Krumpe discussion with author.
8.“Over All Black N.Y. Knicks,” Jet, December 27, 1979.
9.Araton, “Garden Priority.”
10.Peter Vecsey, “Fan Views Differ on Color Scheme,” New York Post, October 23, 1979.
11.Mort Zachter, Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy of a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach (New York: Sports Publishing, 2019), 218.
12.Barbara Barker, “Black History Month: Red Holzman’s Knicks Were First NBA Team to Have All-Black Roster,” Newsday, February 15, 2020, https://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/knicks-black-history-month-red-holzman-g18781.
13.Ray Weedon, “Knicks … Nets: An Analysis,” New York Amsterdam News, October 6, 1979.
14.“Some N.Y. Knicks’ Fans Dislike All Black Team,” Jet, November 29, 1979.
15.Mel Lowell discussion with the author, March 2020.
16.Marv Fishman with Tracy Dodds, Bucking the Odds: The Birth of the Milwaukee Bucks (Milwaukee: Raintree, 1978), 82.
17.Quoted in Bob Ryan, “One of Pro Basketball’s Problems Is as Simple as Black and White,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 1982.
18.Pete Alfano, “Talking Basketball with … Larry O’Brien,” Basketball Digest, June 1980, 61–62.
19.Ryan, “One of Pro Basketball’s Problems Is as Simple as Black and White.”
20.Dennis Tredy, “Reflecting the Changing Face of American Society: How 1970’s Sitcoms and Spin-Offs Helped Redefine American Identity,” TV/Series, no. 4 (2013), http://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/735.
21.Quoted in Jonathan Abrams, The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (New York: Random House, 2022), 15, 31.
22.Abrams, The Come Up, 30.
23.Tim Lawrence, Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980–1983 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016), 271.
24.Marty Bell, The Legend of Dr. J (Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1975), 15, 58; Julius Erving and Karl Taro Greenfield, Dr. J: The Autobiography (New York: Harper, 2013), 82.
25.Vincent M. Mallozzi, Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 103.
26.Chuck Wielgus Jr. and Alexander Wolff, The In-Your-Face Basketball Book (New York: Everest House, 1980), 127, 129.
27.Chuck Wielgus and Alexander Wolff, The Back-In-Your-Face Guide to Pick-Up Basketball: A Have-Jump-Shot, Will-Travel Tour of America’s Hoops Hotspots (New York: Dodd Mead, 1987), 133, 139.
28.Wielgus and Wolff, The Back-In-Your-Face Guide to Pick-Up Basketball, xx.
29.Derrick P. Alridge and James B. Stewart, “Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future,” Journal of African American History 90, no. 3 (Summer 2005): 190–95.
30.Thomas Turner, “German Sports Shoes, Basketball, and Hip Hop: The Consumption and Cultural Significance of the Adidas ‘Superstar’, 1966–1988,” Sport in History, 35, no. 1 (2015): 127–55.
31.Gabe Filippa, “Sneakers That Defined 1980s Hip Hop,” Sneaker Freaker, February 14, 2019, https://www.sneakerfreaker.com/features/sneakers-that-defined-1980s-hip-hop; Pete Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA (New York: Atria Books, 2020), 206.
32.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 224.
33.Harvey Araton, Crashing the Borders: How Basketball Won the World and Lost Its Soul at Home (New York: Free Press, 2005), 26.
34.Quoted in Peter L’Official, Urban Legends: The South Bronx in Representation and Ruin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020), 22.
35.Kyle Longley, “Why Donald Trump Is Just Following in Ronald Reagan’s Footsteps on Race,” Washington Post, August 4, 2019.
36.Peter Vecsey, “Fan Views Differ on Color Scheme,” New York Post, October 23, 1979.
37.Vecsey, “Fan Views Differ on Color Scheme.”
38.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 167–69.
39.Barker, “Black History Month.”
40.Rory Sparrow discussion with the author, February 2020. Sparrow was in his senior season at Villanova in 1979/80 and would go on to play for the Knicks from midway through the 1982/83 season through the very beginning of the 1987/88 season.
41.Barker, “Black History Month.”
42.Dan Shaughnessy, “Recalling All-Black Knicks,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 3, 1982.
43.Spike Lee and Ralph Wiley, Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997), 94.
44.Howie Evans, “The Knicks: Color Them Black,” New York Amsterdam News, October 20, 1979.
45.Frank T. Bannister Jr., “Search for ‘White Hopes’ Threatens Black Athletes,” Ebony, February 1980, 130–34.
46.Richard Lapchick and David Zimmerman, “The 2020 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association,” July 23, 2020, tidesport.org/.
47.Jonathan Rieder, Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn against Liberalism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 1, 41, 61, 121–22.
48.Saunders discussion with the author.
49.Sam Goldaper, “Can Williams Lead the Knicks?,” New York Times, September 16, 1979.
50.Bill Cartwright discussion with the author, October 2016.
51.Sam Goldaper, “Only 7,911 at Garden Watch Knicks Rout Pacers by 136–112,” New York Times, October 24, 1979.
52.Red Holzman and Harvey Frommer, Red on Red (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 175.
53.Jim Cleamons discussion with the author, November 2016.
54.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Defeat Bullets, 107–104, as Richardson Scores at the Buzzer,” New York Times, December 6, 1979.
55.Jane Gross, “Earl Monroe: His Magic Act Isn’t Over Yet,” Basketball Digest, January 1980, 52.
56.Saunders discussion with author.
57.George Kalinsky and Pete Hamill, Garden of Dreams: Madison Square Garden, 125 Years (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004), 67.
58.Don Markus, “Four Decades Later, Baltimore Has Fond, Bittersweet Memories for Monroe,” Baltimore Sun, March 21, 2012; “Earl Monroe,” Reverse Spin Entertainment, accessed May 10, 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20120312081656/http://reversespinentertainment.com/earl-the-pearl-monroe.
59.William Jelani Cobb, To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (New York: New York University Press, 2007), 45.
60.Lawrence, Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 100.
61.Ken McLeod, “ ‘We Are the Champions’: Masculinities, Sports and Popular Music,” Popular Music and Society 29, no. 5 (December 2006): 531–47.
62.Todd Boyd, Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 12, 15.
63.Quoted in Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 150, 155, 156.
64.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 159.
65.David Toop, Rap Attack 3: African Rap to Global Hip Hop (London: Serpent’s Tail, 2000), 161.
66.Ronin Ro, Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay (New York: Amistad, 2005).
