Souvenirs de Nets...

Posté le: Dim 13 Jan 2008, 18:58

J'ai trouvé cet interview d'Herb Turetzky qui est l'annonceur des Nets depuis toujours à l'occasion de son 1000 ème match consécutif. L'occasion de revenir sur quelques souvenirs.

LONG-TIME NETS OFFICIAL SCORER, HERB TURETZKY, TO LOG 1000th
CONSECUTIVE GAME

Star-Ledger - Nothing but Nets -- 23 years straight

East Rutherford, N.J. -- Long-time Nets Official Scorer Herb Turetzky
answered some questions about his career on the cusp of logging his
1,000th consecutive game against the Boston Celtics on January 11th,
2008.

1. When did the streak start? Date, Opponent, etc.

Turetzky - The streak began on May 3, 1984 in the Eastern Conference
semifinals againstMilwaukee. We had just completed a successful first-
round series against the defending champion 76ers, with Julius
Erving, in which we lost both games at home but won three games on
the road to win the series. I missed that entire series because I had
taken a team of former pro and college players to play a series of
games in France and Belgium. We won the prestigious Tournoi
International in Gravelines, France. ( Cool

)

2. Previous streak?

Turetzky - Prior to that, I hadn't missed a game since March 1, 1978
against the Atlanta Hawks at the Rutgers Athletic Center. I had a
very bad cold and actually had to stay in bed for that game. I
remember watching the game on television and, late in the fourth
quarter the fellow who was substituting for me, Mike Becker,
apparently misinformed the Hawks' trainer, Joe O'Toole, about how
many time outs he had remaining. Near the end of the game, the Hawks
called a time out, based on that misinformation, and had none
remaining. They were assessed a Technical Foul and the resulting free
throw played a major role in our 97-95 victory. I remember seeing the
Hawks' center, Steve Hawes, who now has a nephew who is a rookie in
the NBA, throw a towel in Mike Becker's face as the team walked off
the floor. That streak would have been 257 games

3. Favorite memory, memories?

Turetzky - Favorite memories:

a. Winning the final ABA Championship in 1976 and being dragged into
the locker room showers, fully clothed, by Brian Taylor and standing
there in the shower, getting soaked, and discussing the victory and
apparent demise of the ABA with Dr. J, who was sitting on the floor
of the shower in his game uniform.

b. The night at the Meadowlands, I believe it was April 3, 1987, when
the Nets officially retired Julius Erving's uniform number 32 and, in
front of a sellout crowd of 20,049, he took time during his
acceptance speech to tell the crowd that, as Nets' fans, they should
know about the history of the franchise, about "people like Fritz
Massmann and Herb Turetzky". I can still remember feeling chills run
up and down my spine.

c. The night in 2004 when I was inducted into the New York City
Basketball Hall of Fame and Julius Erving came up from Florida and
spent the entire evening as my escort and presenter.

d. The excitement of scoring as the Nets advanced to the NBA Finals
in 2002 against Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers and,
again, in 2003 against Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs.

e. The international excitement of being the Official Scorer for the
NBA Japan Games in 1994 between the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland
Trailblazers and, even more so, in 1996 when the Nets played against
the Orlando Magic in Tokyo.

f. Organizing a benefit doubleheader to raise funds for the family of
Gregg Cluess, a former St. John's star who succumbed to cancer after
having been drafted by both the Nets in the ABA and the Knicks in the
NBA. The game was scheduled around Julius Erving's summer plans and,
in addition to Dr. J, had pro players Nate "Tiny" Archibald, "Super"
John Williamson, Harthorne Wingo, Ron Behagen, Larry McNeil, Brian
Taylor, Kim Hughes and former ABA and European star Walter
Szczerbiak, father of the Seattle Supersonics' Wally Szczerbiak, who
actually wound up as the MVP of the game.

g. Being honored by the Nets in April of 1992 for 25 Years of Scoring
and receiving an engraved watch and commemorative plaque at a
ceremony at halfcourt of the Meadowlands Arena from NBA great and
Hall of Famer Willis Reed, Nets' Executive Vice President at the time.

h. Scoring the pre-season game in 1972 at the Nassau Coliseum against
the New York Knicks and watching as Nets' rookie Jim Chones dove over
the Nets' bench while chasing a loose ball and accidentally ran into
my wife Jane, who was sitting in the front row, and knocked her
unconscious. Dr. Alan Levy, the Nets' team physician at the time,
immediately ran to her and had her taken to the team's locker room,
where he supervised her treatment and then escorted her back to her
seat. Unable to leave my courtside seat while the game was going on,
I continued to score and maintained a close watch of the area in
which Jane had been sitting until I saw her escorted back to her seat.

I have probably taken up too much of your time with some of these
rememberances. I could probably go on and on and still have more left
over. However, one thing is certain: with all of the excitement of
the past 40+ seasons, I think tomorrow's game is the most anxiously
anticipated game of my career. Looking forward very much to whatever
you guys have in store for me. Thanks so much.