Earlier this month, the National
Basketball Association (NBA) and the basketball community at larger,
specifically in the Motor City and “The Deer District” suddenly said goodbye to
was one of the best to ever play on the floor and. Following his playing career.
Built his own advertising promotions
business and then worked for the NBA as a special assistant to the current NBA
Commissioner and his former late boss.
On May 10, Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, who
played 14 seasons with the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks from 1970-84
passed away from bladder cancer, which he has battled since 2019, according to
“The Athletic.” He was 73 years old and is survived by his former second wife
Rose and their five children Walter “Jack,” Kimberly, Tiffany, Robert III, and
Khalia, and seven grandchildren.
In the wake of his passing, Mr. Lanier has
received many tributes from his NBA family, especially from the two
organizations he played for and who have his No. 16 jersey hanging in the
rafters of Little Caesars Arena and Fiserv Forum respectably.
In a statement on Twitter by the Pistons
@Detroit Pistons, “The Detroit Pistons organization is deeply saddened by the
passing of Bob Lanier, a true legend who meant so much to the city of Detroit
and to generations of Pistons fans. As fierce and as dominant as Bob was on the
court, he was equally kind and impactful in the community. As an ambassador for
both the Pistons organization and the NBA, he represented our league, our
franchise and our fans with great passion and integrity.”
Current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said
in a statement about the eight-time All-Star selection that besides being one
of the most talented centers to every play on NBA hardwood that what he
accomplished off the floor went far beyond what he did on the floor.
“Bob Lanier was a Hall of Fame player and
among the most talented centers in the history of the NBA, but his impact on
the league went far beyond what he accomplished on the court,” Commissioner
Silver said.
“For more than 30 years, Bob served as our
global ambassador and as a special assistant to David Stern and them me,
traveling the world to teach the game’s values and make a positive impact on
young people everywhere.”
“It was a labor of love for Bob, who was
one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever been around. His enormous influence on
the NBA was also seen during his time as President of the National Basketball
Players Association, where he played a key role in the negotiation of a
game-changing collective bargaining agreement.”
“I learned so much from Bob by simply watching how he connected with people. He was a close friend who will miss dearly, as will so many of his colleagues across the NBA who were inspired by his generosity. We send our deepest condolences to Bob’s family and friends.”
After leading his University of St.
Bonaventure Bonnies, who retired his No. 31 jersey to the Final four, Mr.
Lanier was drafted No. 1 overall by the Pistons in the 1970 NBA Draft, where he
would play his first 10 NBA seasons, making the All-Star team in seven of those
eight seasons behind averages of 22.7 points and 11.8 boards on 50.8 percent
from the field.
Fellow Hall of Famer Dave Bing, Lanier’s
teammate with the Pistons from 1970-75 said in a statement released by the
Pistons, Mr. Bing said how “unfortunate” to hear about the passing of the 1971
All-Rookie First-Team selection and 1974 All-Star Game MVP.
“I have many great memories of Bob, both
as a teammate and as a friend. I was lucky to have played with him as a member
of the Pistons and to have shared a long-lasting friendship. Bob will be
greatly missed,” the former Detroit Mayor (D) said of the 1978 J. Walter
Kennedy Award recipient.
The Bucks, who Mr. Lanier averaged 13.5
points and 5.9 rebounds on 54.1 percent shooting from 1980-84, where he earned
his final All-Star selection in 1982 in a statement praised him for his
contributions on and off the hardwood saying, “Bob Lanier was an all-time great
Milwaukee Buck and a Hall of Famer, whose retired No. 16 hangs in the rafters
at Fiserv Forum.”
“But even more than this basketball
success, which included his being an All-Star in 1982, Bob was one of the most
popular players with Bucks fans and known throughout the community for his
generosity and kindness. We send our deepest condolences to Bob’s family and
friends.”
Lanier was inducted into the Naismith
Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992 and his large sized shoes got their first where
they displayed of his bronzed kicks in a shrine.
He was known for wearing a size 22
sneaker, which was disputed in 1989 by a Converse representative, who told The
Atlanta Journal Constitution that Lanier wore a size 18 ½ shoe.
“The 22 he was reputed to wear was a
Korean size,” Converse shoe rep Gary Stoken said then. “A lot of people can put
both feet into one of my shoes,” Lanier told HOOP magazine.
