Interview: Julius Erving
The Great and Wondrous Dr. J

You're a great basketball player, but I have the feeling as I read about you that it's always been important for you to be a good person, to be a well rounded person, as well.

Julius Erving: I think so.

I think I started learning lessons about being a good person long before I ever knew what basketball was. And that starts in the home, it starts with the parental influence. I came from a broken home, so my mom was a major influence in my life. And I remember hearing her say hundreds, thousands of times, "You don't have to work that hard to try to be a good person, just do it." Before "just do it" was fashionable.

I think she would add to that, even if there are a lot of things in life that you can't do, this is something that you can. This is a do-able thing. All it requires is programming your attitude properly and relating to people, as you would want to have them relate to you.

Tell me about your mother. She was, I understand, from a very large family.

Julius Erving: My mom is one of 14 children. She's a great lady. She's a Taurus. Has been a profound influence in my life, still is to this day. Born in meager surroundings in rural South Carolina. She and my dad migrated to New York, where I was born, my brother was born, my sister was born. She continues to live in New York. We live in Philadelphia.

I view her as a very, very strong-willed person, who understood her values very early in life, learned her lessons about dealing with people and made her family her priority. The influence on her family, because it was such a priority for her, was clearly felt by all of us.

She must have had to work very hard, as a single mother back then, to take care of all of you.

Julius Erving: Yes, she had to work very hard. As a matter of fact, she used to teach school when she was in South Carolina, but she wasn't qualified to teach in New York, and she did whatever she had to do. She did domestic work, she went through the training to become a hairdresser, and rented a booth in a salon and supported her family as best she could. And always gave us great doses of love, and made us feel special about the little material things that she could give us, to help us to understand the merit system.

If you came home with a good report card, As and Bs, then maybe there was a pair of tennis shoes that went along with that. I remember one instance in elementary school. She knew that I liked white grapes, and she bought me a pound of white grapes, and these were all mine and it was just so special. It was in response to having a good report card, and something simple like that meant a lot to me. I guess it was the gesture on her part that was behind it that still carries through today, in terms of thinking that way.

When you were a kid, did you have some sense you would achieve great things?

Julius Erving: It wasn't until I was 14 or 15 that I first heard about the Pulitzer Prize. And I started thinking about this, and I always liked poetry and I always liked writing. At that age I made a declaration to my family that I was going to win a Pulitzer Prize one day. Of course, I never did, and probably never will. But I think that was pretty much evidence of thinking big, thinking with a more universal perspective than one's neighborhood, or one's county, city, state, or even country.

In a lot of areas of my life, particularly in my teenage years, I began to think about the world, and to think about the universe as being a part of my conscious everyday life. Not being narrow-minded, but being broad-minded; and not being pessimistic, but optimistic. I think that helped. I think in sports it helped a great deal, particularly as time went on when doors began to open that represented universal challenges.

As a 20 year-old, going over to the Soviet Union, participating in the Olympic Development Program for the United States and bringing that experience back, and understanding that if I can go through that type of doorway athletically, what about academically, emotionally, spiritually? Why limit yourself? If I'm going to be a whole person, let me be total, and become the complete package, and not have certain areas of my life go forward.

Be a one on a scale of one to ten, with one being the highest, and let other areas be with the other numbers. Those are things that began to happen in my teenage years, and I guess it created a perspective.

Are there any particular books that you can remember that you especially liked as a kid?

Julius Erving: There's the typical books, Moby Dick and, I guess in my adult life I began to read biographies more than fiction. I started to want to relate to other people's lives, things that had really happened.

Going through the sports experience, and seeing how people reacted, I started to understand the insincerity of someone coming up and saying, "You're the greatest," and "You're the best," and saying the same thing to somebody else down the street. Maybe a small segment of the population might mean what they say, but those are just expressions and figures of speech and things that people say because they think it might make you feel good; although it might not be based in truth, because they're saying it to a lot of people.

I started really getting into biographies, and reading particularly about black people. Marvin Gaye's tragic biography, Divided Soul, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Having Abraham Lincoln, and Jesse Owens, Bill Russell, and Bill Cosby, and people like that as role models, in terms of high achievers. I wanted to read as much literature as I could about their lives.

