In celebration of his 80th birthday, basketball aficionados share favorite stories about Peter Vecsey and poignant observations about his legendary career.

By Ed Odeven
TOKYO (July 1, 2023) ― With an inquisitive mind and a deep respect for the game, its history and the personalities who populate basketball courts from coast to coast and beyond, Peter Vecsey elevated NBA coverage.

For decades, Hoop du Jour, his column in the New York Post, delivered countless scoops, fearless commentary and dollops of wit, sarcasm and insight to inform and entertain simultaneously. For Vecsey, aka “The Viper,” it was a successful juggling act he deftly handled.

One of my favorite Vecsey columns is from February 2009 about Sal Gerage, a former sports editor for the New York Daily News, the New York Post and elsewhere, the publicist Joe Goldstein and a who’s who of related personalities. In this piece, Vecsey’s talent for storytelling and connecting the dots, linking friendships and eras and stories that begat other stories, is on display.

The piece closes with something relevant to the overall topic that probably every other columnist would’ve placed in the intro: a reminder that Ossie Schectman scored the first basket in BAA (NBA) history. But it works this way, Vecsey’s way, as a finishing touch.

The late NBA commissioner David Stern summed up Vecsey’s knack for staying in the know about everything linked to the NBA ― truth, gossip, opinion ― making a reference to the Post’s famous gossip pages. “Peter was Page Six before there was a Page Six,” Stern was quoted as saying by the Post in 1999.

During his ultra-successful career, Vecsey wrote for the New York Daily News, the Post, USA Today and was employed by multiple TV networks as an NBA analyst and reporter. In later years, when he was officially retired, he published on Patreon (where he penned remarkable tributes to Hall of Famers Connie Hawkins and John Havlicek after their passings) and, more recently, for the NBA Basketball Retired Players Association website (for which he’s written must-read remembrances of Paul Westphal and K.C. Jones and other invaluable contributions to the annals of basketball history).

Peter Vecsey turns 80 today, and this self-commissioned compilation is a collection of thoughts from some people who’ve known Vecsey since the early 1970s and others who became acquainted with him in the social media age. Or somewhere in between.

Born before the NBA’s inception, Vecsey has followed basketball his entire life, written and spoken about every generation of players and coaches, including everyone involved with the ABA in the 1960s and ’70s. As someone once told me, “Peter’s forgotten more about basketball than other people will ever know.”

Vecsey’s never-wavering interest in every slice of basketball history is genuine. Early in his newspaper career, he was in the right place at the right time, recognizing the significance of Harlem’s Rucker Tournament in the early 1970s. Vecsey coached tournament-winning teams at Rucker Park in the 1970s and ’80s, teams featuring Julius “Dr. J” Erving and Charlie Scott, among other pros.

This week, Peter paid tribute to Carl Green, a former Harlem Globetrotter who helped him immensely in gaining rapport with pro players. Green passed away a few days ago at age 89.

Rucker Park was a relationship-building, career-defining investment of time. A huge investment that paid off. For example, Green and Dr. J gave Vecsey recognition and bestowed gravitas on him in front of all the players or in small settings.

If logic and legitimacy are goals, you can’t write or discuss the history of pro basketball in North America without mentioning all-time great Wilt Chamberlain as a key figure in the game. And you shouldn’t overlook the fact that Vecsey was linked to all of the game’s greats in some way. Green was a part of that, too, as Vecsey described in a Facebook post that shares a vital link to Chamberlain. 

“Born in 1934, Dipper’s favorite truth teller was my go-to authority on the greatest black ballers from the ’50s and ’60s — Sam Jones, Cleo Hill, Jack DeFares, every NY Ren, Trotter and Eastern League exile due to color and scandal. Carl introduced me and gave his stamp of approval to many epic players, resulting in their instantaneous trust. He would always end our conversation with the endearment, ‘You and me, man.’ Words of love I will take to my grave…”

Peter, your genuine respect and appreciation for the game are infectious qualities.

Happy birthday, Peter. Thanks for being an inspiration, a fount of knowledge about the game and a friend.

