The 80´s was such a wonderful time for NBA basketball. Especially now one likes to look back at the golden age simply because now how the NBA has changed to more a scoring league which was best showcased recently at the allstar game where one side scored 200 points. Now the NBA is a place where money as always rules the business and it´s purely entertainment. Back in the day the league was fun to watch, because players actually played defense and was filled with players that today are remembered as legends. As a Bostonian native, the Boston Celtics were my team and Larry Bird is my GOAT today no matter what the younger generation thinks. Time flies and these great players aren´t getting any younger either. It is always sad to hear when one of those childhood memories passes away. Recently Robert Reid who played 13 seasons in the NBA and 10 for the Houston Rockets died at only the age of 68 due to cancer. Right away my memories of my childhood popped up in my head as quickly as Luka Doncic can score an uncharachteristic basket. As a kid, I collected autographs in Boston and hung around hotels like if they were my private playground. In those days, you could call up the hotel and they actually told you if a team was staying there. During the 1981 finals against the Celtics, the Rockets lived 2 minutes away by foot from Government center where the Celtics held their parades after winning the title. Back in 1981, the Boston Celtics faced the Houston Rockets and this was my first NBA team I got. Back then the finals were in early May, so I drove to Boston right after grade school from the suburbs with my reliable mom as my chauffeur. I don´t remember my actual face to face meeting with Robert Reid, but actually standing face to face with NBA MVP Moses Malone. The guy towered over me like the Hancock building did over the old Hancock building in Boston. But I do remember getting Reid´s autograph in 1981, and I would get Reid´s autograph again 3 seasons later after he returned out of retirement once the Rockets drafted highly touted center Ralph Sampson. This time they lived in a different hotel only a 10 minute walk from Boston Garden. This time I had another encounter with a large man, a 7 footer known as Ralph Sampson. I remember getting Robert Reid´s autograph both times and I remember him having such a legible autograph simply beautiful to recognize even 40 years later. Unfortunately my large autograph collection is still in Boston and with hopes of taking a screen shot wasn´t successful, because my brother couldn´t find it as we did face time. Those 2 encounters with the Houston Rockets in 1981 and 1984 seem like yesterday. Oh how much I would love to be beamed back to those 2 times.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber got Tomjanovic´s autograph during the 1981 finals as it would be his last before retiring an dlater winning 2 NBA titles with Houston as coach

Moses Malone autograph from 1981 finals in Boston

Robert Reid was born on August 30,1955 in Atlanta, Georgia, but grew up in Texas and attended Samuel Clemens high school. He then attended St Mary´s (Texas) from 1973-1977. He was drafted in 1977 by Houston in the second round at #40. He played most of his career with the Houston Rockets and even sat out a year during the 1982-1983 season after the club had traded Moses Malone to the 76ers. He returned back to Houston for the 1983-1984 season after the club drafted Ralph Sampson with the #1 pick. He had his best days with the Rockets playing 10 seasons reaching 2 NBA finals and averaged double figures in scoring in 7 seasons. His most memorable moments with the Rockets was scoring 27 points in game 1 of the 1981 finals against Boston and in 1986 hitting a three to tie game 5 against the Lakers in the Western Conference final which helped them reach the final against Boston again. After his Houston days, he also suited up for teams like Charlotte, Portland and Philadelphia. In the 1988-1989 season he would average 14,7ppg his last time showing his averaging in double figures during a season. He finished his 13 year NBA career averaging 11,4ppg, 4,5rpg and 2,7apg and amassed 10,448 career points, 4,168 career rebounds, and 2,500 career assists. He then had experience as a coach coaching clubs like the Yakima Sun Kings, Texas Rim Rockers, Lakeland Blue Ducks and Debreceni Vadkakasok. He also held basketball clinics for kids in several countries like India.