Then I got treated to the personal exposure, which happened as a 19 year-old, meeting Bill Cosby and Bill Russell in the same year. Much of what was going around in my mind became my reality. I think that helped add to that foundation that I already had.

Was there a teacher or two that were especially important to you?

Julius Erving: There are three teachers who are still involved in my life. Ray Wilson -- who is my office manager, and who was a teacher in my high school, as well as my basketball coach in high school -- is very much involved in my life, and is a real father figure for me. A gentleman named Earl Mosley, who never specifically taught me, but was always there, and was a role model for me, was a coach when I was a freshman. And then a guy named Charles McIlwaine, who is a teacher and a coach.

In my high school years those three really stood out, really helped to become part of the support group that's necessary when you're experiencing all types of physical changes and mental changes, to help to explain things, and put them in the proper perspective.

One math teacher, Mr. Nelson, was just genuinely a good guy. Even for ten or 15 years after I got out of high school, I always wanted to check back in with him, or ask other people to see how he was doing. There were a lot of teachers who made my high school experience something that makes me feel a little saddened when I hear of kids who really don't like the high school situation that they're in. They say that they hate school, and can't wait to get out and move on, because it's not a satisfying and gratifying experience.

Mine was a very satisfying and gratifying experience. I think most of the students I went to high school with feel the same way. We've had reunions every five years. We're approaching the 25th (in 1993), and I'm sure it's going to be well attended because, for many of my classmates, these were the best years of their life.

It's a really different situation today. The dropout rate is so much higher than it was when you were going to school. Why, do you suppose?

Julius Erving: When I was in high school the population was around 200 million, and it's closer to 400 million now. There's a lot more people out there, and the classrooms are a lot bigger. I guess the teaching profession has changed dramatically. It's not considered to be that desirable a profession to enter into.

Very few people enter into it thinking that this is what they're going to do with their life. They look at the teaching profession as a bridge aspect of their career, or maybe just a springboard to other things. " I'll do this for a few years and then I'll move on." So the student isn't getting exposed to the same type of people previous generations were exposed to in the elementary, secondary, or high school levels. That's not to criticize the ones who are there, who are dedicated.

We're talking about quantity. I think the quality is still there, but the quantity of quality people and committed people has changed, and we have to deal with that. Teachers are sort of faced with a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse.

I think it's so important for the students to give teachers feedback. Say, "I really appreciate what you're doing, and what you're doing is good. You've helped me, you've really changed my life. You really make a difference in my life." It's not just about picking up the paycheck, it's about affecting people's lives on a consistent basis. The amount of time that students are exposed to teachers is probably greater than they're exposed (at least from September to June) to at least one of their parents. I know when I was playing basketball, I'm sure my kids saw a lot more of their mother and their teachers and their friends than they did of me, because I had half of my life on the road.

So that feedback is very, very important, and I don't know if that exchange is as fluid as it was. It's one of the things that we have to acknowledge as being different, and it's made it tougher to be a young person today. All of the information that they have to assess, and assimilate, and sort out, and analyze, and then make decisions about. I can really understand their confusion, and sympathize with them. There are a lot of reasons why, and I've only named a few.

Where did the nickname Dr. J. come from?

Julius Erving: In high school I had a buddy who I called the Professor, and he called me the Doctor. His name is Leon Saunders. We went to high school together, and then we went to college together, and we're still great friends today. I used to call him the Professor because, when we would do anything, whether it was playing basketball, or cards, or just sitting around and shooting the breeze, he always had to have the upper hand. He could outtalk anybody, to the point where he would lecture whoever else was around, if we were willing to listen. I just kind of dubbed him the Professor one day. And he said, "Well, if I'm the Professor, then you're the Doctor." We kind of had professional-sounding nicknames, and we just shared that amongst ourselves. Then we ended up graduating high school together, going to college, and other people picked up on our nicknames. Mine eventually got changed to Dr. J, instead of just the Doctor, once I started playing professional basketball. The team physician was called Doc, and the trainer was called Chop. But the physician became Dr. M, and I become Dr. J, compliments of a guy I was rooming with in my first year, a guy named Willie Soldier. Dr. J was kind of catchy, and I liked that. I said, if I'm going to go through a name change, that's not a bad move. It just sort of stuck since then, and it's still here.

