Willis Reed, legendary Knicks Hall of Famer, dies
Willis Reed, the heart and soul of the recent Knicks NBA title-winning team and the man behind one of the most iconic moments in New York sports, died Tuesday, the New York Post confirmed. He is 80 years old.
In the years before Derek Jeter was born, Reed, known simply as “Captain,” played 10 NBA seasons, all with the Knicks and, after retiring in 1974, served as the Knicks’ coach and general manager. He was also a coach and manager when the Nets played in New Jersey, and was the manager of the New Orleans Hornets from 2004 to 2007.
The first Knicks player to retire, Reid was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982 and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History for the 1996-97 season.
But it was in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals that Redd etched his name in Madison Square Garden and in league history.
He was injured late in Game 5 against the Lakers, when he fell hard to the rim, a game the Knicks won without their leader, and the Knicks won the game early in the series. 37, 29, 38 and 23 points in four games: Redd missed Game 6 in Los Angeles as the Lakers tied it at three games apiece.
When Game 7 of the series returned to the Garden, no one, not even his teammates, was sure that Reed, who had injured his right thigh in that car accident a few days earlier, would be available. In fact, the Knicks went on the court without him for pregame warmups.
“We walked out of the locker room … not knowing if Willis would come out,” Bill Bradley, a forward for those championship teams, said years later.
After about 15 minutes, they got a definitive answer. As Reed exited the tunnel, the garden erupted (it was always known as the “Willis-Reed Tunnel” until it disappeared some 30 years later when the building was remodeled) and entered the plaza. Redd’s arrival has attracted all the attention of the warm-up Lakers. Hearing the deafening cheers, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor glanced across the field, where Reed joined his teammates.
“I saw every Laker standing there looking at this guy,” said Redd’s teammate Walter Frazier, who had 38 points and 19 assists on the night. “They stopped what they were doing to check on Willis. Something tells me, man, they’re very worried. Maybe we have these guys.”
“It’s something that we all want very much,” he said. “It is so close to you that you can touch it. The game. It was my dream in high school. That’s what I worked hard for in college. Not just me, everyone in the locker room. Training division. Management.
“If I don’t go out and try to be a part of this, try to do the best I can, I don’t know what that is, then I’m going to let them down and I’m going to fail myself.” … If I try and fail, I want it. I don’t want to be a guy who doesn’t go out there and show that he has the guts and the determination to get there… That’s the time to try.
Lefty Reed, whose thigh was heavily bandaged, scored his first basket of the game from the top of the button. The next time he stepped onto the court, he hit another 20-foot jumper, and the Knicks led as many as 29 points in the first half to win 113-99 and their first NBA title. Reed would make no other points. He doesn’t need it.