Willis Reed

Reed's career is essentially the story of the New York Knicks finding themselves. He played his entire NBA career with New York (Wikipedia) — a loyalty that feels almost quaint now, in the era of player movement and superteam construction. He's the guy who made the Knicks matter. The 1970 championship run is the obvious centerpiece, and it's impossible to talk about Reed without landing on that Game 7 entrance, which Variety and sports historians alike have called one of the most dramatic moments in professional sports history. He wasn't supposed to play. The leg wasn't right. He walked out anyway. Two baskets. The crowd never really came back down to earth after that. Reed was named Finals MVP that year, and he'd win another championship with the Knicks in 1973 (Wikipedia). After retiring as a player, Reed transitioned into coaching and front-office work, including a stint as head coach of the Knicks. Hard to say if any of those later chapters carried the same electricity as his playing days — they rarely do for athletes of that magnitude — but his continued involvement in the game suggested someone who genuinely couldn't stay away. He died on March 21, 2023 (TMDB), at 80 years old.