Walt “Clyde” Frazier

Walt Frazier was born the eldest of nine children on 03/29/1945 in Atlanta, GA. The 6’4” point guard attended Southern Illinois University on a basketball scholarship, and earned All-America honors as a senior. Frazier led Southern Illinois as the first small school to win the National Invitation Tournament.

The New York Knickerbockers made him their first-round pick (fifth overall) in the 1967 NBA Draft. As a Knicks player, Frazier scored 19.3 points per game, played in seven NBA All-Star Games, and was named to four All-NBA First Teams and seven NBA All-Defensive First Teams. It was with the Knicks that Walt earned the nickname Clyde after the title character in Bonnie and Clyde for his over the top style on and off the court.

Frazier’s greatest game came in the decisive seventh game of the 1970 NBA finals, Willis Reed (the Knicks star player) hobbled dramatically onto the court, long enough to score the first two baskets of the game. Then he turned the spotlight over to Frazier, who responded with the game of a lifetime: 36 points, 19 assists, and 5 steals, including a celebrated heist from West that devastated the Los Angeles Lakers' morale the Knicks won the game, 113-99, and with it the franchise's first NBA Championship.

In 1972-73 New York defeated the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and then regained the championship by downing the Lakers in five games

Frazier later spent portions of three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ending his career in 1979 with a lifetime average of 18.9 points per game in 825 regular-season games, and 20.7 points per game in 93 playoff contests.

Frazier was named as one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All-Time in 1996.

In later life Clyde has taken the job of the color commentator for the MSG play by play broadcast of Knicks games. Clyde has decided to maintain his Rolls Royce style by using as many big words as many times as possible during each broadcast. However, as any one who has seen him call a game can attest, he invariably uses these words incorrectly. It is almost criminal, and for your reading enjoyment I have listed some of gems:

Once a game he states the obligatory, "They are swishing and dishing now, much to the chagrin of the Knicks, who are missing and wishing"

"He’s omnipresent in the paint"

Every replay of a dunk is introduced as, "Here we take another look at ______’s shenanigans around the rim"

And my personal favorite, "He ain’t got no serendipity"

Sources:
http://www.nba.com/history/frazier_bio.html
http://www.allsports.com/nba/knicks/info-history/all-time/frazier.html

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