***

Fellow sports scribe Bob Ryan, who became the Boston Celtics beat reporter for The Boston Globe in 1969, has known Vecsey for decades.

During a short phone conversation with Ryan, it was quite evident he admires the career that Vecsey had and the impact of his basketball coverage.

From the outset of our chat, Ryan described Vecsey as a “friendly competitor.”

“I can’t pinpoint (exactly) when, but somewhere along the way, with the Daily News first, there was Peter Vecsey,” recalled Ryan, “and he was a must-read. He was very interested in the ABA, too, I know that, because they had the Nets to cover as well as the Knicks. Our paths would have to cross at a game in New York or Boston, I guess. We never became close friends … we were friendly.”

In summing up Vecsey’s basketball coverage over the years, Ryan provided this assessment: “You’d have to include him in this history of the NBA. He was an influential writer, there’s no question. He was a force, he’d make people react. Sports editors would (say), ‘Vecsey had that. How come you didn’t have that?’ 

“He was the premier information guy,” added Ryan, who received the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Award (for print journalism) in 1997. “He had great contacts. Players gravitated to him, I think, very easily. They related to him well.”

Similarly, Ryan offered the example of the late Will McDonough, an NFL reporter for The Boston Globe, as someone “who had a way of ingratiating himself with jocks.”

Ryan added, “I think Peter has some of the same quality, and it worked and it was great. And on top of which his style of writing was very sharp, acerbic, he took no prisoners. He was famous for nicknames ― and one that I keep thinking about was Joe Barry Carroll is ‘Joe Barely Cares.’ “

Ryan recalled playing pickup basketball games against other media members during the NBA playoffs years ago, games in which Vecsey also competed. “He was a good player, (with) a long jump shot and was aggressive. That I do remember.”

After hearing Ryan say on more than one occasion during our interview that he felt Vecsey was “truly a must-read,” I asked him to elaborate.

Why was this the case? I probed.

“He seemed to have sources and he always knew contracts, too, but I was never that interested in contracts,” Ryan stated. “But he always knew contract numbers, so I suspect that he had very good contacts with agents as well, which were very important. And some people were better than others, and he was at the top of the list. I was somewhere in the middle of that category, I think, in terms of my contacts with agents. But you had to have some if you wanted to do your job at that level.”

Ryan continued: “And I’ll say this, and this is the key part, too,  he was a fun read because of his writing style. He made it come alive and he made you laugh often, and that for me is always important as a writer. The whole package, and not to mention, give him credit and I was envious of this: It wasn’t just a basketball column; it was Hoop du Jour. Nobody else had an apt title like that on their NBA column. That was his signature, let’s face it. … He was a measuring stick for everybody in those days, I’m telling you.”

And when was Vecsey’s golden era as a columnist for the Post, which he joined in 1976?

“For many of us who lived through that era, the ’80s were the pinnacle of being an NBA writer,” Ryan said. “Newspapers still mattered most and this was before the internet wreaked havoc on newspapers, and in the ’80s it was the dominance of the Lakers and the Celtics, the 76ers and the Pistons, the four teams who won all the championships. And the travel, the relationships, the Bird-Magic (rivalry) and Michael Jordan coming on to challenge Bird and Magic, and then the Bad Boys, which were a great topic, a great source of fun writing for everybody, the Detroit Bad Boys, all that. That was the biggest era to be an NBA writer, and Vecsey was right at the top of his game, I’d say, in that (time).”

Moments later, I posed the following question to Bob Ryan: “What does Vecsey’s career mean to the NBA and to basketball history?”

“I truly believe that if you are going to write an NBA history and you are including media coverage that he’s foremost,” Ryan said of Vecsey. “He’s one of the seminal figures. Because of the whole package, there wasn’t anybody like him. And by the whole package I mentioned the outlets (and their big widespread circulation) ― you have two outlets that are pretty good, the Post and the Daily News ― and the New York City influence, his great contacts and his style, his presentation. He got your attention the way he wrote, there’s no question. And it was good reading, that’s all. I mean, it still is.

