What's in an NBA Nick-Name? Part IV, A-D - Part IV, E-H
Harvey Frommer on
Sports
What's in an NBA Nick-Name? Part V,
I-L
For those
who liked Parts I, II, III, IV - - here is Part Five of the always
interesting,
always memory
stoking, always talking point
relevant – NBA NICK-NAMES.
Case in point: Boston
Celtics forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis is looking to change his image and
he sees a first step in that direction - - changing/dropping
his nickname. What follows are
nick-names (and expressions) that have never
changed
"I love Waltah"
Tommy Heinsohn, Celtic broadcaster, started the unofficial
Walter McCarty fan club, coining the catch phrase
and creating a national fan
club for the likable reserve Celtic forward who now is an assistant coach
at Louisville.
"The
Iceman"
George Gervin was locked into this name for his cool and
calm demeanor on the NBA court. One thing he could do was finger roll. The
Iceman was the man in the ABA. He was so good that the Spurs stole him from
the Virginia Squires through a harsh court battle.
“Indiana
Pacers”
When the Indiana franchise came into
existence in 1967 in the American Basketball Association, the owners said
they named the team Pacers because they intended to set the pace in professional
basketball. There was also the matter of the famous Indianapolis 500 Raceway.
And when Indiana joined the NBA in 1976, the name Pacers went
along.
“Jellybean”
Joe
Bryant is the father of Kobe. He played eight seasons in the NBA for the
Philadelphia 76ers and other teams. The elder Brant had a fondness for jelly
beans.
“Jones
boys" K.C. & Sam Jones were the great
Celtic backcourt in the 60s. K.C. was “Mr. Defense,”
while Sam was “Mr. Offense.”
“Kobe”
LA star Kobe Bryant was named after a "Kobe" steak listed
on the menu of a Japanese restaurant or as the story goes for
a Japanese restaurant
itself.
"Larry
Legend"
Boston Celtic superstar Larry Bird could do it all on the
basketball floor and was most deserving of this nickname.
“Los
Angeles Clippers”
In 1971, the City of San Diego lost its NBA franchise when
its team moved to Houston and became the
Rockets. The franchise that
was originally the
Buffalo
Braves, from 1970-1978, moved to San
Diego. The owners weren't too
thrilled with San Diego Braves as a name. So one of those name-the-team contests
was staged, and the winning entry was, you guessed it, Clippers. That was
because, once upon a time, lots of beautiful clipper ships passed through
the great harbor of San Diego. In fact, the Star of India was still
harbored in San Diego. In 1984. the franchise moved to Los Angeles from San
Diego and the name Clippers came
along.
“Los
Angeles Lakers”
The Minneapolis Lakers made the move
to L.A. before the 1960 season and took with it its nickname that comes from
the state of Minnesota's motto: "the land of 10,000 lakes".
(to be
continued)
Harvey Frommer is his 33rd consecutive year of writing sports books. The author of 40 of them including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work an oral and narrative history of Fenway Park will be published in 2010.
Frommer sports books are available direct from the author - discounted and autographed.
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