67.Roy S. Johnson, “Were It Any Other Year … Bill Cartwright Would Be the NBA’s No. 1 Rookie, Not Just the Knick MVP,” Sport, March 17, 1980.
68.Johnson, “Were It Any Other Year.”
69.Johnson, “Were It Any Other Year.”
70.Cartwright discussion with author.
71.Barker, “Black History Month.”
72.Al Harvin, “Knicks Raise Hopes for Playoff, Beating Cavaliers by 128–115,” New York Times, March 26, 1980.
73.Joe O’Day, “Red Hollers Foul after Dr. J’s Play,” (NY) Daily News, March 28, 1980.
74.Harvey Araton, “Dr. J’s Steal Puts Knicks’ Playoff Hopes on Thin Ice,” New York Post, March 28, 1980.
75.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 177.
76.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Root Hard in Vain,” New York Times, March 31, 1980.
77.David Sims, “Richardson Watches Season End,” (NY) Daily News, March 31, 1980.
78.Mike Lupica, “ ‘No Practice Today’ Sign Goes Up at Garden,” (NY) Daily News, March 31, 1980.
79.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Quietly Head Home,” New York Post, April 1, 1980.
80.“Notes, Quotes and Comments,” Basketball Digest, May 1980, 16.
6. “Colorful yet Colorless”
1.Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2002), 309.
2.Ronin Ro, Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay (New York: Amistad, 2005).
3.Quoted in Jonathan Abrams, The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (New York: Random House, 2022), 69.
4.Kevin Armstrong, “The Price of Being Pearl,” (NY) Daily News, January 7, 2017.
5.Jack Wilkinson, “Draft crowd roars as Kiki goes Dallas,” (NY) Daily News, June 11, 1980.
6.Wilkinson, “Draft crowd roars.”
7.Harvey Araton, “Knicks: Woodson, Scales,” New York Post, June 10, 1980.
8.Mimi Sheraton, “Restaurants,” New York Times, April 14, 1978.
9.Michael Burke, Outrageous Good Fortune (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984), 407.
10.Mike Glenn discussion with the author, October 2016.
11.Glenn discussion with author. As of 2023, the only other Knick to win the award was Rory Sparrow in 1986, who was named co-recipient with Lakers guard Michael Cooper.
12.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Showing Pep,” New York Times, September 13, 1980.
13.Bill Cartwright discussion with the author, October 2016.
14.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Fret over Knight,” New York Times, September 25, 1980.
15.Campy Russell discussion with the author, January 2017; Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Get Russell, Lose Ailing Knight,” New York Times, September 26, 1980.
16.Sam Goldaper, “New Season Brings New Faces and Inspires New Hope,” New York Times, October 5, 1980.
17.Peter Vecsey, “Knick Backcourt Taking Command,” New York Post, October 14, 1980.
18.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Overwhelm 76ers, 113–93,” New York Times, October 15, 1980.
19.Steve Hershey, “Campy What Knicks Needed to Trigger Fast Getaway,” Sporting News, November 8, 1980, 33.
20.Carrie Seidman, “Knicks Triumph; Webster Ejected,” New York Times, November 8, 1980.
21.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Seeking Back-up Forward,” New York Post, November 10, 1980.
22.“Society World,” Jet, December 4, 1980.
23.Russell discussion with author.
24.The 1980–81 Knicks finished fourth in the NBA in turnovers created and sixth in turnovers.
25.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Extend Richardson Pact,” New York Times, November 11, 1980.
26.Peter Vecsey, “Richardson Signs New Contract,” New York Post, November 11, 1980.
27.George Vecsey, “As New Knicks Move Forward, They Must Deal with the Past,” New York Times, February 2, 1981; Nat Gottlieb, “New Knicks Haunted by Old Halo,” Sporting News, December 20, 1980, 31.
28.Vecsey, “As New Knicks Move Forward”.
29.Gerald Eskenazi, “With Its New Arena, Meadowlands Influence Is Still Growing,” New York Times, March 15, 1981.
30.“World Series Television Ratings,” Baseball Almanac, accessed March 12, 202, 1https://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/wstv.shtml.
31.Sam Goldaper, “Fan Loss Worries N.B.A.,” New York Times, November 4, 1980.
32.Goldaper, “Fan Loss Worries N.B.A.”
33.Allan Tannenbaum, New York in the 70s (New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2011), 6.
34.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Win, Gain Home-Court Advantage,” New York Times, March 21, 1981.
35.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Richardson: 27 Points, 19 Assists,” New York Times, March 22, 1981.
36.Mike Shalin, “Gilmore Swats Away ‘Flies’ in the Middle,” New York Post, April 1, 1981.
37.Rory Sparrow discussion with the author, February 2020.
38.Frank Litsky, “Gilmore Helps Slow Fast-Starting Knicks,” New York Times, April 1, 1981.
39.Harvey Araton, “Bulls Back Knicks against Playoff Wall,” New York Post, April 1, 1981.
40.Harvey Araton, “Bulls oust Knicks in OT, 115–114,” New York Post, April 4, 1981.
41.Gary Myers, “Gilmore Plays Sluggo to Knicks’ Mr. Bill,” (NY) Daily News, April 1, 1981.
42.Gary Myers, “Confusion Reigns as Knick Season Ends,” (NY) Daily News, April 4, 1981.
43.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Facing Several Problems,” New York Times, April 5, 1981.
44.Peter Vecsey, “Point Finger at Management,” New York Post, April 6, 1981.
45.Red Holzman and Harvey Frommer, Red on Red (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 183.
46.Campy Russell discussion with author.
47.John Papanek, “Now Randy Is a Dandy,” Sports Illustrated, March 31, 1975, 56–59.
48.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Get Cavs’ Smith,” New York Times, May 21, 1981.
49.Gary Myers, “Knicks Send No. 1 to Cavs for Smith,” (NY) Daily News, May 21, 1981.
50.Harvey Araton, “Knicks’ Newlin Deal Clouds Ray’s Future,” New York Post, June 9, 1981.
51.Sam Goldaper, “Financial Difficulties in Sight for N.B.A.,” New York Times, June 14, 1981.
52.Araton, “Knicks’ Newlin Deal Clouds Ray’s Future.”
53.Joshua Mendelsohn, The Cap: How Larry Fleisher and David Stern Built the Modern NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020), 25.
54.Peter Richmond, “The NBA Financial Picture: Cloudy, Fuzzy and Fading Fast?,” Basketball Digest, March 1982, 54–61.
55.Kevin Kernan, “NBA Searches for Solution to Financial Woes,” New York Post, January 30, 1982.