“Now the funny part about the whole thing with Peter Vecsey is the contrast between him and his brother. I used to kid about that one. And who didn’t?

“George is so reserved and demure. … He looks like a Russian poet with an Abe Lincoln beard without the mustache. They’re just different people, but George’s style was more genteel. I used to say, ‘Who could believe those two came out of the same womb?’ They were so different,” Ryan added with a laugh.

Sharing his thoughts on the ABA players’ pension issue, Ryan commented on Vecsey’s loyalty to their cause. “I think that you have to give him credit, for sure, for caring. He did. It wasn’t  just a journalistic hook that was something for him to write about to get the story. He cared. He loved these people, and it was always very personal with him. He loved the game, he totally loved the game and loved the people in the game, and thought that if there was an injustice, that bothered him.

“I admire him for that, there’s no question. I think it was a sincere personal cause; it wasn’t just a journalistic quest. It was a personal quest, because I think he truly cared for these people.”

Turning the conversation to Vecsey’s 80th birthday and an open invitation to say a few words to Peter, Ryan took the bait. “We both went through a great era. There’s a bond that we share.”

Ryan then provided an example, citing former NBA player and head coach Paul Silas’ memorial service, in January in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he was one of the speakers. “I was honored that they would ask me,” admitted Ryan, who covered Silas for four seasons (1972-76) when he played for the Celtics.

“And Peter was at the service in Charlotte, and I don’t know what prompted that specifically. I didn’t realize he had any particular relationship with Silas, and maybe he didn’t. But obviously he felt very strongly about Paul Silas’ presence in the NBA and appreciated Paul Silas the person as well as Paul Silas the player…”

“I always love hearing from him,” Ryan said of Vecsey. “And I think we should really try to stay in touch. … Stay healthy.”

***

Pat Williams, an NBA front-office executive (1968-2019) with the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic, recalled that Vecsey’s career was unparalleled. 

“Pete Vecsey was the most important NBA writer in history,” Williams declared in an email. “He had an incredible knack of tracking down stories through the many, many contacts he had throughout the basketball world. He never stopped digging and when Pete called you, you better cooperate with him or he could chew you up in the press pretty quickly. In other words, you better shoot straight with him because he had the memory of an elephant.  

“In these later years, I have enjoyed a unique friendship with Pete. We are a very select group of old timers who are still sitting up and taking nourishment. Pete and I love to reminisce about the early days of the NBA. There aren’t many people that I can do that with.

“Pete, a very happy 80th birthday! I beat you to that mark by 3 years. I look forward to our next long basketball chat.” 

***

Henry Bibby, former UCLA (1969-72) and NBA (1972-81) guard, called Vecsey “my favorite reporter.”

In February 1975, the New York Knicks traded Bibby to the New Orleans Jazz. It turned out that Bibby would play his first game with his new team against his former employer on February 2. He scored 13 points in 17 minutes in New Orleans’ 118-114 home win over New York.

A day earlier, the Knicks played host to the Houston Rockets at Madison Square Garden, and Bibby, who had six points in 10 minutes, shared recollections of that major day in his career.

“I remember I got traded at halftime of a game I was playing in when my wife came up to me and said you have been traded, do not get hurt,” Bibby recalled. “Pete had told her that and she told me. That  night I flew to New Orleans to catch up with the Jazz and Pete and I sat next to each other and he shared what a sports reporter job was. I remember him saying, ‘You are a friend and always a friend, but we all have a job to do. So do not take personal what I write and I only write the truth.’

“He put in perspective what his role was. It made me understand what he had to do. I look at players and reporters today and say help the writer get across your story where the average fan will understand. Their job is tough and so is the player’s job and we both have to understand that players coming off the field and into the press room are tough to deal with…

“A super lesson he taught me and I look at his job so differently. Much love for Pete and thank you, Pete.”

***

NYC native Kenny Anderson, the No. 2 pick in the 1991 NBA Draft, played point guard in the NBA from 1991-2005. Like Vecsey (Class of 1961), Anderson attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, graduating in 1989.

