The iconic Splading Presents Streetball With Rick Barry and Dr. J basketball ad began appearing on the backs of comic books in 1976 but I’m certain I didn’t encounter it until a couple of years later. Still, my first notice of it predated my interest in sports by several years. Yet somehow, I recall being aware of Dr. J and knowing that he was a great basketball player - he was already a legendary player, as much myth as reality. In much the same way that I would a few years later open those first packs of 1981 Fleer baseball cards in search of Reggie Jackson, the only baseball player I knew at that time.
Although I was not yet a sports fan I was already a connoisseur of both comic books and MAD magazine. So the Jack Davis artwork on the Streetball ad always caught my attention. And how could it not - by my estimation it appeared on some 6,4821 comic books before finally being discontinued in the early 1980s. But as much as I loved the ad as a kid, there was always one part of the ad that left me a bit confused.
In the fifth panel, as the Doctor dunks his Spalding ball (complete with a “Slamdunk!” sound effect) one of the playground players looks up admiringly and exclaims “He plays up in the lights!” As a six year old, for the life of me I could not figure out what that meant. Did I mention I wasn’t a sports fan yet? I’m pretty sure I’d never watched a professional basketball game at that point. I probably hadn’t played much basketball either, and what little I had played would’ve been relegated to the school playground, similar to the one portrayed in the ad.
Even though I don’t recall how, I eventually deciphered what it meant. As I became a sports fan, and through the ensuing years, when I would come across photos of the Doctor (especially those rarely seen early ABA shots of Erving seeming to defy gravity) I would oftentimes think to myself “He plays up in the lights!”
Thanks to Spalding and Jack Davis, it was Julius “Dr. J” Erving who first convinced me that a man could play up in the lights. Luckily, thanks to the internet, I can not only search out amazing in-action pictures of Dr. J myself, I can also follow the Doctor himself, where he often posts historic photos.
Given this history perhaps it was not a coincidence that several years back I purchased this awesome Julius Erving print by artist Ri Choi. Although it doesn’t literally portray Erving “up in the lights” whenever I look at it I get the same feelings I did looking at that Spalding ad on the back of my comic books.
I completely made that number up. I’m 98% sure the actual figure would be higher.
man, this brought back memories!
wasn’t rick barry known to shoot free throws granny style?
The Doctor was special and it's a crime he's been forgotten.