Spurs The Iceman

The Iceman’s Wild Journey to the San Antonio Spurs

Before David Robinson and Tim Duncan, George Gervin was the San Antonio Spurs’ superstar. The Iceman helped take the fledgling franchise from the obscurity of the American Basketball Association to the bright lights of the NBA. But how Gervin became a Spur is a cloak and dagger affair. Handshake deals, federal injunctions, hotel hideouts, and one sympathetic judge makes Gervin’s origin tale anything but normal. Originally from Detroit, Gervin was a preternaturally gifted basketball player who averaged 26.6 points a game over his 12-year NBA career. Possibly the Spurs’ all-time greatest shooter, the Iceman has been repeatedly recognized as one of the best NBA players ever, yet his collegiate career was rocky. After he returned from a semester at Cal State Long Beach under legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian where Gervin had received a basketball scholarship, Gervin ran into some serious issues. The trouble culminated as Gervin punched a Roanoke College player at the 1972 NCAA College Division national semifinal game. A promising post-college career quickly evaporated. He was kicked off his Eastern Michigan State team and saw his tryouts for the Olympics and Pan American games withdrawn. It seemed like a premature end of career for a player with staggering potential.

George Gervin #44 of the San Antonio Spurs dribbles against the New York Knicks circa 1978 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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While playing in the Continental Basketball Association, Gervin was spotted by the VP of Basketball Operations for the Virginia Squires, a pro team in the ABA. Seeing the massive upside of a player of Gervin’s caliber, he signed the young player and Gervin began his short-lived career as a Squire, where he played one season as a teammate of Julius Erving. Again, controversy found him, but this time it was not of Gervin’s making. The Squires, his new team, was desperately short on operating cash, endangering the future of the franchise. By the 1974 season, the team had already traded Erving and Swen Nater, essentially for cash considerations, giving rise to the belief that a full-scale fire sale was imminent. By the ABA All-Star break, rumor had it Gervin would be next. Yet trading Gervin put Virginia Squires owner Earl Foreman in a tough spot; Gervin was a fan favorite. Plus, since the departure of Dr. J., he was their best player, averaging 25.4 points and 8.4 rebounds in the 49 games the previous season. Spurs owner Angelo Drossos – having already acquired Nater – made a creative offer for Gervin: a delayed-delivery deal where the Squires got $225,000 up front but didn’t have to hand over Gervin until after the ’74 ABA All Star game. Here’s where things begin to get murky. It’s unclear who made the decision – Virginia’s Earl Foreman or ABA Commissioner Mike Storen – but a decision was made nonetheless to renege on the Gervin trade. “Take anyone you want, your money back, plus a 10 percent penalty,” Storen told Drossos, “but you can’t have Gervin.” As the two franchises began a risky tit-for-tat for his services, Gervin was put in the middle. Drossos told Gervin that “federal marshals” would pull him off the court if he played another game for the Squires, a message surely intended for Foreman and Storen. All Gervin wanted was to play, so he and his agent went to San Antonio, negotiated a new contract, and Gervin took the court as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. The honeymoon period was brief. After playing one game for the Spurs, Commissioner Storen threatened that every game the Spurs played with Gervin on the court would end in a Spurs forfeiture. Again, Gervin wanted to play and sensed his time in San Antonio held more promise than the obviously flailing Virginia Squires. So, despite the Commissioner’s threats, he refused to get on the plane that was to return him to Virginia. Instead, the Spurs hid Gervin, putting him up in an undisclosed hotel while Drossos filed a federal injunction to retain Gervin’s eligibility. Keeping Gervin in San Antonio ended up being crucial; when the matter went to court, it was a San Antonio judge who ruled in the Spurs’ favor. George Gervin would stay in San Antonio, setting the stage for the Iceman’s Hall of Fame career. The cloak and dagger episode to get Gervin in black and silver is the sort of thing that may not happen these days, but how fun is it to remember a time when the wild west truly was the wild west? A little over two seasons later, the ABA merged with the NBA. Shortly thereafter, Gervin won the NBA scoring title. The Iceman never looked back.

Fate, as it often does, intervened.

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The Iceman’s Wild Journey to the San Antonio Spurs

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