Delivering a birthday message to Vecsey via a phone conversation with this article’s author, Anderson had this to say: “Eighty years old, that’s awesome. I want to say happy birthday. I wish him many more and God bless him and just keep doing what you’re doing, man. He’s always been great by my acknowledgment.”

Remembering Vecsey’s signature work in his Hoop du Jour columns in the Post, Anderson told me “I got a kick out of it, and knowing that he was from Molloy … so I love all my Stanners (nickname of the school’s sports teams).”

Anderson, who became the head coach of the Fisk University men’s basketball team in 2018, said Vecsey’s columns were an important source of information for anyone interested in basketball.

“When he was writing about me, good, bad, or negative, whatever, I knew he was doing the job, so I just got a kick out of some of it.” Anderson said. “Some of it is still funny. I still laugh at some of his quotes and things that he put in his articles.”

Recognized as one of the all-time best point guards from NYC, Anderson believes he met Vecsey for the first time while he was a schoolboy superstar at Archbishop Molloy. A four-time Parade All-American in high school before he enrolled at Georgia Tech, Anderson stays in touch with Vecsey in his post-playing days.

“We talked about two, three weeks ago just about life,” Anderson said. “I didn’t talk anything about basketball, but I respect him.”

In recent years, Anderson said he appreciates encouragement he’s received on social media and elsewhere from Vecsey and others as he pursues a career in coaching.

“It’s about life, and I’ve just got to keep grinding, keep grinding, it’s something I love doing, coaching these young men at Fisk University and giving back,” Anderson revealed. “I’m giving back … I’m doing the same thing that he, Archbishop Molloy coach Jack Curran, did for us.”

Anderson admitted that if he hadn’t been a basketball player he might have pursued a career as a sportswriter.

In addition, the content of news coverage from throughout his career is etched in his mind to this day.

“All the reporters,” Anderson commented, “they criticized me, they said this, then they praised me … it’s always just whatever I would give them, that’s what they were doing and I never took it personal. I just knew it was their job to do.”

Why is Vecsey’s career and legacy important to pro basketball?

“With his writing, he was writing truth,” Anderson told me. “So a lot of people writing articles are bullshitting around … but he stated the facts, and ain’t nothing you can do or say but just deal with it. A lot of athletes got mad and don’t really want to deal with him to this day, probably, but they just got to understand that he was doing his job and it comes with it being an athlete in the NBA, in high school, in college. You are going to have people criticizing you, praising you. That’s just the way of the world, man.”

Looking back on Vecsey’s prolific output as a writer for decades, Anderson also shared the following insights: “You have to be very educated writing his column and things of that nature, giving people what they want and all the people that are fans of his understand that, and they love him for that.

“I think I like him (because) he kept it real, he kept it 100.”

Writing with authenticity, Vecsey often upset those he critiqued in his columns.

Or as Anderson noted, “You didn’t like it, but when you read it and said, ‘oh, shit, maybe that’s what I was doing at the time.’ “

On a related note, Anderson assessed Vecsey’s work as a prominent NBA analyst for TNT and NBC: “He knew what he was talking about and he was good.”

Having been involved in basketball for his entire life, Anderson recognizes that Vecsey remains an important figure in the basketball universe.

“He’s important because he’s been doing it for so long and he’s been able to get the basketball knowledge out,” Anderson commented, “and I think that’s the key, and it’s good knowledge. He’s been able to voice his opinion in the correct manner.”

***

Ira Berkow, retired New York Times sports columnist, author of Autumns in the Garden: The Coach of Camelot and other Knicks Stories and numerous other books shared the pro basketball beat with Vecsey in Gotham for decades.

“I admired Pete Vecsey not only as a basketball writer (he was unafraid to take a stance, no matter how controversial), he could be funny (very hard to do in print), he could be insightful (the court was an open textbook for him) but, maybe best of all for me, he was a good and reliable teammate on the basketball court,” Berkow shared in an email. “We played together in halfcourt and full-court games and I knew that if I was open and he had the ball, I’d get the pass.

“Happy birthday, pal, and happy hoops.”