Lanier was born on Sept. 10, 1948, his
basketball stardom began at St. Bonaventure, where he averaged 27.6 points and
15.7 rebounds in his three seasons. The Bonnies reached the Final Four in 1970,
but Lanier injured his knee in the regional final and they lost in the national
semis to Jacksonville University.
Lanier during his 14 NBA seasons had to overcome a plethora of injuries to his feet, shoulder, back, elbow, hand, and toe.
At his best, Mr. Lanier had an all-around
came where he could score from the inside as well as make perimeter shots from
the outside. He also was one of the best rebounders in NBA history and his hook
shots was just as lethal as a guy he competed against many times in the 1970s
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who is well known for his famed sky hook shot.
“Guys didn’t change teams as much, so when
you were facing the [Chicago] Bulls or the Bucks or New York [Knicks], you had
all these rivalries,” Mr. Lanier told NBA.com back in 2018. “Lanier against
Jabbar! Jabbar against Willis Reed! And then [Wilt] Chamberlin, and Artis
Gilmore, and Bill Walton! You had all these great big men and the game was
played from the inside out.”
Even as great as Lanier was individually,
those Pistons teams managed to win just one postseason series with him and he
just 64 games or fewer in his last four full seasons with the Pistons as the
aforementioned injuries caught up with him.
Lanier was dealt from the Pistons to the
Bucks on Feb. 4, 1980, for Kent Benson and a 1980 First Round pick, which the Pistons
used to select current assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers Larry
Drew.
In Lanier’s five seasons with the Bucks
under Hall of Fame head coach Don Nelson and playing alongside Bucks legends in
Marques Johnson, Sidney Moncrief, Quinn Buckner, Junior Bridgeman, and Dave
Cowens, they won the then Midwest Division title each of those five seasons.
They advanced as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 1983 and 1984, the
final two seasons of Lanier’s career.
“I wanted the trade,” Lanier said of being
dealt to the Bucks. “I got to Milwaukee…and the people gave me a standing
ovation and really made me feel welcome. It was the start of a positive change.
I just wish I had played with that kind of talent around me when I was young.
But if I had Marques and Sidney and all of them around me? Damn.”
Lanier in his last seasons in the NBA
served as the President of the Players’ Union, with Commissioner Silver saying
Mr. Lanier played “a key role in the negotiation of a game-changing collective
bargaining agreement [CBA].”
Mr. Lanier was the Pistons career leading
scorer and rebounder before being passed by fellow Hall of Famer and current
NBATV studio analyst Isiah Thomas and fellow teammate the Pistons back-to-back
title teams in 1989 and 1990 Bill Laimbeer, the former WNBA head coach of the
Detroit Shock, New York Liberty, and Las Vegas Aces. Lanier’s single-game
franchise record of 33 boards, which was topped by fellow Hall of Famer Dennis
Rodman.
In 1995, Lanier was an assistant coach for
the Golden State Warriors, taking over on an interim basis that season after
his former head coach with the Warriors Coach Nelson re-signed. Lanier went
12-25 the final 37 games of that season and the Warriors moved on from him.
In the early stage of his post NBA career
as a player, Mr. Lanier began the NBA’s “Stay in School” campaign as well as
participated in “The Association’s” other outreach programs.
“There’s so much need out there,” Lanier
said. “When you’re traveling around to different cities and different
countries, you see there are so many people in dire straits that the NBA can
only do so much. We make a vast difference, but there’s always so much more to
do.”
The “Inside the NBA” TNT crew of Ernie
Johnson, Kenny Smith and Hall of Famers Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal
paid their respects to Mr. Lanier starting with Ernie Johnson calling him a “nice
man.” “A great ambassador for the game of basketball.”
Johnson said he has fond memories of Mr.
Lanier as the ambassador of the league at NBA Cares events and saw the joy Lanier
at those events whether it was at a children’s hospital or at a school.
“He was in his element,” Johnson said of
Lanier during his work as the NBA’s Ambassador. “He got a lot of joy out of
life. That’s why it hurts us tonight to pass on that news. Bob Lanier passing
at the age of 73.”
