Willis Reed

Willis Reed Jr. (June 25, 1942 – March 21, 2023) was an American professional basketball player, coach, and general manager. He spent his entire ten-year pro playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Reed was a seven-time NBA All-Star and five-time All-NBA selection, including once on the first team in 1970, when he was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). He was a two-time NBA champion (1970, 1973) and was voted the NBA Finals MVP both times. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was named to both the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams.
After retiring as a player, Reed served as assistant and head coach with several teams for nearly a decade, then was promoted to general manager and vice president of basketball operations (1989–1996) for the New Jersey Nets. As senior vice president of basketball operations, he helped to lead them to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
Born on June 25, 1942, in Hico, Louisiana, Willis Reed Jr. was the only child of Willis Sr. and Inell Reed. Reed was born three weeks before his father joined the Army for the duration of World War II. His parents moved from his grandparents' farm to Bernice, Louisiana, where they worked to ensure Reed got an education in the segregated South.
Reed showed athletic ability at an early age and played basketball at all black high schools; first Elliott High School in Bernice, where his family lived, and then 9 miles away at the new West Side High School in Lillie, Louisiana, which had been built in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. He played under coach Lendon Smith, and led West Side to two state tournaments and a state championship. In his senior year, it is said that Reed once scored 58 points in a game playing barefoot, after his shoes were stolen.
Reed was All-State in football (as an end) and basketball, and he set a state record in the discus throw. He was recruited by colleges, such as Loyola of Chicago, Nebraska and Wisconsin, for basketball. Reed attended Grambling State University, a historically black college, playing under coach Fred Hobby. He became a starter as a freshman, the team won the NAIA tournament, and he was named to the all-tournament team as a freshman.
Playing for the Grambling State Tigers men's basketball team, Reed scored 2,280 career points, averaging 26.6 points per game and 21.3 rebounds per game during his senior year. He led the Tigers to one NAIA title and three Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) championships, and a 108–17 record. He averaged 22 points per game in 12 NAIA tournament games. Reed also was a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. He was inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1994.
Among his basketball teammates were future Pro Football Hall of Fame player Buck Buchanan, and future AFL player Ernie Ladd.
The New York Knicks selected Reed with the first pick in the second round of the 1964 NBA draft. Reed quickly made a name for himself as a fierce, dominating, and physical force on both ends of the floor as a center. In March 1965, he scored 46 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, the second-most points in a game ever by the Knicks' rookie. For the 1964–65 season, he was seventh-ranked in the NBA in scoring (19.5 points per game) and fifth-ranked in rebounding (14.7 rebounds per game). He also began one of his multiple All-Star appearances and won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, while also being named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
For a few years, the Knicks struggled while adding valuable players through trades and drafts. Midway through the 1967–68 season, Dick McGuire was replaced as coach with Red Holzman. The Knicks had accumulated a 15–22 record under McGuire but then in the part of the season that Holzman led them achieved a 28–17 record, for a 43–39 season, its first winning record since the 1958–59 season.
Reed continued to be selected annually for the NBA All-Star Game. By that time he was playing as a power forward to open up the center position for Walt Bellamy. Reed averaged 11.6 rebounds in 1965–66 and 14.6 in 1966–67, both ranked top 10-best in the league. He averaged 20.9 points in the latter season.
In 1968–69, the Knicks had traded Bellamy and Howard Komives to the Detroit Pistons for Dave DeBusschere, allowing the Knicks to move Reed back to center. New York's defense surrendered a league-low 105.2 points per game. For five of the next six seasons, the Knicks were the best defensive team in the league, with Reed in the middle and additional defensive efforts by Walt Frazier. Reed scored 21.1 points per game in 1968–69 and grabbed a franchise-record 1,191 rebounds, with an average of 14.5 rebounds per game.
In the 1969–70 season, the Knicks won a franchise-record 60 games and set a then single-season NBA record with an 18-game win streak. In 1970, Reed became the first player in NBA history to be named the NBA All-Star Game MVP, the NBA regular season MVP, and the NBA Finals MVP in the same season. In the same year he was named to the All-NBA First Team and NBA All-Defensive First Team, as well as being named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, and the Sporting News NBA MVP.