***

Pete Croatto, author of From Hang Time to Prime Time, Business, Entertaining and the Birth of the Modern-Day NBA, says he admires that Vecsey created a niche for himself and also for his chart-topping influence within the profession.

“Fans of pro sports too easily forget the influential precedents to the current sensations,” Croatto pointed out. “That includes the media. Every time I see a ‘Woj bomb’ or a Shams Charania scoop, I wonder how many people know they’re replicating Peter Vecsey with wi-fi, only without the welcome combativeness and love of wordplay. 

“Peter made being an ‘NBA Insider’ the headlining occupation it is. What’s equally impressive is the work he’s doing now: making sure fans appreciate the players who made the game, thanks to his work with ABA alumni or his podcast with the National Basketball Retired Players Association. Peter Vecsey’s impact on professional basketball is undeniable; the astounding part is that it’s growing. That’s a hell of a way to celebrate an 80th birthday.”

***

Bob Rathbun, TV play-by-play announcer for the Atlanta Hawks, says he has great respect for Vecsey’s knowledge of basketball history and his love of the game. 

“Often imitated, never duplicated! No one captured the essence of the NBA better than Peter,” Rathbun declared. “His impact is still being felt.

“Last summer, I invited Peter to join me for an ESPN broadcast from Rucker Park. He was such a big part of that court’s history! It was great watching him tell the living history of that iconic venue.”

As a longtime advocate of providing promised pensions for former ABA players, men who fought for decades to receive compensation, Vecsey used his platform to shed light on an issue that many within the NBA hierarchy and prominent media chose to ignore. He also encouraged others, including me, to report on this travesty.

Commenting on Vecsey’s efforts to help the ABA cause, Rathbun said, “I root for him daily in his efforts. For an NBA that is awash in cash, it’s the least they can do for these gentlemen.”

***

Rich Otterman, a former sportswriter in the Pittsburgh era in  the 1990s, provided his views on Vecsey’s crusade to help ABA players receive NBA pensions.

“It’s been inspiring to follow along as Peter, for decades, pushed for the ABA players to receive NBA pensions. His fingerprints were all over the 2022 NBA board of governors decision to pay 115 living ABA players $24.5 million,” Otterman commented. “Throughout this effort, Peter showed us all something about loyalty and tenacity in helping many of the former players he covered who helped paved the road for the NBA to become what it is today. Even in semi-retirement, Peter wields a strong influence.”

For instance, Vecsey maintains a lively presence on Twitter, commenting about games, players and coaches, past and present.

“During the NBA season, I frequently tell my wife and kids ‘I’m going to watch the game with Peter Vecsey,’ ” Otterman related. “What that means is I’m going to watch NBA game(s) and tweet back and forth with him and a bunch of others on his timeline. Most of those nights I laugh until it hurts and pay little attention to the game.”

And there’s a Vecsey link to a story that’s close to Otterman’s heart, dating back to 2018, when his son Bucky was in the fifth grade.

“He woke up sick one day and stayed home from school,” Otterman recalled. “I was in the home office working and could hear him screaming. I ran to the family room to check on him. ‘Dad, Peter Vecsey is on TV!’ Sure enough, The Viper was talking hoops in ‘Basketball: A Love Story.’ I tweeted about it. Peter saw it and asked how my son was doing — it was a one-day flu ― and requested my home address. Two days later, a package from Peter arrived in the mail. It contained a Golden State Warriors hat and a hand-written get-well note. We still have it.”

Despite never having a face-to-face meeting with Vecsey, Otterman has enjoyed communicating with the legendary basketball columnist for many years. 

“Not many people get to meet (or tweet with) their heroes,” he told me in an email. “Many are disappointed when they do. It’s been one of my greatest joys as a sports fan to interact on Twitter with The Viper.

“As an aspiring sportswriter, I looked up to Peter for a long time. And still do. I only ‘know’ him through twitter. I wasn’t sure whether he’d respond to my tweets when I first tried ‘talking’ hoops with him on Twitter in 2016. He has. Thousands of times over. And has connected me to people with similar interests.

