Buck Harvey: Ice-manu: Impact of a border crossing
Web Posted: 06/08/2005 12:00 AM CDT

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...2f11119c4.html

George Gervin doesn't think he and Manu Ginobili have much in common, beginning with facial features.

Gervin says he has the ears, Ginobili the nose.

"I was Fred Astaire, too," said Gervin, his loud laugh following his description of how he played basketball.

Ginobili? When he dances, no partner can follow.

But they share something besides a finger roll. Gervin arrived in South Texas not sure if horses and cattle would roam dusty streets, meaning this kid from Detroit crossed his own kind of border in the '70s.

And when he made a home here, playing as few in the sport ever have?

It allowed others, including those who crossed real borders, to do the same.

For Gervin, these NBA Finals bring together both of his worlds. Others might have wished for larger markets or flashier teams; to Gervin, these are his personal Celtics and Lakers.

San Antonio is his home, and he certainly roots now for the organization that still employs him. But he also refers to Detroit by the term "home."

Gervin returns there several times a year ("Except in the winter") to visit family and his best childhood friend. Then, on those trips, it's not hard to remember the old days, when he grew up within walking distance of Cobo Arena where the Pistons played at the time.

"When I was young," he said, "it was running distance."

And that's why he calls his boyhood team the DETROIT Pistons. Gervin puts heavy emphasis on the name of the city. The Pistons were inner city to Gervin, not in a far-away suburb.

They were close to him personally, too. Former Pistons great Dave Bing coached Gervin's high-school all-star games, and Bing used to inspire Gervin with what he'd say then.

"I can see playing against you one day," Bing would tell the teenager.

Against? Gervin hoped it would be with. He wanted to be a Piston.

But a flash of anger ended Gervin's college career, and Gervin was left with little choice since the NBA didn't take underclassmen then.

Gervin instead traveled 30 miles north of Detroit to Pontiac, close to where the Pistons play today.

There he played for the Pontiac Chaparrals, a pro team that Gervin said came with the prefix "semi." Gervin remembers his teammates as good guys. "We were all about winning," Gervin said, "so they got me the ball quite a bit."

It didn't take long before a scout told an ABA team in Virginia about him. It also didn't take long for Angelo Drossos to sweep in and grab Gervin for South Texas.

As for a coincidence: Just as Gervin once played for the Chaparrals, the ABA Spurs once went by that name in Dallas.

What followed for both ex-Chaps created what endures today. Without Gervin, it's unlikely the Spurs would have survived. He provided both entertainment and winning seasons, and that's a formula to stay in business.

The trade-off for Gervin is clear, too. "Coming from Detroit, San Antonio was like another country," he said. "I had to learn a different culture. It was an education."

And when he became part of it?

"Fans here," Gervin said, "make me feel like I'm still playing."

In some ways, he is. It's just that the new version of Gervin comes with a Spanish accent.

In a recent issue of ESPN The Magazine, Gervin didn't come across as wowed by Ginobili. Gervin told the magazine that his favorite Spurs player is Bruce Bowen, because Gervin said Bowen sets a good example.

Gervin added: "I got nothing against the foreign players — in the league or on our team — but they don't understand the history of America. Bruce has it. He knows the history."

But that's Gervin's broad, social view. When Gervin watches the Spurs, he is like a lot of San Antonians.

"Manu shows no fear. And when he finger rolls, he makes me say, 'Man- ooooo.'"

Gervin thinks there's some of him in Tim Duncan, too. Gervin also banked his jumpers, and Gervin was as expressionless. "If Ice wasn't already taken," Gervin said, "they could call Tim that, too."

Truth is, there's some of Gervin in all of them. He created what exists here, from the ABA to the NBA, and this journey culminates with the tip Thursday.

Detroit, San Antonio. Past, present.

No one brings them together as Gervin does.