56.Bruce Newman, “Can the NBA Save Itself?” Sports Illustrated, November 1, 1982.
57.Mendelsohn, The Cap, 193.
58.Nelson George, “The New Bidding Game in Sports,” Black Enterprise, January 1983, 31, 32.
59.Araton, “Knicks’ Newlin Deal Clouds Ray’s Future.”
60.George Vecsey, “Knicks, Williams Do a Disco Dance,” New York Times, August 10, 1981.
7. “The Ship Be Sinking”
1.“MTV Launches,” This Day in History, HISTORY Network, accessed May 12, 2023, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mtv-launches.
2.J. Pablo, “Ralph McDaniels Keeps Hip-Hop Culture Moving Forward,” Village Voice, November 16, 2011, https://www.villagevoice.com/2011/11/16/ralph-mcdaniels-keeps-hip-hop-culture-moving-forward; Nas, dir., You’re Watching Video Music Box (Showtime, 2022).
3.Pablo, “Ralph McDaniels.”
4.Dave Sims, “Nets’ Williams Isn’t Just Heavy in the Wallet,” New York Daily News, October 27, 1981.
5.Red Holzman and Harvey Frommer, Red on Red (New York: Bantam Books, 1987), 182.
6.Mike Glenn discussion with the author, October 2016.
7.Campy Russell discussion with the author, January 2017.
8.Neil Best, “New ‘Beginnings’ for Micheal Ray Richardson,” Newsday, November 12, 2014.
9.Charley Rosen, Sugar: Micheal Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018), 35.
10.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 182.
11.Russell discussion with author.
12.David Halberstam, Breaks of the Game (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981), 55.
13.Sam Goldaper, “Lucas Shows Class in Debut for Knicks,” New York Times, October 27, 1981.
14.Harvey Araton, “Lucas Finds Home under Knicks’ Boards,” New York Post, October 27, 1981.
15.Thom Greer, “New Lease on Life for Eager Lucas,” New York Daily News, October 27, 1981.
16.Roy S. Johnson, “Lucas Keeps the House in Order,” New York Times, December 6, 1981.
17.Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 262.
18.Themis Chronopoulos, Spatial Regulation in New York City: From Urban Renewal to Zero Tolerance (New York: Routledge, 2011), 83; Themis Chronopoulos and Jonathan Soffer, “After the Urban Crisis: New York and the Rise of Inequality,” Journal of Urban History 43, no. 6 (2017): 855–63.
19.Chronopoulos, Spatial Regulation.
20.Quoted in Jonathan Abrams, The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (New York: Random House, 2022), 7.
21.Quoted in Chronopoulos, Spatial Regulation, 108.
22.Soffer, Ed Koch, 255.
23.Peter Bailey, “Can Harlem Be Saved?” Ebony, January 1983, 83.
24.Soffer, Ed Koch, 244.
25.Sam Goldaper, “Burke Is Retiring from Garden Posts,” New York Times, September 20, 1981.
26.George Kalinsky and Pete Hamill, Garden of Dreams: Madison Square Garden 125 Years (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004), 92, 96, 98.
27.Disco Demolition Night in Chicago was July 12, 1979; punk transitioned to post-punk about two years earlier.
28.Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), 128.
29.Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal, eds. That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (New York: Routledge, 2004), 147.
30.Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1994), 5.
31.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 194. In 1986, Run-DMC performed “My Adidas” and the connection to hip-hop was complete.
32.Louie Robinson, “The Blackening of White America,” Ebony, May 1980, 160.
33.Bakari Kitwana, Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America (New York: Basic Books, 2005), 24.
34.Quoted in Kitwana, Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop, 26–27.
35.Rhonda E. McKinney, “What’s Behind the Rise of Rap?” Ebony, January 1989.
36.Kitwana, Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop, 71.
37.Charles Whitaker, “The Real Story behind the Rap Revolution,” Ebony, June 1990, 34.
38.Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, 137.
39.Quoted in Abrams, The Come Up, 88.
40.Andrew Gee, “Beastie Boys’ Mike D Recalls a ‘F*cking Clown’ Move That Taught the Crew to Be Themselves as White MCs,” Uproxx, https://uproxx.com/music/mike-d-beastie-boys-white-rappers.
41.Thom Greer, “Lucas: Inside Story of Knicks’ Success,” New York Daily News, October 31, 1981.
42.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Lose 4th Straight,” New York Times, November 20, 1981.
43.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Latest Loss Follows a Pattern,” New York Times, November 16, 1981.
44.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Routed by Bullets, 114–88: Werblin Angered,” New York Times, December 4, 1981.
45.Sam Goldaper, “A Mature Cartwright Becomes More Physical on Rebounding,” New York Times, December 20, 1981.
46.Sam Goldaper, “ ‘Sugar’ Key to Knicks,” New York Times, January 4, 1982.
47.Rosen, Sugar, 37; Ed Marks, “Nets Beat Knicks; Ax over Holzman,” Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), December 26, 1981; Mort Zachter, Red Holzman: The Life and Legacy of a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach (New York: Sports Publishing, 2019), 223.
48.Rosen, Sugar, 36; Gary Buiso, “Knicks Fixed Games for Drug Dealers: FBI Probe,” New York Post, September 14, 2013.
49.Brian Tuohy, Larceny Games: Sports Gambling, Game Fixing and the FBI (Port Townsend, WA: Feral House, 2013), 201.
50.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Toppled in Overtime,” New York Times, January 11, 1982.
51.“Knicks Set Back Hawks, 104–101,” New York Times, January 23, 1982.
52.Sam Goldaper, “Questions Remain for Knicks,” New York Times, January 29, 1982.
53.Steve Hershey, “Forward Problems Continue in ‘As the Knicks Turn,’ ” Sporting News, January 23, 1982.
54.Sam Goldaper, “Williams of Knicks Draws Suspension,” New York Times, January 31, 1982.
55.Harvey Araton, “Sly: I Was Shocked by the Suspension,” New York Post, February 2, 1982; Roy S. Johnson, “Knicks Triumph; Williams Returns,” New York Times, February 4, 1982.
56.Thom Greer, “Red’s Task: Reinstate Discipline,” New York Daily News, January 29, 1982.
57.Sam Goldaper, “Sonics Trounce Knicks,” New York Times, January 26, 1982.
58.Chris Mitchell, “The Killing of Murder,” New York Magazine, January 4, 2008.
59.Quoted in Herbert London, The Broken Apple: New York City in the 1980s (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1989), 203.
60.London, The Broken Apple, 193.
