Mattie T’s Tribute to Johnny “Red” Kerr (1932-2009)

February 26th, 2009 will forever go down as one of the most tragic days in Chicago Sports history.

In under 12 hours since the death of Norm Van Lier, the Chicago Bulls have yet lost another legendary sports figure as Johnny “Red” Kerr passed away from a struggle with prostate cancer.

As you all already know, the Bulls were able to honor Kerr earlier this month on February 10th with a beautiful halftime ceremony during their game against the Detroit Pistons. It featured speeches from some of Kerr’s dearest friends & collagues. “Red” even surprised everyone by taking the microphone & delivering some words for the sold-out United Center crowd.

Kerr called it “the best day of his life”.

Johnny “Red” Kerr played his collegiate ball at the University of Illinois & helped the Illini make a Final Four appearence in 1952. That team was coached by Harry Combes, whose 174 Conference Record wins ranks 2nd in school history only behind Lou Henson’s 214 victories.

The Syracuse Nationals selected Kerr with the 6th overall pick in the 1954 NBA Draft. Kerr (13.8 points per game & 11.2 rebounds per game) joined Bob Pettit (26.4 points per game & 16.2 rebounds per game) as the only two players from that draft class to average a double-double for their entire playing career.

Kerr also accomplished a rare feat, as he won an NBA Championship with the Nationals in his rookie season. “Red” went on to make Three All-Star appearences (1956, 1959 & 1963) during his playing career.

Kerr was part of the 1966 NBA Expansion Draft that saw him go to the Chicago Bulls along with former teammate Jerry Sloan, who played with Kerr on the Baltimore Bullets.

That’s when Kerr ended his playing career & became the Bulls’ first head coach in franchise history. He is the first man ever to lead an expansion team to a playoff berth despite a losing record of 33-48. This was good enough to earn Kerr the NBA’s Coach of the Year award.

In the very next season, Kerr’s Bulls shook off a 1-15 start to make yet another postseason berth, as his teams showed “bend, but don’t break” attitude on the court.

Kerr began his longtime broadcasting career with the Bulls in 1975, but only did so after Jim Durham suggested that he provide color commentary for the team.

That would start a glorious 33 years of Chicago Bulls broadcasting for “Red”, as he got to color commentate every game played by Michael Jordan & be a part of the team’s 6 championship wins in 8 years during the 1990’s era.

Kerr was famous for his exciting screams whenever the Bulls made great plays, and this was most obvious whenever Jordan hit game-winning shots all throughout his amazing playing career in Chicago. Below is one of my all-time favorite calls from Kerr after Jordan sunk a buzzer-beater to defeat the Atlanta Hawks in just his 4th game back from retirement. (Jordan’s game-winning shot can be seen at the 4:15 mark):

Jordan game-winner vs. Atlanta in \’95

Kerr’s last game as a color commentator with the Bulls turned out to be a good one, as Chicago beat Toronto 107-97 on April 16th, 2008.

“Red” was named on February 13th as one of the sixteen finalists to enter Basketball’s Hall of Fame.

The Chicago Bulls will indeed face tough emotional times after losing two legendary figures in less than 24 hours, but could be spirited for tonight’s game against the Washington Wizards after a recent meet & greet at the White House with President Barack Obama.

Obama was presented with a home Bulls jersey that beared his last name and the number “44” while taking group pictures with the entire team & coaching staff.

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