You once said that you felt that basketball chose you, rather than you chose basketball. Tell me about that.

Julius Erving: I think I was chosen by basketball, although I never really physically got drafted to any team that I played for. The only team that drafted me, I never played for, which was the Milwaukee Bucks. I think that my God-given physical attributes, big hands, and big feet, the way that I'm built, proportion-wise, just made basketball the most inviting sport for me to play. And from the first time I picked up a basketball at age eight -- I had a lot of difficulty when I first picked up a basketball, because I was a scrub -- there were things that I liked about it. Although I wasn't good, there were things that I liked about it. I could always handle a ball pretty well, even though I couldn't shoot it straight, and wasn't a good defender. I had to spend countless hours, above and beyond the basic time, to try and perfect the fundamentals. So there was a relationship there. It was a two-way street. I liked the game, I enjoyed the game, and the game fed me enough, and gave me enough rewards to reinforce that this is something that I should spend time doing, and that I could possibly make a priority in my life, versus other sports.

If someone gave me a choice of playing football, basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, hockey, or whatever, I think that basketball would be my favorite, because it was best for me, and it had chosen me. As time passed, that became more and more true. Even with respect to my physical growth, I was never given too much too quickly.

When I was a freshman in high school I was maybe 5'9", 5'10". And as a sophomore, 5'11", approaching 6'. As I junior I was 6'1", and when I graduated high school I was 6'3". When I got out of college, I was 6'5-1/2", pushing 6'6". And I continued to grow until I was 25 years old. So, it wasn't a matter of being a finished product, who had reached full potential at an early age. Everything happened in stages. There was always room for improvement. Right up until the time I retired at age 37, I felt like there were still things that I could do better. The relationship with the game was a full relationship, and there was a lot of give and take. There were a lot of stages that were ongoing. I pulled the plug on it at a time that I thought was right for me to exit. Fortunately, in my heart I felt as though I could still continue to play. The public basically thought the same thing. I still hear it today, "How come you don't go back and play?" And this is five years after retiring.

However, I knew what my standards were, and I didn't feel as though I could continue to play at that standard. I didn't want to become a reserve player, or a bench player, and it was time to move on and take on another challenge. That process had already started during the later years of my career. So I was letting go of one thing to be committed to other things, and I thought that was the right move.

It's very admirable, because all too many sports figures and artists and musicians wait until their prime is way passed, and it gets to be kind of sad. The violinist Jascha Heifetz retired at the height of his career, and nobody could ever say there was a weak moment. It's got to be hard to do.

Julius Erving: I didn't really view it as the height of my career, but I felt there was a curve that I had to adhere to. I had gone past my prime, and I was at a segment in the curve where there could be a real serious drop-off. I was no longer in control of playing time, or my role on the team.

I wasn't the one who would have the final say-so, and I had experienced that before. If you've experienced having control, you don't want to be moved to a subordinate position, if you have your druthers. And I think I had my druthers, so I decided to do something else.

You certainly had glorious years, college and pro, and I wanted to touch on some of those highlights. When you look back, what are some of the most thrilling moments for you?

Julius Erving: I always try to keep a pretty conservative demeanor on the court. I was characteristically unfazed by a lot of things that happened around me. That was just my own personal program: I didn't want to get too high over the good moments because I didn't want to be saddened and depressed when things didn't go as I had planned. From experiencing both sides of the fence, that became my public demeanor.

The first professional game that I ever played remains, to me, the most exciting moment of my professional career. I had signed a contract with the American Basketball Association, and we had gone through an exhibition season. A lot of speculation had been created about me, and my teammates, and my team, and what our talents were, and that we were an exciting team to watch. We represented something new and exciting in the game of professional basketball because we played at a fast pace. We always pushed the ball, and there was a lot of room for creativity and excitement. Our game was a lot different than what was being played in the NBA. We featured a lot of slam dunking.