61.u/GaryTheJerk, “When turned over & placed side-by-side, these singles form a piece by graffiti pioneer/The Clash collaborator Futura 2000 (1982),” Reddit, January 8, 2020. https://www.reddit.com/r/vinyl/comments/em2p8e/when_turned_over_placed_sidebyside_these_singles.
62.David Gonzalez, “Graffiti Is Back in Virus-Worn New York,” New York Times, July 8, 2020.
63.Steve Hershey, “Bring on Wilt? Sixers Desperate,” Sporting News, February 6, 1982.
64.Spike Lee and Ralph Wiley, Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1997), 87.
65.Rosen, Sugar, 36.
66.Rosen, Sugar, 36.
67.London, The Broken Apple, 145.
68.Quoted in Chris Herring, Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks (New York: Atria Books, 2022), 11.
69.Spencer Haywood with Scott Ostler, Spencer Haywood: The Rise, the Fall, the Recovery (New York: Amistad, 1992), 182.
70.Haywood and Ostler, Spencer Haywood, 33, 190, 192–93; Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, “ ‘Too Black’: Race in the “Dark Ages” of the National Basketball Association,” The International Journal of Sport and Society, 230.
71.Will Hermes, Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever (New York: Faber and Faber, 2011), 186, 193.
72.Michael Weinreb, Bigger than the Game: Bo, Boz, The Punky QB, and How the ’80s Created the Modern Athlete (New York: Gotham Books, 2010), 63.
73.Associated Press, “Porter Yielded to Pressure” Daily Union (Junction City, KS), February 26, 1981.
74.Carol Anderson, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016), 124.
75.Todd Boyd, Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 35, 39.
76.Sam Goldaper, “N.B.A. Will Ban Drug Users,” New York Times, September 29, 1983.
77.Anderson, White Rage, 130.
78.Jamel Shabazz, A Time before Crack (Brooklyn: PowerHouse Books, 2005), 144–45.
79.“Former NBA All Star Micheal Ray Richardson Reportedly Has …,” United Press International, May 5, 1987.
80.“Sonics Lose on Westphal,” New York Daily News, March 7, 1982.
81.“Schulman Says No to Knicks,” New York Times, February 25, 1982; Harvey Araton, “Knicks, Sonics battle for Westphal,” New York Post, February 25, 1982.
82.Thom Greer, “ ‘Secret’ Pact Worth Extra 700G to Westphal,” New York Daily News, March 12, 1982.
83.Holzman and Frommer, Red on Red, 42.
84.John Hewig discussion with the author, October 2016.
85.Hewig discussion with the author.
86.Hewig discussion with the author.
87.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Defeat Cavaliers,” New York Times, March 24, 1982.
88.Sam Goldaper, “Bulls Beat Knicks,” New York Times, April 15, 1982.
89.Harvey Araton, “All-Time Low Crowd at Garden Watches Bulls Trample Knicks,” New York Post, April 15, 1982.
90.Andrew Bagnato, “As a Teen Paul Westphal Spurned National Power UCLA to Play at Rival USC. Now He Has Left the NBA Grind for a Low-Key Pepperdine Program,” Chicago Tribune, February 15, 2002.
91.Bob Ryan, Celtic Pride: The Rebuilding of Boston’s World Championship Basketball Team (Boston: Little, Brown, 1975), 157.
92.“ ‘JJ’ Sore over Westphal’s Style of Pro Basketball,” Jet, October 5, 1978, 13.
93.Sam Goldaper, “Bullets Defeat Knicks," New York Times, March 14, 1982; Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Suspend Absent Williams for the Season,” New York Times, March 31, 1982.
94.Roy S. Johnson, “Knicks Eliminated as Playoff Contender,” New York Times, April 9, 1982.
95.Quoted in Herring, Blood in the Garden, 11.
96.Johnson, “Knicks Eliminated.”
97.Russell discussion with author.
98.“Statistical Minimums to Qualify for NBA League Leaders,” https://www.nba.com/stats/help/statminimums.
8. “A Policy of Patience”
1.“The Presence of the Past: Turning Points in NYC,” Philip Napoli, Macaulay Honors College, City University of New York, 2008, https://macaulay.cuny.edu/seminars/napoli08/articles/t/h/e/The_Tumultuous_80s_and_Bensonhurst_709c.html.
2.“Manslaughter Conviction in Racial Mob Slaying,” United Press International, March 9, 1983, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/03/09/Manslaughter-conviction-in-racial-mob-slaying/9070416034000.
3.Jason Sokol, All Eyes Are upon Us: Race and Politics from Boston to Brooklyn: The Conflicted Soul of the Northeast (New York: Basic Books, 2014), 259.
4.John Hewig discussion with the author, October 2016.
5.Harvey Araton and Leonard Lewin, “It’s Finally Official,” New York Post, May 20, 1982.
6.Richard O’Connor, “Life in a Game Situation,” Sport, February 1978, 45–48.
7.Steve Oney, “ ‘It’s Okay If You’re a Machine’: Inside Hubie Brown’s Brutal Philosophy,” Atlanta Journal and Constitution, December 9, 1979.
8.Richard O’Connor, “Rating the NBA Coaches,” Sport, March 1979, 92.
9.Bruce Newman, “The Gospel According to Hubie,” Sports Illustrated, October 31, 1983.
10.David DuPree, “Hubie Brown: Basketball’s Sideline Showman Psyches Up for the Toughest Job in the NBA,” Sport, November 1982, 25–30.
11.The boxing magazine was The Ring, the Boston restaurant was Clarke’s, and the restaurant in Manhattan was the George Martin.
12.Leonard Sloane, “Dave DeBusschere Finds Business Is a Pleasure,” New York Times, June 4, 1981.
13.Peter Alfano, “DeBusschere, Brown Try to Lift Knicks Out of Past,” New York Times, October 24, 1982.
14.Hewig discussion with author. Hewig also tells a story about the introductory press conference during which DeBusschere and Brown barely acknowledged each other’s presence.
15.Dave Sims, “DeBusschere Claims Brown Was His Pick,” (NY)Daily News, May 21, 1982.
16.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks to Build by Draft: Aim for 2 High Picks,” New York Times, June 16, 1982.
17.Harvey Araton, “Hubie: I Answer to DeBusschere,” New York Post, May 21, 1982.
18.Eric Compton, “Knicks Regime Faces Initial Test of Draft Smarts,” (NY) Daily News, June 29, 1982.
19.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Are Hot on the Trail of Suns’ Truck,” New York Post, June 28, 1982.
