Johnny Kerr

One cannot pay tribute to Johnny Kerr, without the mention of Michael Jordan. Kerr, who was the broadcaster for most of Jordans games, always came prepared for Jordans powder clap by opening an umbrella so he could avoid Jordans dust clap. Jordan and fans thought this ritual was hilarious. Johnny ‘Red’ Kerr was a legend within the National Basketball Association, most notably for being the voice behind Michael Jordan’s most epic achievements. From setting personal basketball records to the many accolades received during his career as a coach & broadcaster, Kerr established himself as an integral part of the NBA and Bulls basketball franchise. ‘He belongs in the Hall of Fame and he would belong if he weren’t my friend and I just looked at his numbers and what he has achieved,’ said Bulls longtime announcer and friend Neil Fun

Growing up Kerr was heavily involved in sports from the time he was a child until adulthood. Basketball wasn’t the only sport that Kerr adored, he also had a love the game of soccer when he was a young boy. Between the ages of 10 and 14, Kerr was infatuated with soccer. He would spend his days when not at school always kicking around a soccer ball. “Soccer is one of the most demanding sports in the world,” Kerr mentioned once in an interview. By his freshman year of high school, ,Kerr started to fade away from soccer and gravitate more towards basketball. During his four years of high school, Kerr had made basketball his priority. Kerr was a starter from sophomore through senior year. During Kerr’s senior year he won a title for his high school team by dominating in the post. he was killing for his team. By this time, colleges were reaching out to offer scholarships to this very skilled young athlete. Many college opportunities came, but ultimately Kerr decided on The University Of Illinois to further his education and athletic career.

While in college, Kerr was dominant by leading his team to the Final Four and eventually the national title. His first year in the National Basketball Association (NBA) he had was drafted to the Syracuse Nationals, which according to the NBA and Kerr, had a very amazing team that year which put Kerr in line for a title shot, which he took, and made it count. The final series Syracuse won 4-3 with a tight win, and actually a huge part of this event other than Kerr winning a title his first year, was the brawl that broke out. Chaos ensued that entire game which led to people getting hurt and the game being disrupted. With shots and blocks that were amazing, the team came through in a clutch and the series proved to be one of the most entertaining playoffs that fans will see for a long long time. After that huge season for Kerr things started to turnaround for him. He got more minutes of playing time, which resulted in better stats, which resulted in an amazing career start for Kerr in the coming seasons.

After his championship win, Kerr went on in his later seasons not to unfortunately not win another title but come close with one of the most gut wrenching playoff moments in basketball history. Let’s set the seen playoffs crunch time, if the celtics win they go on to the finals if the Sixers win they go to the finals. Kerr, sitting on the bench, had a victory cigar lit in his hand meaning he thought it was over because every game if it was a blow out or end of a winning game he would light a victory cigar. Kerr having it lit thought the game was over but the sixers missed two free throws to set the game next thing you know celtics are ahead and sixers are inbounding it they need a point throwing it in bound ball goes up and gets stolen by john havlicek resulting in one of the worst feelings for sixers fans in there history.

Kerr despite that disappointing moment in his career Kerr went on to be an all star three years and and end up by the end of his career having the most consecutive games played by a single player but later broken by Randy Smith. With him now retired Kerr decided to go to Coaching for awhile coaching all time the Phoenix Suns and the Chicago Bulls most notably however is when he won coach of the year with a losing record with the Chicago Bulls making him the first playing to win that award with a losing record. Broadcasting, Kerr broadcasted Bulls games which made him good friends with Michael Jordan, casting Kerr always casted Jordans regular season games but more important his playoff games.Most notably however is his most famous cast “The Shot”
Which was Jordan basically hitting the game winning shot on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals. Kerr really had one of the most memorable and dream careers in sports and NBA history