The first professional game was clearly different from the exhibitions and what had happened in the summer. Even though I had been on the basketball court with a lot of professionals, this is when it really counted. This was the beginning of the career.

I remember my first college game as a varsity player. I had a 27 point/28 rebound game. I wasn't a big guy, but I was able to chase rebounds down, and that set a school record in the first game.

I wanted to make a good impression. I knew that rebounding was the strongest part of my game and I said, every shot I take tonight I might miss, because sometimes that happens. I didn't think that was going to happen, but I knew that that was a possibility. And that was something that if it did happen, I would have to live with it. So, I started trying to think of things that I definitely had control over. And I said, when that ball goes up on the board, nobody is going to pursue it harder than I. And with my jumping ability, and quickness, I know I can out-rebound everybody on the floor.

I grabbed 19 rebounds in my first professional game, and somehow found a way to score 20 points. I felt real good about it. I felt that this was the beginning of something good. It was something that I had dreamed about as a kid, something that I didn't think was promised me, and I was never sure that it would happen. Yet it was happening, yet I was here, and yet it was reality, and now it was time to see what I was made of, and what I was about. It became a real good experience. All the things that followed after, in 16 years of playing: the play-offs, and the excitement of championship play, and the frustration of getting knocked out, and the frustration of injuries, and pain, and becoming close to teammates and then they get traded. The transition from playing with three different teams during 16 years, all those things. I don't think any of those things excited me as much as the first game. Because, once again, I kind of programmed myself: "This is a business."

My role models in the business were the older guys on my team when I first got there: Gray Scott, Adrian Smith, Roland Taylor. These were the guys who took me under their wing, and really schooled me in terms of what the business was about.

I always had to keep in mind that I'm here because I do have a talent, and some aspects of it are unique. I should keep that in my mind, not feel that I'm here because people just like me, and because I'm a nice guy. Sometimes I will be treated differently by a lot of people because of that talent, but don't let that become a distraction, and don't be deceived by that. See if for what it is, and then play the hand out. So much of becoming a good athlete involves bringing other things to the table, other than physical skills. It involves intelligence, it involves many of the things that you learn during the process of being educated. How to analyze, how to assess, how to equate, how to reason. This is what the whole elementary, and secondary, and even the college educational process is all about -- teaching you and preparing you to be able to deal with what you ultimately have to deal with in life. Even though I was dealing with sports, which many people feel is totally physical, that people don't have to think, everything is done for you and you're catered to, I found that to be so far removed from the truth that it's almost a joke. The ones who become stars or superstars are the ones who have a head on their shoulders and know how to use it.

You mentioned the skills, other than just sheer physical skills, that go into sports. One that comes to mind in your case is leadership. You've always been described as a leader. What do you think people see in you that causes them to say that?

Julius Erving: I think people see commitment. Every team that I've played on, I've either been the captain or co-captain. Whether it's the coach's appointment, or the players' vote, it's generally turned out that way. So there are a lot of athletes who have always been willing to follow my lead.

I think as a youngster the work ethic was there, practicing hard and being dedicated and not, by nature, being a complainer. My teammates have always related to me in that way. I think probably the best compliment I've ever received from a teammate was what Henry Bibby told me after we had played together for two seasons in Philadelphia. He said, "Of all the guys that I've ever played with, I don't know if you're the best that I've ever played with, but I know you come to play every night. And because of that, I feel like we always have a chance of winning." I thought it was a great compliment.

I thought about that in terms of the other aspects of my life where I need to display leadership. Sometimes I have been reluctant, because I don't think it should be assumed that because you're a leader in one area that you can lead in all areas. Some areas maybe you're better off following, or at least listening, and getting your feet wet, and letting it be a process of time. But in sports, for the most part, I've been given that responsibility, and accepted it willingly, and gladly, and thought that it fit.

Your career was tremendously impressive, and it seemed to happen all at once. But there were, I'm sure, disappointments along the way. Early years in Philadelphia were a little disappointing, I understand. How do you get yourself back on track, when you've had setbacks?

