MEMORIES OF DARREN LEEDS: "When I was growing up, the Nets actually had pretty good coverage. There were a number of TV games on Channel 9 and all of their games were on radio. I think I saw as many Nets games as Knicks games and the Knicks were good in those days. The thing I remember most about the Nets was how John Sterling, their radio announcer, called the games. If you weren't a Net fan, you would never know what he was talking about. He never used last names. It was like this: Doc, Doc to Mel, Mel to Brian, K over to Whop, back to Doc to Supe, Supe, Brian, Doc, Mel, K, Whop. I'm not kidding. This is exactly how he announced the games."
MEMORIES OF TOM HESSEMER: "My dad bought a pair of season tickets the year the Nets moved to the Nassau Coliseum. My first Nets game was played at the old Island Garden in West Hempstead, L.I., against the Indiana Pacers. I remember Roger Brown, Mel Daniels and Bob Netolicky on the Pacers. At that time Nets were led by Rick Barry and Bill Melchionni. I also saw a Nets playoff game that had to be played at Hofstra University in the early 70's.
My best Nassau Coliseum memories consisted of being there almost every Wednesday and Friday night, plus Sunday afternoons. I was at the game where Wendell Ladner threw his sneaker at an opposing player, the final game of the 1976 ABA Finals (winning the championship vs. Denver), the great games vs, the Spurs and George Gervin, the Colonels with Artis Gilmore and St. Louis with Moses Malone and Marvin Barnes. I think we sort of took Dr. J for granted. Each night he dazzled for 30 points, seemingly scoring at will. He caused countless timeouts by opponents, by getting a steal and effortless dunk at the other end.
If anyone has VHS of any of the games played at the Nassau Coliseum, undoubtedly they would see me as a 12-year old kid walking behind the announcers at halftime as I would often do."
MEMORIES OF BRIAN SOLODAR: "I'm from Philly. I was visiting a friend from camp who lived on Long Island. It was April 15, 1974. I was 14 years old and a sports nut, so my friend suggested we go to the NY Nets playoff game at Nassau Coliseum. What a treat! I swear that Dr. J made an alley-oop bounce pass to Larry Kenon for a slam. However, the lasting memory from that game was when the PA announcer interrupted the game to say that Hank Aaron had just hit his 715th home run. Dancing Harry came out and did a little baseball swing move to the delight of the crowd. Over 30 years ago, and I still remember."