One of the first things that jumped out
about Lanier for Johnson was as a kid he watched him play at St. Bonaventure and
they made a big deal about his shoe size of 22. Then when he first met O’Neal back
in 1989, the first thing that came to his mind after seeing all the stuff that
he had that he might wear a bigger size shoe than Mr. Lanier.
Barkley said when he drafted into the NBA
in 1984 by the Philadelphia 76ers got to know him really well. In recent years
while living in Phoenix, AZ Barkley and Lanier played a lot of gold together.
“That man is the epitome of ‘gentle giant,’”
Barkley said. “Always in a good mood…But just a wonderful man. He will be
missed.”
“Guys like him, Clifford Ray, Oscar
Robertson, Jerry West, [Earvin] “Magic” Johnson, Vinny Johnson. Just really
great older players who were just nice men.” ]
Barkley also included in that select group
of legends in NBA that were true gentlemen in Wayne Embry, Bill Russell, and Abdul-Jabbar.
Those men Barkley said those men that did not make the millions that NBA
players today make.
“So, every time I see one of the older
guys, I just always say, ‘Thank you, man,’ because if it wasn’t for those guys,
we wouldn’t be in the position we are today,” Barkley said.
O’Neal said that he did not really understand
the history of the game of basketball until he got into the NBA when he was
drafted in 1992 by the Orlando Magic. He was introduced the professional game of
basketball by watching the 1979 film “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” that
stared fellow Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving, who he said became his
favorite player. Then it was the aforementioned “Magic” Johnson and then fellow
Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing during his college days at Georgetown.
When O’Neal made his first All-Star Game
in 1992 in Salt Lake City, UT he brought his late father Sgt. Phil Harrison
with him and while walking through the tunnel of then Delta Center, Sgt.
Harrison pointed out Mr. Lanier when they saw.
O’Neal at first was like who, which upset
his dad and gave him an elbow check and said to him, “That’s Bob Lanier. One of
the greatest big men.”
What amazed O’Neal is that the NBA legends
knew his name. After Sgt. Harrison gave him a brief history lesson on Mr.
Lanier, he made sure to see him at every All-Star Game and each interaction wonderful.
O’Neal recalls one time when the two had
an interaction, Lanier said to him that he liked the sneakers he was wearing
and said that he wears a size 22. O’Neal said that he owns the company and that
he could get him pair of those shoes, and he would always send him the latest
pair of kicks as well as dress shoes.
“Again me, coming where I come from, like
when I see these legends and they’re like ‘Shaq, I like your game.’ I was like,
‘You know me,’” O’Neal said about his interactions with some of the best to
ever play NBA. “He [Mr. Lanier] was a great man. He really was.”
Smith, who won two NBA titles with the
Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995 memory of Lanier was one of his coaches growing
up had Lanier’s sneaker in his office and every time Smith would go into his
coach’s office seeing that shoe would bring to mind Lanier.
Smith saw first-hand some of Lanier’s
great work as the official ambassador of the NBA traveling with him to China
and across the United States and the globe doing NBA events.
“Just a good person,” Smith said of
Lanier. “You meet some guys in this league and you say, ‘He’s a good player,
but he rubs you the wrong way. No, not Bob.”
In
his 14 NBA seasons on the hardwood for the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks,
Bob Lanier was one of the best centers in the league that held is own against
some of the more recognized and well-known tall figures to ever lace up kicks
on the hardwood like Willis Reed, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Artis
Gilmore. He became a fixture in both of those communities both on the court and
through his charitable endeavors off of it.
After his playing career, became a great businessmen and then had a solid career working in the NBA front office
alongside first the late NBA Commissioner David Stern and then his predecessor
Adam Silver in helping to grow the game of basketball not just here in the
United States but across the globe teaching as Commissioner Silver said the
game of basketball’s “values” and making a “positive impact” on the youth and
all people “everywhere.”
Bob Lanier was great player, teammate, friend, and leader that earned the respect and admiration from the entire NBA family and he will be sorely missed.
Information, statistics, and quotations
are courtesy of 5/11/2022 12:30 a.m. “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia TNT
With Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal;
5/14/2022 www.nba.com story, “Hall of Famer, NBA
Global Ambassador Bob Lanier Dies at 73;” https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/laniebo01.html;
and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lanier.