Julius Erving: There were periods in my life when I would just internalize it, and then I decided that that's not the way to go. I had to go through trial and error. I've never been depressed in my life, that I recall. Being a typical Pisces, I might have experienced mood shifts, but I don't remember any depression, or needing to do anything, or to have someone bring me out of being depressed.

Everything is relative. I started playing professional basketball in 1971, and I played professionally for five seasons before going to Philadelphia. During those five seasons, a lot of what transpired was done in the obscurity of the American Basketball Association, which didn't have a major television contract. They didn't have the exposure of the NBA. There was a lot of success there, particularly when I played with the New York Nets, and we won the ABA Championship two different years. That created a lot of expectation when I went to Philadelphia.

When I went to Philadelphia I was 26 years old and really sitting on top of the world. Family life, a professional career, plenty of friends and associates, and a good reputation, a wish list that could be the envy of many.

In Philadelphia, our team was put together and I became the last component of that team. It was sort of parallel to what happened with the Yankees: George Steinbrenner getting all these players together and winning the World Series. There were a lot of assumptions that, in basketball, that's how things worked: if you put together a lot of high-priced talent, they were going to win.

The first year that we were together, we were the second-best team in the world. We went to the finals and we lost in six games. We won the first two, and we lost the next four. The team suddenly became stigmatized. It was like, those guys are good, but they're not winners.

If you get depressed about being the second-best team in the world, then you've got a problem. I tried to take a leadership position, and kind of explain that to my teammates and whoever would hear me. I found myself suddenly becoming defensive about something I really didn't think I should be defensive about.

There were, at that time, 23 teams in the league. We were better than 21 of them. There was one that was better than us, and maybe we'd have another shot at that team. As it turned out, we never got another shot at them; they never got back to the championship round. We went back three other times and the third time after that, won the championship.

There was a sense of relief from doing that. I don't think there ever was a time in which I got depressed over not having it. I think there were times in which I publicly acknowledged that there was a void created because of not having it. But a void is far from depression. A void is something that you can live with in your life, provided there are enough other things to compensate for things that you don't have.

I tell people, young people and old, "Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it." I think it's best advised to wish for things that are within your control to attain. Although that was something I wanted, I probably could have lived without it. Right now, I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes in my life, on a day-to-day basis.

I firmly believe that respect is a lot more important, and a lot greater, than popularity. When you become a world champion, you're not automatically respected. You're immensely popular because of that, because of the media coverage and exposure, but respect is something that you garner by going through the long hard route of giving it, and receiving it, and making it solid, and it's a permanent situation. To have the respect of a lot of people and to be a respected person is so much more important to me at this stage in my life. If I had not won a world championship in basketball, I think that that would probably still be there. That's really what counts to me.

You've described the thrill of the roar of the crowd, the chemistry that you feel when you're on the court and it's happening. What does that feel like?

Julius Erving: When the crowd appreciates you, it encourages you to be a little more daring, I think. That's probably what the home court advantage is all about. With the crowds on your side, it's easier for you to get ready to play and to get to the point where you're playing up to your potential. Generally, you'll have more players on the home team playing up to their potential than on the road team. Because in all professions, talented people sometimes react adversely to being booed, or jeered, or going into a foreign arena. It takes them a little longer to get focused and to reach their full potential, and to get into stride, get into sync. You'll find some teams that are good home teams that are lousy road teams because of that. The perception is that the home team will always have an advantage. When you find a team that's a great team on the road, they're generally listed as a championship caliber team, because they've been able to overcome this. This is simply one of the psychological aspects of the game. There's physical, there's mental, and then there's a psychic side to sports, which a lot of people write about, and very few people study. I don't think I began to study it until I was in my late 20s. The last eight or nine years of my career I spent more time in learning about the psychic side of sports, because that's where there was a greater learning curve available for me, versus trying to physically jump higher, or shoot straighter, or run faster, 'cause that wasn't really going to happen. But the psychic side opened doors for me, opened passages for me, physically and mentally, and allowed me to become a better player at an older age. At age 31, in 1981, I was voted the best player in basketball, and the most valuable player in the league. That's considered old. You have a lot of guys who start out at 20 now, and this was after playing for ten years. I thought that was something that I needed to credit -- understanding better the psychic side of the sport, versus physically going out and doing anything any differently.

