THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 6, 1996 TAG: 9602060438
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Appreciation
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
``George Gervin made his professional debut for the Squires Friday night and showed tremendous promise for the future.''
That was the lead paragraph that I wrote for a Virginia Squires' American Basketball Association game against the Utah Stars on Jan. 26, 1973, in Richmond. The Squires, who were based in Norfolk, split time between the two cities.
Some 23 years later, we know just how much ``tremendous promise'' there was for Gervin, who will become the second former Squire inducted into basketball's Hall of Fame.
Gervin will join Julius Erving, with whom he played briefly as a Squire, in the Hall.
As impressive as Gervin was in his pro debut - hitting eight of 15 shots, including two 3-pointers, for 20 points in 19 minutes - he joined the Squires without fanfare.
I remember in early January, 1973, receiving a call from a friend who worked in the Squires' office at Scope.
``I don't know who this kid is,'' the friend said, ``but he's been out there on the court in his street clothes for 30 minutes and he hasn't missed a shot yet.''
A few days later, Squires owner Earl Foreman signed Gervin to a contract, believed to be worth about $20,000 a year, and claimed he had obtained rights to him in a ``secret draft.''
Foreman said he was not concerned about an incident that had led to Gervin being dropped from his Eastern Michigan basketball team at the end of the 1972 season.
Gervin twice punched Jay Piccola, a star for Roanoke College, at the Small College national tournament in Evansville, Ind., and was ejected from the game. Though he wasn't immediately kicked off the team, Gervin was informed in August that he would not be allowed to return. School officials claimed it was because he had taken a placement test on the wrong day.
Foreman said he had checked out his newest player and learned the incident was out of character for Gervin, a quiet person who seldom spoke above a whisper.
The 6-foot-8 Gervin was not an immediate starter after signing with the Squires. He was too thin to play forward and he couldn't defend or handle the ball well enough to play guard.
But he could shoot, and coach Al Bianchi was patient while he developed his other skills.
Gervin, called called G.G. by his teammates, and later nicknamed ``Ice,'' became the franchise's marquee player after Erving was sold to the New York Nets prior to the 1973-74 season.
Within a year, Gervin was sold, too, to the San Antonio Spurs as Foreman sought to raise enough money to keep the struggling franchise alive. Foreman had already sold Erving to the Nets and Swen Nater to San Antonio in the previous year when in early January, 1974, he secretly sold Gervin to San Antonio.
He cashed the checks for $250,000 from the Spurs in mid January and was supposed to deliver Gervin to San Antonio by Jan. 31.
But once the deal was made public, ABA commissioner Mike Storen tried to cancel the sale and ordered Foreman to repay the Spurs.
Yet Foreman had already spent the money to keep the Squires afloat. Storen later lost his case in federal court.
``This really puts us in great shape for the playoffs,'' said a smiling Jack Ankerson, then general manager of the Spurs, at a San Antonio press conference to announce the acquisition of Gervin.
There were tears rolling down Gervin's cheeks in the dressing room after he was told he had been sold to the Spurs.
``I won't go,'' he said. ``I want to stay in Virginia.''
A couple of days later, after signing a new contract, Gervin was in San Antonio, saying he was happy to be there. ILLUSTRATION: VIRGINIAN-PILOT FILE
George Gervin was virtually unknown when he made his pro debut with
the Norfolk-based ABA Virginia Squires in 1973.
by CNB