20.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Top Choice Is 6–5 Trent Tucker,” New York Times, June 30, 1982; Maurey Allen and Harvey Araton, “Knicks Pick Gopher Guard Trent Tucker,” New York Post, June 30, 1982.
21.Trent Tucker discussion with the author, November 2016.
22.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Deal Lucas to Suns for Truck Robinson,” New York Post, July 8, 1982; Sam Goldaper, “Lucas Is Traded to Suns,” New York Times, July 8, 1982.
23.John Feinstein, “As Camps Add Up, the Followers Are Divided,” Washington Post, July 25, 1984.
24.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks See Grunfeld as 3-Position Player,” New York Times, October 4, 1982.
25.Hubie Brown discussion with the author, February 2020.
26.Goldaper, “Knicks See Grunfeld.”
27.Paul Knepper, The Knicks of the Nineties: Ewing, Oakley, Starks and the Brawlers That Almost Won It All (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020), 51.
28.Jeff Chang, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), 18.
29.Sam Goldaper, “Brown Works Knicks Hard,” New York Times, October 3, 1982.
30.Mike Douchant, “Hoop Scoop,” Sporting News, October 4, 1982.
31.Kevin Kernan, “Knicks Ship Sugar,” New York Post, October 23, 1982.
32.Sam Goldaper, “Warriors Match Offer to King,” New York Times, October 14, 1982.
33.Harvey Araton, “Warrior Owner Foils King deal,” New York Post, October 14, 1982.
34.Sam Goldaper, “Warriors Match Offer to King,” New York Times, October 14, 1982.
35.Kernan, “Knicks Ship Sugar.”
36.Goldaper, “Warriors Match Offer to King.”
37.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Are Still Missing Point at Guard,” New York Post, October 25, 1982.
38.Bernard King and Jerome Preisler, Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons on and off the Basketball Court (Cambridge, MA: DeCapo Press, 2017), 201.
39.Paul Needell, “Knicks’ New King Anxious to Please,” (NY) Daily News, October 26, 1982.
40.King and Preisler, Game Face, 201.
41.King and Preisler, Game Face, 206.
42.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Beaten in Opener,” New York Times, October 30, 1982; Paul Needell, “Nets Win Opener; 76ers Rip Knicks,” (NY) Daily News, October 30, 1982.
43.Needell, “Nets Win Opener.”
44.Harvey Araton, “Warriors Sweet on Sugar,” Sporting News, November 29, 1982, 54.
45.King and Preisler, Game Face, 207. Darrell Walker clashed with Brown on numerous occasions, he told me. “I wasn’t going to be talked to like I was a dog and wasn’t going to accept that treatment.” Darrell Walker discussion with the author, December 2016.
46.King and Preisler, Game Face, 208, 209.
47.King and Preisler, Game Face, 209.
48.Sam Goldaper, “Brown Works Knicks Hard,” New York Times, October 3, 1982.
49.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Win First after Seven Losses,” New York Times, November 13, 1982.
50.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Hedge on Point Guard,” New York Times, October 26, 1982.
51.Sam Goldaper, “King’s 25 Bolster Knicks,” New York Times, December 2, 1982.
52.Sam Goldaper, “Robinson Slump Hurts Knicks,” New York Times, December 6, 1982.
53.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Beaten by Suns,” New York Times, January 5, 1983.
54.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks: A New Look, but Few Watch,” New York Times, January 23, 1983.
55.Steve Hershey, “Knicks Sagging at Center,” Sporting News, January 10, 1983.
56.Harvey Araton, “Cartwright Rebounds against Foes, Critics,” (NY) Daily News, January 21, 1983.
57.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Robinson Is Finding His Role,” New York Times, January 24, 1983.
58.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Win by 33 before 6,514 at Garden,” New York Times, January 24, 1983.
59.“Knicks Acquire Sparrow,” New York Times, February 14, 1983; New York Knicks, “#NYK70 Presented by Chase: Remembering ’84,” YouTube, March 29, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkTsNWmQhE&ab_channel=NewYorkKnicks;Rory Sparrow discussion with the author, February 2020.
60.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Win; 32 for Cartwright,” New York Times, February 26, 1983.
61.Michael Katz, “Knicks Defeated by 76ers, 106–94,” New York Times, March 2, 1983.
62.Steve Hershey, “Knicks Get the Message, Learn Defense Pays Off,” Sporting News, March 7, 1983.
63.Frank Litsky, “Knicks Close Their Trap on Pacers,” New York Times, February 9, 1983.
64.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Defeat Celtics, 122–110,” New York Times, March 14, 1983.
65.Mel Lowell discussion with the author, March 2020.
66.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Trounce Bucks for 7th Straight,” New York Times, March 17, 1983.
67.King and Preisler, Game Face, 109; Russ Devault, “Troubled Bernard Is Now King of the Nets,” Basketball Digest, March 1978, 88–92.
68.Bert Rosenthal, “The Knicks’ One-Man Offense Bernard King,” Basketball Digest, April 1983, 16–21.
69.Israel, dir., The Freshest Kids (Los Angeles: QD3 Entertainment, 2002).
70.Quoted in Jonathan Abrams, The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop (New York: Random House, 2022), 73.
71.“Basketball Throwdown Lyrics,” Genius, accessed March 10, 2021, https://genius.com/The-cold-crush-brothers-vs-fantastic-freaks-basketball-throwdown-lyrics.
72.Sparrow discussion with author.
73.George Vecsey, “The Big East,” New York Times, March 13, 1983.
74.Vecsey, “The Big East.”
75.“Knicks Will Pay to Keep Hubie,” (NY) Daily News, April 18, 1983.
76.Harvey Araton, “Hubie Blasts Larry,” (NY) Daily News, April 22, 1983.
77.Paul Needell, “Knicks, Nets Cannot Wait to Get Going,” (NY)Daily News, April 19, 1983.
78.Len Elmore discussion with the author, October 2016.
79.Roy S. Johnson, “Knicks Win Playoff Opener,” New York Times, April 21, 1983.
80.Mike Lupica, “Knicks’ Fans Shout: ‘We Want Philly,’ ” (NY)Daily News, April 22, 1983.
81.Ed Barkowitz, “How Andrew Toney Became the ‘Boston Strangler,’ ” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 26, 2012.
82.Kevin Kernan, “Moses Mows ’Em Down,” New York Post, April 25, 1983.
83.Kevin Kernan, “King’s Ankle Pains Knicks,” New York Post, April 25, 1983.
84.Harvey Araton, “Numbers Don’t Lie: Cartwright’s Days Are Numbered,” (NY) Daily News, April 29, 1983.
