Dr. J: The Autobiography - A Memoir of Julius Erving

by Julius Erving, Karl Taro Greenfeld Narrated by Julius Erving

Overview

“A terrific memoir by a man worthy of one.” - Sports Illustrated

An honest, unflinching self-portrait of the basketball legend whose classy public image as a superstar and a gentleman masked his personal failings and painful losses, which he describes here-from his own point of view-for the very first time.

For most of his life, Julius Erving has been two men in one. There is Julius, the bright, inquisitive son of a Long Island domestic worker who has always wanted to be respected for more than just his athletic ability, and there is Dr. J, the cool, acrobatic showman whose flamboyant dunks sent him to the Hall of Fame and turned the act of jamming a basketball through a hoop into an art form. In many ways, Erving's life has been about the push and pull of Julius and The Doctor.

It is Dr. J who has stories to tell of the wild days and nights of the ABA in the 1970s, and of being the seminal figure who transformed basketball from an earthbound and rigid game into the creative, free-flowing aerial display it is today. He has a long list of signature plays - he's famous for winning the first dunk contest in 1976 with a jam on which he lifted off from the foul line, and he made a miraculous layup against the Lakers on which he soared behind the backboard before reaching back in to flip the ball in on the other side, with one hand. He inspired a generation of dunkers, including Michael Jordan, to express their improvisational talents.

But Julius wasn't always as graceful and in control as Dr. J. Erving had a pristine image throughout his career and early retirement, but he was far from a perfect man. Here he gives detailed accounts of some of the personal problems he faced -- or created -- behind the scenes, including the adulterous affair with sports writer Samantha Stephenson, which led to the birth of his daughter, professional tennis player Alexandra Stephenson.

Though his marriage survived that infidelity, the death of Erving's 20-year-old son Cory in 2000 in a tragic accident proved too much for the union to bear. Erving paints a raw, heartbreaking picture of the dissolution of his marriage, as his wife Turquoise began to blame him for his refusal to be paralyzed by grief for as long as she was. Their intense arguments came to a head when Erving stepped out of the shower one day to find his wife holding a lamp in one hand and a vase in the other, ready for a physical confrontation. “I knew somebody was going to get hurt, and it wasn't going to be me,” he says. He packed a suitcase and he and Turquoise never lived under the same roof again.

Erving's story is a tale of the nearly perfect player and the imperfect man, and how he has come to terms with both of them. It will appeal to readers on a sports level and on a human one.

This memoir is a must-read for basketball fans and anyone interested in the personal struggles of a sports legend, making it a great gift for the sports enthusiast in your life.

HarperCollins 2024

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

11/18/2013
On the playgrounds of New York City, at the University of Massachusetts, in the fledgling American Basketball Association, and ultimately with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, Dr. J became one of pro sports' first true superstars—paving the way for future celebrity hoopsters like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley. Born Julius Erving in 1950 and raised by a devout deaconess in East Meadow, N.Y., Dr. J both electrified and revolutionized basketball with his leaping offensive play and daredevil improvisation above the rim. In this compelling and surprisingly emotional autobiography that often reads like a novel, the man who passed the 30,000-point threshold in his last professional game in 1987 details growing up with an absent father, a sickly little brother, and a pregnant older sister; his steadfast refusal to join street gangs and disdain for prejudice; the haunting death of his 20-year-old son in 2000; and his commitment to building a fiscally comfortable post-basketball life. Along the way, Dr. J also reveals the origins of his nickname, his obsessive tendencies toward order, and—despite a self-acknowledged weakness for women—his decency as a human being. Co-author Greenfeld (Triburbia) makes his novel-writing presence known with slam-dunk storytelling that, of course, includes vivid descriptions of Erving's notorious slam dunks, as well as creative liberties with dialogue. (Nov.)

Booklist

There’s enough basketball here to keeps fans interested, but the book isn’t really about what happens on the court. It’s about a thoughtful man who, for a time in his youth, was a famous athlete. A rewarding reading experience.

New York Daily News

A deeply personal and almost shockingly honest book.

Booklist

There’s enough basketball here to keeps fans interested, but the book isn’t really about what happens on the court. It’s about a thoughtful man who, for a time in his youth, was a famous athlete. A rewarding reading experience.

New York Daily News

A deeply personal and almost shockingly honest book.

Sports Illustrated

The book is quite an accomplishment: a terrific memoir by a man worthy of one.

From the Publisher

A deeply personal and almost shockingly honest book.” — New York Daily News

“There’s enough basketball here to keeps fans interested, but the book isn’t really about what happens on the court. It’s about a thoughtful man who, for a time in his youth, was a famous athlete. A rewarding reading experience.” — Booklist

“The NBA’s most transformative player submits an unusually revealing autobiography.” — Kirkus Reviews

“The book is quite an accomplishment: a terrific memoir by a man worthy of one.” — Sports Illustrated

Kirkus Reviews

2013-10-20
The NBA's most transformative player submits an unusually revealing autobiography. During the 1970s, when officials still bothered to call traveling and palming violations, the high-flying Erving arrived and, nevertheless, managed to do things with a basketball no one had ever seen. For years, basketball's best-kept secret, "Dr. J" ("more moves than Dr. Carter has liver pills") played his college ball at low-profile UMass and then for five years with the fledgling ABA, a league with no national TV contract. When the ABA merged with the NBA, Erving signed with the Philadelphia 76ers and played another 11. With Greenfeld's aid (Triburbia, 2012, etc.), he covers the basketball triumphs, the especially crazy days of the ABA, the All-Star games, the MVP awards and the championships, and he comments throughout on some of his better-known mentors (Bill Russell, Walt Frazier, John Havlicek), teammates (Daryl Dawkins, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks) and opponents (Larry Bird, Magic Johnson). Fans will appreciate his surprising takes on players like Pete Maravich, Bernard King and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Erving's own assessment of the evolution of his game, and his tales of mixing with a black elite that included the likes of Bill Cosby, Arthur Ashe and Miles Davis. They might not expect the attention he devotes to struggle and loss: the premature death of an already absentee father; the spare poverty of his Long Island childhood; the early death of a younger brother to asthma and, later, of an older sister to cancer; the family visits to the Jim Crow South and the adult encounters with the modern civil rights movement; the delinquency of his children and the death of a son; his lifelong struggle with fidelity. Erving's reverence for rules and order and his simultaneous passion for improvisation have played out in his private life as well, not always to good effect. A good enough treatment of the phenomenon called "Dr. J" and an especially thoughtful account of the man, Julius Erving.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170429219
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/05/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

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