“Peter is gracious with his time, insightful, and still the funniest and sharpest guy in the media. He offers a perspective that very few, if any, can match on the game and its history. Time and again, he’s shown a willingness to spend as much time with fans with 25 followers as he does with former players and media personalities.”

And what has made Vecsey’s career especially relevant to you? I asked Otterman.

“Peter has been a big part of this game since I started following it as a kid,” Otterman answered. “He has taught me and so many others something about the game in every one of his columns, TV appearances, interviews, podcasts and tweets. His lines, phrases and nicknames have become a part of the hoops lexicon.

“He’s a pioneer in the sport and, by far, the best basketball columnist ever. You can’t tell the story of the ABA or NBA without him. I’m thankful for the time and thoughts he’s shared with me. Like thousands of other fans, I look forward to what he’s going to write, tweet, ask or say next.

“Happy Birthday, Peter.”

***

Dick Weiss, a longtime former sports reporter and columnist for the New York Daily News and other major media outlets, has specialized in college basketball coverage during his illustrious career. Weiss considers giant in his chosen profession.

“Pete was more influential than any (NBA) writer during the ’70s and ’80s,” Weiss declared. “He got the league, knew everyone, had great contacts and was everywhere. His Hoop du Jour was a must-read for any serious NBA fan. Loved the fact he was involved in the Rucker League. He was close to Julius (Erving) when he was first coming up. Loved the fact he championed so many players from ABA who are now in the Hall of Fame.”

***

Tim Shea, a longtime overseas pro coach in Italy and Spain and an international basketball consultant, hails from NYC. Like many, he admires Vecsey’s communications skills. 

“As a New Yorker, I appreciate his style, sarcasm and unique wit,” Shea told me. “In a conversation I once had with him I explained how I’m glad I didn’t attend the same New York high school with him because if you were (un)lucky enough to sit next to him and hear his sharp wit and comments in class then it probably would have been you in trouble with the teacher as his flagrant humor would cause any normal human to crack up loudly and be the one caught.”

He went on: “Maybe most of all I appreciate his unique insight and New York style. His sense of dry humor, frankness and fearless approach, I think, is to be admired.”

***

Ross Kreines is an NBA analyst who delivers detailed critiques of players ― scouting reports for anyone to see ― on Twitter. For Ross, it’s an artform. He’s an astute judge of talent and has a keen eye for details and an ability to describe a player’s skills and shortcomings. 

A talented high school basketball player in New York, Kreines was hospitalized in a serious automobile accident in October 1990; doctors said he would never move from the neck down, but as Vecsey later wrote, “Ross refused to accept it.” Kreines’ Twitter profile notes, “(I) proved them wrong.”

For Kreines, a friendship with Vecsey began over their mutual love for basketball.

“We know about the Hall of Fame writer with a very high basketball IQ off the charts, but I want to tell you about the person,” recalled Kreines, who I interviewed for this feature in 2020. “I had contacted Peter via email many years ago on a masterpiece story that he wrote. 

“Peter contacted me right back and we started talking hoops and he even asked about my injury and other things. Peter asked me to give him a few players in the upcoming draft and players to watch. I gave him Jimmy Butler among a few other players. And from there Peter used me in his column, let me break down games, which led to him even contacting people for me and one of the biggest honors was that Peter called me his talent scout. 

“When he was in town, he would meet up with me. Peter gave me a platform and voice, even connecting me with some (NBA) GMs. A HOF writer helping me truly says all you need to know. He’s truly a selfless person that tries to help so many. 

“To this day we connect regularly and he truly has become a part of my family. A HOF talent but an even better person.”

***

Mateo Mayorga, a columnist for Five Reasons Sports Network and FanSided, contributed a short essay (“The Keeper of the Grail“) for this birthday compilation.

Mayorga’s words follow.

Peter Vecsey is retired, so he says, but when the Viper decides to make some fresh content, he puts everyone in the business to shame. I submit his roster of interviews with game changers for Legends Studios as hard evidence.