85.Mike Lupica, “Knicks’ Special April—May It Last Forever,” (NY) Daily News, May 1, 1983.
86.Sam Goldaper, “76ers Beat Knicks by 107–105 in Last 0:02 for 3–0 Lead,” New York Times, May 1, 1983.
87.Paul Needell and Harvey Araton, “Truck to Suns: I Have Proven I’m Not a Loser,” (NY) Daily News, May 2, 1983.
88.Kevin Kernan, “Death-Row Knicks Eye a Stay of Execution,” New York Post, April 30, 1983.
89.“McHale and Knicks to Meet,” New York Times, June 22, 1983.
90.Phil Pepe, “Fans Love Knick Pick of Walker,” (NY) Daily News, June 29, 1983; Walker discussion with author.
91.Pepe, “Fans Love Knick Pick.”
92.Pete Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA (New York: Atria Books, 2020), 43.
93.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 58.
94.Quoted in Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time 105.
95.Shawn Fury, “How NBA Entertainment Helped Save the League and Spread a Renaissance,” Vice, June 15, 2016, accessed December 4, 2020, https://www.vice.com/en/article/mgzgg3/how-nba-entertainment-helped-save-the-league-and-spread-a-renaissance.
96.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 105.
97.Joshua Mendelsohn, The Cap: How Larry Fleisher and David Stern Built the Modern NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020), 223.
98.Sam Goldaper, “Financial Difficulties in Sight for N.B.A.,” New York Times, June 14, 1981.
99.Mendelsohn, The Cap, 233, 235.
100.Quoted in Mendelsohn, The Cap, 271.
101.Phil Elderkin, “Pro Basketball’s ‘Landmark’ Decision and What It Means,” Christian Science Monitor, April 11, 1983.
9. “To the Hoop, Y’All”
1.Kevin Kernan, “Cool-Hand Hubie Returns,” New York Post, October 25, 1983.
2.Bruce Newman, “The Gospel According to Hubie,” Sports Illustrated, October 31, 1983.
3.John Hewig discussion with the author, October 2016.
4.Kevin Kernan, “Knick Tough Guys Fighting to Revive the Glory Years,” New York Post, October 21, 1983.
5.Robert D. McFadden, “Owner of Rangers and Knicks Repeats Pledge to Keep Them in the City,” New York Times, January 9, 1984.
6.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Walker Is Impressive,” New York Times, November 14, 1983.
7.Ira Berkow, “Williams Makes a New Start with Knicks,” New York Times, October 28, 1983.
8.Harvey Araton, “Williams’s Star Shined in Knicks Guard Tandem,” New York Times, March 22, 2013.
9.Charley Rosen, Sugar: Micheal Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018), 58.
10.Rosen, Sugar, 71.
11.Rosen, Sugar, 71, 73, 132.
12.Frank Isola, “Clear Sailin’ Sugar Finds Life and Hoops Sweet at Last,” (NY) Daily News, February 14, 2000.
13.Harvey Araton, Crashing the Borders: How Basketball Won the World and Lost Its Soul at Home (New York: Free Press, 2005), 13; Rosen, Sugar, 172.
14.Joshua Mendelsohn, The Cap: How Larry Fleisher and David Stern Built the Modern NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020), 297.
15.Pete Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA (New York: Atria Books, 2020), 166.
16.Lawrence K. Altman, “Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals,” New York Times, July 3, 1981.
17.Tom Fitzsimmons, “LGBTQ History Month: The Early Days of America’s AIDS Crisis,” NBC News, October 15, 2018, https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-history-month-early-days-america-s-aids-crisis-n919701.
18.“Mayor Edward Koch Papers: Selected Documents: Volume I: AIDS,” prepared by Steven A. Levine and Marcos Tejeda, LaGuardia Community College/CUNY, LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/FILES_DOC/Koch_FILES/HIGHLIGHTS/Koch_and_Aids.pdf.
19.David France, “Ed Koch and the AIDS Crisis: His Greatest Failure,” New York Intelligencer, February 1, 2013.
20.Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 8.
21.New York Knicks 1983–84 Official Guide and Record Book, ed. John Hewig (New York: New York Knickerbockers, 1983), 34.
22.Sam Goldaper, “Robinson Maturity Is Helping Knicks,” New York Times, October 31, 1981.
23.UPI, “Macklin Getting Hate Mail over Comment on Reagan,” New York Times, April 18, 1981.
24.Rudy Macklin discussion with the author, November 2016.
25.Kevin Kernan, “Opening Night Raves!” New York Post, October 28, 1983.
26.Kevin Kernan, “Knicks: Never a Dull Moment,” New York Post, October 31, 1983.
27.Roy S. Johnson, “Knicks’ 2d Team in Slump,” New York Times, December 11, 1983.
28.New York Knicks, “#NYK70 Presented by Chase: Remembering ’84,” YouTube, March 29, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkTsNWmQhE&ab_channel=NewYorkKnicks.
29.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Top Spurs as King Gets 50,” (NY) Daily News, February 1, 1984.
30.Roy S. Johnson, “King’s Scoring Defies Knicks’ System,” New York Times, February 3, 1984.
31.Kevin Kernan, “King of the Road,” New York Post, February 1, 1984; Harvey Araton, “King’s ‘50’ Gems Are Crowd Pleasing,” (NY) Daily News, February 3, 1984.
32.Roy S. Johnson, “King Gets 2d Straight 50–Point Game; Knicks Win,” New York Times, February 2, 1984.
33.New York Knicks, “#NYK70 Presented by Chase: Remembering ’84.”
34.Kevin Kernan, “Fantastic 50’s,” New York Post, February 2, 1984.
35.Kernan, “Fantastic 50’s.”
36.Kevin Kernan, “Knicks Revel in King’s 50–50,” New York Post, February 3, 1984.
37.Kernan, “Fantastic 50’s.”
38.Bruce Newman, “It Was a 50–50 Proposition,” Sports Illustrated, February 13, 1984.
39.Bert Rosenthal, “Bernard King: The Knicks’ Magnificent Kingpin,” Basketball Digest, January 1985, 17–21.
40.Phil Pepe, “King Inspiration on or off Court,” (NY) Daily News, February 3, 1984.
41.David Davis, “Marvin, Marvin,” in Basketball in America: From the Playgrounds to Jordan’s Game and Beyond, ed. Bob Batchelor (New York: Haworth Press, 2005), 43.
42.Croatto, From Hang Time to Prime Time, 191.
43.Shea Serrano, The Rap Year Book: The Most Important Rap Song from Every Year since 1979 (New York: Abrams Image, 2015), 18.
