YouTube Gold: How Good Was Earl Monroe?

With the New York Knicks having won the 2026 NBA championship Saturday night, it’s a good time to look back at one of the great stars from the last Knicks teams to win a championship, Earl “the Pearl” Monroe.

Monroe played college basketball for Clarence “Bighouse” Gaines at Winston-Salem State in the early 1960s, in the waning days of segregation. Wake Forest assistant coach Billy Packer, despite being warned not to, went over to Whitaker Gymnasium, and Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum (now Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum) when Monroe began drawing bigger crowds. He found Monroe mesmerizing.

Advertisement

Monroe was then drafted by the Baltimore Bullets in 1967, where he became a sensation. However, they traded him to the Knicks in 1971, and in 1973, the Knicks won their second NBA title, with the first having come in 1970.

Monroe dazzled the league with what for his day was an astonishing bag of tricks. He may look somewhat dated now, but he was a brilliant force for the Knicks.

He played for New York until he retired in 1980.

He was an extraordinary talent, and more so because he played for his entire career with significant arthritis in his knees. Monroe has had dozens of surgeries, and the last time we saw him make a public appearance, he was using forearm crutches.

This video asks how good was he? Well, as you’ll see, he was brilliant.

Go to the DBR Boards to find Blue Healer Auctions || Drop us a line

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/youtube-gold-good-earl-monroe-094900714.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-06-14 09:49:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.