You mentioned daring, and that's another hallmark of your career: flamboyance and incredible moves. You're a great showman, and I wonder how much of that is spontaneous and how much of it is deliberate. Is it in response to the crowd? It's a very creative approach to basketball.

Julius Erving: I think it was in response to the crowd, because the crowd reacts after you do a good move. The crowd's response might help set the stage for something that happened later. Oddly enough, my particular style of play was really rooted in the fundamental approach to playing the game, with one exception.

When handling the ball, I always would look for daylight, wherever there was daylight. Sometimes there's only a little bit of daylight between two players, and you'd find a way to get the ball between those two bodies and you make something happen. Having good peripheral vision, I would always see daylight. Maybe I could see daylight that a lot of other players couldn't see. I see a lot of extraordinary players today, Jordan and Drexler and what have you. They see daylight where other players don't see that daylight. They see a body there, and they don't want to challenge that body, and they just don't see the daylight. So, that's a great optic option to have. The flamboyance wasn't intentional. The approach was result-oriented, more than reaction-oriented. Trying to get the results -- stop the team on defense anyway you can: block a shot, steal a ball, force a turnover. Offensively: try to score, set up a teammate to score, keep it very simple. The result was the priority, the effect was an added bonus, I guess. That was part of the gift, the blessing. Once it became very sensible business-wise, if you do things with a certain type of result and cause a certain type of reaction or effect, then you increase your market value. It's very much a competition for the entertainment dollar, and that's never been more clearly evident than in today's NBA game.

What is the future of the NBA? Is it higher and higher salaries? Is there any limit to that?

Julius Erving: I think the game will be an international sport, very much in the same vein as soccer. It's probably only a close second to soccer now, and a lot more popular than soccer in a lot of markets where soccer isn't even played.

This will continue to grow. The league is committed to this. I think the basketball world is committed to it. I play a role in that now, in terms of the international aspect of the game.

You're talking now to future would-be professional players. You well know that only a tiny fraction of people who would like to make a living playing sports, actually can do so. What advice would you give to a young kid who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Julius Erving: Take the time to assess your talent yourself, and then be willing to listen to others who can tell you what you have, and what you don't have. Just deal with the reality of the situation, the statistics. If there are 350 basketball players, and 350 million in America, then you're one in a million if you're going to make it into the pro ranks. Now with the game becoming a world game as it is, there will be more professional teams, which will create more jobs. But proportionately speaking, if you start dealing with the world, with 3 billion people or more, the percentages becomes even less that you'll make it. That's just getting in the door, not that you will become a superstar, then it shrinks again.

You have to adhere to the statistical realities. Sit down and look at the numbers, and see how you stack up in those numbers. Then see whether the sacrifice that you have to make is really worth the risk that you're taking.

I'm saying this not to discourage, only to help you gain a proper perspective. Because I think that there are a lot of young, aggressive and talented, gifted athletes out there who do have professional potential. We would like to see good, healthy competition for all of those jobs, and for those role model positions, and leadership positions. There should be a lot of competition going after them. The ones who bring the goods, and who are able to take better advantage of the opportunities, they're the ones who will make it, they're the ones who will survive. We'll get the cream of the crop, and those who fall by the wayside will end up at different levels. They won't be non-achievers, but they just won't be the ultimate, with respect to becoming professionals.

Those who make it, I think, will have made it because they were faithful to what they were committed to. They understood the value of being taught. They will try to teach others, and in trying to teach others they will learn a lot about themselves, and learn about their sport. They will be people who you can give a game plan to, teach how to play the game, and then they will be able to go out and use their talent and execute it. After a certain amount of preparation, they will be able to go out and physically execute what it is that you've talked about trying to do. Some will be extraordinary so, when even the preparation and the execution don't produce the desired result, they'll be able to bring a little something extra to the table. They'll be resourceful enough to adapt, and still win, when the game plan is not working. Those are a few things that we can tell them.

What does the future hold for you now?