“Do you want to play, or do you want to fuck around,” hissed Larry Bird at Vecsey during a one-on-one match. His hand was left stinging, too, by a smack from Bird for a hand check.

“I didn’t hit you that hard,” chuckled The Hick from French Lick as they recollected the West Coast road trip in 1986.

“Yes you did.”

The Celtics played the Sacramento outfit in its first game after the All-Star break. At the end of the encounter, Bird missed two freebies that capped Boston’s fourth-quarter comeback.  The next day, the Cs were still in town, and Bird was training in the arena. He decided to challenge the Kings to a rematch but settled on Vecsey.  

“I believe you beat me 11-5,” Vecsey reminded Bird.  

“Everyone scored on me,” Bird quipped.

“Oh well, fuck you, Larry…”

The first time I spoke with Vecsey at length, it was for an interview for NBA 75. He arrived discharging stories like a firing squad at a memorial. He revealed the reason the Portland Trail Blazers didn’t keep Moses Malone, the man who turned into the only back-to-back MVP in NBA history on separate teams.  According to Vecsey, the Blazers wouldn’t pay Bill Walton his 300K salary plus Malone his 300 large.  

The future Chairman of the Boards would get passed around to Buffalo in the 1976 summer for a first-round pick, then days later was exchanged to Houston for two more.  

Vecsey said Jack Ramsay told him the New York Knicks could’ve had Malone. The story goes Dr. Jack called Red Holzman in New York and asked if he’d like to acquire the services of Big Mo.  

Holzman asked, “Is he as good as John Gianelli?”

Vecsey asserts Holzman had no idea how potent a weapon Malone was because he wasn’t present on the team bus next to the coach providing counsel.  

Ramsay explained he was far better than Sheriff Gianelli.

Holzman says, “Nah, I think we’ll stay with what we got.”

Situations like Ramsay’s story passed to Vecsey remind me of Erik Durschmied’s book How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History because the same has affected the NBA’s past.

Vecsey’s skills as a news breaker and column castigator were unrivaled. A piece published on Jan. 2, 2009, by his hand, titled “Barkley: Perp out of control,” is the crème de la crème of accountability writing. As impressive as all that is, he is a better man because he sticks up for others. For years, he advocated for pensions for retired ABA players, which the first installments didn’t start going out until Dec. 15, 2022.

Many of the men who never entered the NBA through the “consolidation” never worked again but were pivotal in the game’s evolution. The dunk contest was an ABA invention first deployed in the 1976 All-Star Game at halftime in Denver. The dunk contest is still an event the NBA capitalizes on.

The ABA was the “Wild West” of basketball, but it was a brotherhood. Vecsey said the NBA had its camaraderie, but not like the ABA.  

“You might have had cliques going out together, like when I was with the Celtics in 1986. … The ABA, it didn’t matter,” Vecsey said. “Everybody was together. I went out with some of the greatest guys going, and I went out with desperados. There was a lot of shit happening.”

Access in those days is incomparable to what media is allowed now. Vecsey got close to a lot of cats because the locker room was wide open before and after games but barred if fisticuffs flew. With respect to great scribes of the ’70s and ’80s, he was the only one then who broke national stories, uncovering tales that teams, agents and players didn’t want the public learning.  

These were many years later, but ever heard of weapons drawn in the Washington Wizards’ locker room or coach P.J. Carlesimo getting choked out by a player? Vecsey got the stories. He even had LeBron James’ departure to Los Angeles 10 months before it happened.  

His style is often imitated but poorly replicated. You can learn more in an hour chatting with Vecsey about reporting than in a semester in school. No one did the media thing better than him in this field. That won’t change.

***

From the online archives

*Recommended viewing on YouTube: A Coach Scott Fields Show interview with Vecsey from July 2021.   

*Recommended listen: An appearance on the In All Airness podcast in January 2013.

*Recommended listen: An appearance on the Legends of Sports podcast in June 2022.

*My 2015 Q&A with Vecsey: https://edodevenreporting.com/2015/04/13/peter-vecsey-who-needs-deadlines-discusses-his-upcoming-book-and-the-stories-behind-the-stories/