44.Reiland Rebaka, The Hip Hop Movement: From R&B and the Civil Rights Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Generation (Lanham, MA: Lexington Books, 2013), 84.
45.Todd Boyd, Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 97.
46.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Defeat Jazz, 114–105,” New York Times, March 11, 1984.
47.Bernard King and Jerome Preisler, Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons on and off the Basketball Court (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2017), 239.
48.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Rally, 94–93,” (NY) Daily News, April 18, 1984.
49.Dave Anderson, “An Easter Sermon in Sneakers,” New York Times, April 22, 1984; Harvey Araton, “Knicks Stumble,” (NY) Daily News, April 20, 1984.
50.Charlie Vincent, “Bernard King: He’s a New Man, on the Playing Court, and Off,” Sporting News, April 30, 1984.
51.Bruce Newman, “Hero of a Showdown in Motown,” Sports Illustrated, May 7, 1984.
52.Newman, “Hero of a Showdown.”
53.“Best moments in Joe Louis Arena History: No. 10,” Detroit Free Press, March 29, 2017.
54.New York Knicks, “#NYK70 Presented by Chase: Remembering ’84”; Rory Sparrow (retired player) in discussion with the author, February 2020.
55.King and Preisler, Game Face, 244; 191
56.“Best Moments in Joe Louis Arena History: No. 10.”
57.Sally Barnes, “To the Beat, Y’All: Breaking Is Hard to Do,” Village Voice, April 22, 1981.
58.Israel, dir., The Freshest Kids (Los Angeles: QD3 Entertainment, 2002).
59.Kevin Kernan, “Frontcourt Massacres Hubie’s troops,” New York Post, April 30, 1984; Harvey Araton, “Knicks Defeat Celts, 118–113,” (NY) Daily News, May 7, 1984; Sam Goldaper, “Celtics Romp by 110–92,” New York Times, April 30, 1984.
60.Kernan, “Frontcourt Massacres Hubie’s Troops.”
61.Goldaper, “Celtics Romp by 110–92.”
62.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Trail 2–0, on 116–102 loss,” (NY) Daily News, May 3, 1984.
63.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 180.
64.Kevin Kernan, “Bird’s 37 Powers Celts past Knicks,” New York Post, May 3, 1984.
65.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Must Reshuffle Lineup,” New York Times, May 2, 1984.
66.King and Preisler, Game Face, 253.
67.Harvey Araton, “Knick-Celtic Battle of Words Hit Court,” (NY) Daily News, May 9, 1984.
68.Alan Hahn, 100 Things Knicks Fans Should Know and Do before They Die (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2012), 252.
69.Kevin Kernan, “King, Knicks Crown Celtics,” New York Post, May 7, 1984.
70.Peter Vecsey, “Back from the Dead,” New York Post, May 7, 1984.
71.Kevin Kernan, “Boston Massacre,” New York Post, May 10, 1984; Harvey Araton, “Knicks Battered,” (NY) Daily News, May 10, 1984.
72.Phil Pepe, “Ainge: I Wasn’t Trying to Hurt Walker,” (NY) Daily News, May 10, 1984.
73.Sam Goldaper, “Celtics Trounce Knicks and Lead Series by 3–2,” New York Times, May 10, 1984.
74.Kernan, “Boston Massacre.”
75.Harvey Araton, “It Could Be Last Stand for Knicks,” (NY) Daily News, May 11, 1984.
76.“16 Knicks, Celtics Fined,” New York Times, May 16, 1984.
77.Kevin Kernan, “Knicks Brace for Blood Bath in Do-or-Die Battle vs Celts,” New York Post, May 11, 1984.
78.Harvey Araton, “Knicks Stay Alive,” (NY) Daily News, May 12, 1984.
79.Larry Bird, Drive: The Story of My Life (New York: Bantam, 1990), 127.
80.Paul Weedell, “King Claims Burden in 7th Game on Celts,” (NY) Daily News, May 12, 1984.
81.Hewig discussion with author.
82.Bird, Drive, 127.
83.Sam Goldaper, “39 Points by Bird Make Difference,” New York Times, May 14, 1984.
84.Kevin Kernan, “Bird’s Brilliant Show Leaves Knicks in Awe,” New York Post, May 14, 1984.
10. The Frozen Envelope
1.Ronin Ro, Raising Hell: The Reign, Ruin, and Redemption of Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay (New York: Amistad, 2005).
2.Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn, Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2002), 328.
3.Todd Boyd, Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 97.
4.Bob Hohler, “Desperate Times,” Boston Globe, July 2, 2010.
5.Kevin Kernan, “Knicks Bomb on Draft Day,” New York Post, June 20, 1984.
6.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Seek Help; Decisions Looming,” New York Times, May 15, 1984.
7.Harvey Araton, “What Next, Knicks?” (NY) Daily News, May 15, 1984. Waiving a player resulted in 50 percent of that player’s salary being applied to the salary cap.
8.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Seek Help; Decisions Looming,” New York Times, May 15, 1984.
9.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Moving to Acquire Paxson,” New York Times, October 12, 1984.
10.Mel Lowell discussion with the author, March 2020.
11.Eileen Putnam, “Refurbished Statue of Liberty Reopened to Public,” APNews, July 5, 1986, accessed April 9, 2021, https://apnews.com/article/a4f6246fbae244778d89e45970aba9b1.
12.Frank Litsky, “Cartwright Injures Foot, May Miss Knick Opener,” New York Times, September 26, 1984.
13.Armen Keteyian, Harvey Araton, and Martin F. Dardis, Money Players: Days and Nights Inside the New NBA (New York: Pocket Books, 1997), 10.
14.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks’ Webster Hospitalized,” New York Times, October 3, 1984.
15.Sam Goldaper, “King Gets 34 in Knicks Romp,” New York Times, October 28, 1984.
16.Mike Weber, “Will Knicks Dump Truck?,” Sporting News, November 19, 1984.
17.Filip Bondy, “Off and Running: The NBA Preview,” Basketball Digest, November 1984, 46.
18.Sam Goldaper, “Record 52 by King Help Knicks Win,” New York Times, November 25, 1984.
19.Kevin Kernan, “King of Kings,” New York Post, December 26, 1984.
20.Kernan, “King of Kings.”
21.Sam Goldaper, “Nets 120 Knicks 114: King Gets 60, but Knicks Lose,” New York Times, December 26, 1984.
22.Kernan, “King of Kings.”
23.“Hawks Romp; King Scores 36,” New York Times, December 27, 1984.