Julius Erving: I'm in business full time. I'm involved with partners and associates who have taken me on an interesting journey. It takes care of my financial needs, which was one of the things on my list of priorities -- the safety and security of my family and financial well-being. Being with the haves, versus the have-nots, not to separate myself from the have-nots, but to live the lifestyle that I was accustomed to living when I was a professional athlete.

One of the commitments that I personally have now is to a diverse approach to buying businesses, and the operation of those businesses. One of the things in the back of my mind is that, after my sports experience, I never want to be, totally consumed by any one endeavor, other than my family life.

Right now I'm one of the owners of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Philadelphia, a cable television station in New Jersey called Garden State Cable, and an affiliate television station in Buffalo, New York with a company we call Queen City Broadcasting.

That puts me into varied fields of endeavor. As an owner, I have the latitude to plug into any particular aspect of the business that I feel comfortable with. From my sports experience, and from the business training that I have been afforded during the 20 years of preparation for my 40s, I feel that public relations and promotion are two areas which I'm best suited for.

I have elected to stay associated as a spokesman, and as a consultant, and a member of the advisory staff of several companies that I was affiliated with in my sports career: Spaulding Sporting Goods Company, the Converse Shoe Company, and new relationships with Dr. Scholl's, Shearing Plow Company, and Jiffy Lube.

I'm wearing a lot of hats these days, as well as doing some public speaking as a client of the Washington Speakers Bureau, and serving as a Director for the NBA International, which is responsible for laying the skeletal structure for the expansion of professional basketball around the world. At the same time, consulting with a few other entities on a small scale, just to kind of fill out the schedule.

No two weeks have been the same since I retired. Since this is my fifth year out of professional basketball, I'm at a point where I want to evaluate and make a decision whether I want more consistency and continuity, or I want things to continue in that mode. This is a transitional time.

There are things that are fixed, that I have to do and that I like to do, but things are subject to change, and that's one of the beauties of life as a free agent. A lot of job opportunities I've turned down because I think it would restrict me, in terms of having the choice of when to go, and when not to go, and who to associate with. That's something I'm not too quick to give up right now.

You mentioned earlier that becoming a superstar is very difficult to do, in terms of numbers. It's also difficult, I would imagine, in terms of your personal life. You once called it both a gift and a curse. Was it tough to balance the personal and professional?

Julius Erving: Yes. I talked in terms of it being a blessing and a curse, because of the powerlessness. Obviously, reaching the highest level in your profession gives you a certain amount of personal clout and power. But understanding that, and then being able to use it properly, exposes you to the limitations that come along with the territory -- the exposure that your family gets, and the things they're subject to that you can't be forewarned, or foretold about. My sister, for example, suddenly having a famous brother created a certain standard in her eyes, looking at her children, and male figures in her life. The same for my mother, the same for my wife, my kids.

It's a burden, in some ways.

Julius Erving: Many times people would approach them, as if they should know everything about me, what makes me tick, what I'm thinking about, what my itinerary is. Lots of times they're put in a position of being defensive, and maybe even a little embarrassed by things that they don't know the answers to. Then, being approached by people who they thought were their friends, who were trying to use them to get through to me, for whatever reason.

The first few years, you're not sure what to make of it, and you make a lot of wrong choices and a lot of wrong decisions. As time goes on, you learn how to say no, and you learn how to protect those who are close to you and who you love. Starting with your children, not permitting teachers, or other students, or visitors to the school, to use them as messengers, to bring home notes relating to that individual's proposed business with you, keeping those around you from being pawns in the process, and teaching them and advising them to stand up and command respect. If people want to deal with you, let them deal with you one to one as an individual, and not use you to get through to me. That's part of the curse.

Your wife's name comes up a lot, and I gather she's been a very important source of support for you.

Julius Erving: No question about it. She's been the main support of my adult life. We have a 20-year relationship. There are so many times in which the role reversal has occurred, where she's had to wear the pants in the family and make key decisions. Right now we have a very democratic household. Sometimes I simply follow her lead because, during my professional sports career, that's one of the sacrifices you have to make. You have to travel, and then when you're home, you have to rest.