Reed's most famous performance happened on May 8, 1970, in game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in Madison Square Garden. Due to a severe thigh injury, a torn muscle that had previously kept him out of game six, he was considered unlikely to play in game seven. However Reed surprised the fans by walking onto the court during warmups, prompting widespread applause. Starting the game, he scored the Knicks' first two field goals on his first two shot attempts, his only points of the game. Reed played 27 minutes, finishing with four points and three rebounds. After the game in the winner's locker room, a moved Howard Cosell told Reed on national television, "You exemplify the very best that the human spirit can offer."
The Knicks slipped to a 52–30 record in the 1970–71 season; despite this, the Knicks took first place in the Atlantic Division. In the middle of the season against the Cincinnati Royals, Reed tied Harry Gallatin's all-time team record of 33 rebounds. He started again in that season's All-Star Game. His season average was 20.9 points and 13.7 rebounds per game, but the Knicks were knocked out by the Baltimore Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. During the 1971–72 season, Reed had problems with tendonitis in his left knee, which limited his mobility. After a two-week hiatus, he returned to the court, only to have the injured knee prevent him from playing shortly thereafter; in total, he played 11 games for the season. Without Reed, the Knicks still managed to make the NBA Finals, but were defeated in five games by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 1972–73 Knicks' season concluded with a 57–25 record, and they proceeded to win another NBA championship. Averaging only 11.0 points in 69 regular season games, Reed's contribution was a far cry from his record two seasons prior. In the playoffs, the Knicks defeated the Bullets and upset the Boston Celtics, and again faced the Lakers in the NBA Finals. After losing the first game, the Knicks won four straight, securing their second NBA championship with a 102–93 victory in game five, as Reed scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and recorded seven assists in the deciding victory. After the win, Reed was named NBA Finals MVP.
Reed's career was cut short by injuries, and he retired after the 1973–74 season. For his career Reed averaged 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game, playing 650 games. He played in seven All-Star Games.
Reed spent several years coaching before moving into general management.
He coached the Knicks in 1977–1978, and left the team 14 games into the following season (49–47 record).
He was the head coach at Creighton University from 1981 to 1985 and volunteer assistant coach for St. John's University.
Reed served as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks from 1985 to 1987.
Reed served as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings from 1987 to 1988.
Reed debuted as head coach of the New Jersey Nets on March 1, 1988, one week after the Nets' star forward (and Reed's cousin) Orlando Woolridge was suspended by the league and was to undergo drug rehabilitation. He compiled a 33–77 record with the Nets.
In 1989, he stepped down as coach and became the Nets' vice president of basketball and business development. He was given the responsibility for personnel in 1993, receiving a three-year contract extension and gaining general manager duties. During that time, he drafted Kenny Anderson and Derrick Coleman, acquired Dražen Petrović, and made the Nets a playoff contender throughout the early 1990s. Chuck Daly was hired by Reed to coach the Nets for the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons. In 1996, Reed was promoted to senior vice president of basketball operations, while continuing his goal of turning the Nets into championship contenders. They made the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.
Reed then became the vice president of basketball operations with the New Orleans Hornets in 2004. He retired in 2007.
Rap songs have mentioned Reed, recognizing his impressive athleticism and skill. Examples include Kurtis Blow's 1984 hit "Basketball" on his Ego Trip album, and the Beastie Boys' "Long Burn The Fire" on their 2011 album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.
Reed's name has become synonymous with playing through injury, as Cris Collinsworth described an injured Aaron Rodgers as having a "Willis Reed kind of night" on the NBC Sunday Night Football broadcast on September 9, 2018.
Reed and his first wife, Geraldine Oliver, married when both were still attending Grambling State University. They had two children, Karl Vance and Veronica Marie, and the marriage ended in divorce. He then married Gale Kennedy, a nurse, in 1983. The wedding was held in Roslyn Heights, New York.
Reed died from heart failure in Houston, Texas, on March 21, 2023, at age 80.
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