24.Bert Rosenthal, “Bernard King: The Knicks’ Magnificent Kingpin,” Basketball Digest, January 1985, 19.
25.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks Lose 6th Straight: Pistons 105, Knicks 89,” New York Times, January 18, 1985.
26.Bernard King and Jerome Preisler, Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons on and off the Basketball Court (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2017), 262.
27.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 184.
28.Hubie Brown discussion with the author, February 2020.
29.“King Injured as Knicks Lose,” New York Times, March 24, 1985.
30.King and Preisler, Game Face, 269.
31.“King Season in Doubt,” New York Post, March 25, 1985.
32.King and Preisler, Game Face, 265.
33.Tom Fitzgerald, “Klay Thompson Injury: How NBA Players Have Returned after Torn ACL,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 15, 2019.
34.Bryan Burwell, “Knicks’ Brown Suffers Another Long Knight,” (NY) Daily News, April 14, 1985.
35.Sam Goldaper, “Knicks View Draft as Vital,” New York Times, April 4, 1985.
36.Paul Knepper, The Knicks of the Nineties: Ewing, Oakley, Starks and the Brawlers That Almost Won It All (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020), 15.
37.Lyle Spencer, “Lucky Knicks Hit the Jackpot,” New York Post, May 13, 1985; Dave Anderson, “God Is a Knick Fan,” New York Times, May 13, 1985.
38.Anderson, “God Is a Knick Fan.”
39.Lyle Spencer, “Stern: We Took Every Precaution,” New York Post, May 13, 1985.
40.Chris Ballard, “The Ewing Conspiracy,” Sports Illustrated, May 2015, www.si.com/longform/2015/1985/ewing/index.html.
41.Basketball John, “The Fixed 1985 NBA Lottery,” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX1kMlG8c7Y&ab_channel=BasketballJohn.
42.Ballard, “The Ewing Conspiracy.”
43.Elliott Kalb, The 25 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time: Ranking Sports’ Most Notorious Fixes, Cover-Ups, and Scandals (Chicago: Skyhorse Publishing, 2007), 39.
44.Peter Vecsey, “Pat Will Need Plenty of Help,” New York Post, May 13, 1985.
45.Kevin Kernan, “Celts Joke: ‘It Was Rigged’,” New York Post, May 13, 1985.
46.Lyle Spencer, “Lucky Knicks Hit the Jackpot,” New York Post, May 13, 1985.
47.Thomas Rogers, “Knicks Fans Already Excited about Ewing,” New York Times, May 13, 1985.
48.Spencer, “Lucky Knicks Hit the Jackpot.”
49.Harvey Araton, “Fixed Ideas Come to Life,” (NY) Daily News, May 15, 1985.”
50.Rogers, “Knicks Fans Already Excited.”
51.Jack McCallum, “The Year of Ewing,” Sports Illustrated, October 28, 1985, 44–50.
52.Spike Lee and Ralph Wiley, Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997), 106.
53.Quoted in Chris Herring, Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks (New York: Atria Books, 2022), 122.
54.Lee and Wiley, Best Seat in the House, 132.
55.Walter Leavy, “Patrick Ewing: Can This Man Save the Knicks?” Ebony, February 1986, 59–62.
Epilogue
1.Kevin Kernan, “Big Apple Welcomes Ewing,” New York Post, June 18, 1985.
2.Filip Bondy, “Mullin’s Stock Up with Golden State,” New York Daily News, June 18, 1985.
3.Sam Goldaper, “Ewing Signs Pact Worth Up to $30 Million,” New York Times, September 19, 1985.
4.Sam Goldaper, “King Camp Scores … with Youngsters,” New York Times, August 13, 1985.
5.George Vecsey, “King Is off Board,” New York Times, September 29, 1985.
6.Roy S. Johnson, “Knicks Sign Cartwright to 6-Year Pact,” New York Times, October 1, 1985.
7.Roy S. Johnson, “Two Knicks Hurt, Ewing Fouls Out in Loss to Rockets,” New York Times, October 13, 1985.
8.Johnson, “Two Knicks Hurt.”
9.Kevin Kernan, “Ewing Burning over $1500 fine,” New York Post, October 24, 1985.
10.Kevin Kernan, “Knicks Defend Embattled Ewing,” New York Post, October 21, 1985.
11.Kevin Kernan, “Ewing the Best of Bumper Rookie Crop,” Sporting News, October 21, 1985.
12.Charley Rosen, Sugar: Micheal Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018), 36.
13.Sam Goldaper, “Knick Fans Show Their Impatience,” New York Times, December 14, 1985.
14.George Vecsey, “King Vows Return: ‘I’m a Fighter,’ ” New York Times, December 17, 1985.
15.Quoted in Chris Herring, Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks (New York: Atria Books, 2022), 11.
16.Brendan Malone discussion with the author, December 2016.
17.Dennis D’Agostino, Garden Glory: An Oral History of the New York Knicks (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2003), 188.
18.Malone discussion with author.
19.Darrell Walker discussion with the author, December 2016.
20.Herring, Blood in the Garden, 11.
21.Harvey Araton, Our Last Season: A Writer, a Fan, a Friendship (New York: Penguin Press, 2020), 88.
22.George J. Lankevich, New York City: A Short History (New York: New York University Press, 2002), 234–35.
23.Jonathan Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 388–89.
24.Soffer, Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City, 403.
25.Araton, Our Last Season, 87.
26.Bernard King and Jerome Preisler, Game Face: A Lifetime of Hard-Earned Lessons On and Off the Basketball Court (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2017), 281.
27.King and Preisler, Game Face, 283.
28.Ira Berkow, “Bernard King of the Bullets,” New York Times, November 3, 1987.
29.Paul Knepper, The Knicks of the Nineties: Ewing, Oakley, Starks and the Brawlers That Almost Won It All (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020), 13.
30.Torsten Ingvaldsen, “For Run-D.M.C., Authenticity Is Everything,” Hypebeast, October 29, 2019, https://hypebeast.com/2019/10/run-dmc-darryl-mcdaniels-jbl-fest-interview.
31.Zac Dubasik, “This History of Run-D.M.C. and Adidas as Told by D.M.C.,” Sole Collector, March 11, 2014, https://solecollector.com/news/2014/03/this-history-of-run-d-m-c-and-adidas-as-told-by-d-m-c.
32.Richard Sandomir, “Harthorne Wingo, 1970s Knick with Much-Chanted Name, Dies at 73,” New York Times, January 26, 2021.
33.Knepper, The Knicks of the Nineties, 43.