Life goes by so fast, and you have young kids. All of my children were born while I was a professional athlete. It was the only lifestyle they knew before I retired. Many people have asked my family , "How do you adjust to this life style of being a professional athlete?" There was no adjustment for them; it's what they knew. The adjustment came after I got out, and it's still going on.

I've always encouraged her to have her own identity. She's always been more than willing to speak up about her views, her charitable causes and business projects, and that's why her name comes up a lot. She is a person who has an individual identity, separate from mine. And together, we have a pretty positive identity, in terms of our relationship. It's long-standing and special, and we to work to keep it special.

I still think the best is yet to come, and tell her that as often as I can, and she gives me the same type of feedback. It keeps us positive towards each other.

There was a tragedy early in your life. You lost your brother, and that had a powerful impact on you, I'm sure.

Julius Erving: No question about it. There were three tragedies in my life, and actually a fourth, which all involved immediate family members, and my brother was the first. I was 19, and he was 16 and he died of lupus erythematosus, and it was just devastating. My father had died before my brother, but my father didn't live with us. My brother's was the most devastating, because in our family there were two boys and a girl, and so it left me as the only male in the family, and the one who was designated to carry on the family name.

There were a lot of times in my life in which I tried, rationally and maybe too secularly, to think why this had happened to my family, and to me, and personalize it in that way. I never really came up with the answers until I started to find myself spiritually and make a spiritual commitment. Just start trusting God's wisdom and judgment as more important than anything I could ever think of. The mystery will be unlocked in time, with my having faith that I will come to understand.

This is, to a large degree, how I've lived my life, taking a faithful stand. It's enabled me to deal with losing a stepfather, and losing my sister in my lifetime, and still moving on. Still going forward, still gaining strength from each experience, as though there are things that I have to do for me and for them, as well as for my family that I'm still left with and blessed with.

Regardless of what field someone chooses, what personal characteristics do you think are important for success?

Julius Erving: The more successful people are in life -- and I've found this to be true -- have this resiliency about them, where no matter what comes down the pike, they're not going to quit. They're not going to be blown out of the water, and they're not going to exit from the game, unless it's their choice. And if it's their choice to exit from the game, they're exiting because they've got something else to do. It's like the old expression, it's better to not succeed than it is to not try. If you don't try, you're guilty of a crime that, in business, or in sports, or whatever, would be considered the cardinal sin. Always give your best effort, always try. You might come up a little bit short, but have this intestinal fortitude within you. Have this attitude programmed. Understand who you are, what you can bring to the table, and then bring that to the table. Where the pieces fall, they fall. I think that the resiliency to deal with good times, as well as bad times, and still remain focused, and still remain purposeful and true in your quest for worthy things in life is part of the character that one has to have to be successful. There are a lot of technical things that you have to understand, a lot of fundamental things that you need to be a part of your make-up. But you're way ahead of the game if you have this knack for being resilient, resourceful.

What are you most proud of, looking back?

Julius Erving: Being respected, because I have to deal with this each and every day of my life. Each and every day of my life, when I go to a public place, someone might recognize me, or might not, that doesn't make or break my day. The thing that I walk in expecting is that, whether they recognize me or not, I'm going to be treated with respect.

I want to project that. When I walk into a room, I'm going to command respect, without opening my mouth, and not expecting anything from anyone that they're not capable of giving. I think you get it when you command it, and I feel very fortunate that this is something that I experience every day. It feels real nice, and it makes me proud.

It makes me proud to know that a lot of people ask me to accommodate them -- with autographs, or personal exchanges, or projects or whatever -- and I can say no and they're not going to freak out. They're not going to be put off, they're not going to think that it's a condescending thing. They're going to understand that because they have respect for me that this is an inconvenience at this time, or it's just something that I choose not to do, and they're not going to try and beat a dead horse.

This is feeling the other side of the fence, after coming through a lot of experiences, in which the respect wasn't there. People just thought, I can run over you, or take advantage of you, and make assumptions. Now there is a respect there, and I'm very, very proud of that, and I want that to continue. I want to continue to command that.

Well, thank you so much for spending this time with us today.