Miles Schmidt-Scheuber getting Ralph Sampson´s autograph before a game in Boston in 1984

I never had the pleasure of knowing Robert Reid personally, but former professional player Marcus Session (198-F-1981, college: St.Mary’s, TX) did. Session never played in Europe even if he was close signing with TV Langen, but played the game he loved in countries like China, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Korea, Mexico and Qatar. He also played in the ABA and participated in an NBA mini-camp with the San Antonio Spurs. I actually was on vacation and remember meeting Marcus in 2009 in Spain at Malaga airport where he had a work out with ACB team Malaga. When I woke up Wednesday morning, I heard first about the death of Robert Reid through Session´s Facebook page and was taken by his heart felt words. “Robert Reid was like a mentor, always cheerful and encouraging every time we spoke as we kept in touch over the last 20 years. My condolences to your family. Rest well Rattler”. It was only logical that I get in touch with Marcus Session and get the whole low down on Robert Reid. After 7 years of playing the game he loved, Session decided to start life after playing and adjusted pretty well. It´s always a plus when your prepared after you retire, because he had made plans during his last season of playing. “I knew I wanted to be a high school basketball coach, so I began my teacher certification program online while playing my last year. Fast forward to today, I am currently a lawyer who has been a school administrator as well. Basketball helped me to accumulate the work ethic necessary for getting things done that I wanted to get done. Working as a school administrator and raising a baby girl who is now five years old, while going to law school at night, for example. I had to multitask basketball and life for 30 plus years”, stressed Marcus Session. Having that encounter with a NBA player happens, the way I have had over 20 years, but having that special relationship and connection to an NBA player for 20 years is rare, but it does happen. Marcus Session had that incredible luck which began at St Mary´s (Texas) where he played ball just like Reid did. “I met Robert Reid at an alumni event at St. Mary’s university in 2003. We would always talk at these events, but it wasn’t until after I left St. Mary’s in 2004 and ran Into Robert at a school event, we were both asked to speak at, is when we became more personal with one another. We exchanged contact information at this event and spoke and hung out occasionally over the next 19 years. When I heard of his passing, I was with a friend who informed me. I immediately became saddened. I understand the path of life is finite for us all, but I still had to reflect on the fact the world lost a great person who definitely left it a better place”, said Marcus Session. When someone impacts your life, one never forgets the first time when you met that person and for Session, it is an incredible moment that seems as vivid today as it did in 2003. “The first meeting after a game, my senior year at St. Mary’s, I remember a teammate telling me, “Hey look, that’s Robert Reid,” and I glazed across the room and remember thinking, “Oh that’s one of the guys my dad always used to talk about” (LOL). The first conversation was about the game we had just played. He gave me some pointers on the court and was just congratulatory. I was thinking to myself, “He didn’t have to take all that time to speak with me,” but getting to know him later, I came to find that he was 100% vested in all things St. Mary’s and took it as an honor to speak with one of the younger current players. This is what I will never forget about him. You can tell he still had that basketball ego and killer instinct of a player, but he was still very humble”, commented Marcus Session.

Ralph Sampson on route to team bus in Boston in 1984

Robert Reid had his heyday in the NBA from 1977-1988 with the Houston Rockets and still played a few years after that before retiring. Marcus Session was born in 1981 and most likely didn´t see him play live or on TV, during his first years, but knew about his legacy because of his pops. “, I knew who he was and about his legacy as a player because my father would talk about him and how he played pickup basketball with him around the city (Houston), before I was born. Later, as a basketball fan trying to make middle and high school teams, I investigated the history of the game more and found that he was one of those X-factor type players that made the difference between winning and losing”, added Marcus Session. So often players will obviously emulate those players that play their position, but every now and then a player will do that with a guy that doesn´t even play his position. “As a mentor he was always someone I could get basketball advice from, whether as a player, or later as a coach. He was always open and receptive and gave exceptional feedback, even feedback you may not anticipate. He was a true gem and he really helped me to understand the politics of the game. Even in another position, and playing in different leagues around the world, some things in basketball are just universal, for instance, the business side. He helped me to understand them and address the bottom line with every organization I played for. This helped me to adjust when things did not go my way contractually (not getting paid on time, contractual liabilities, etc.). He just helped me understand life and the milestones that come with it. For example, a conversation we had before I got married in 2008. I was still playing basketball, and we had a talk about dealing with certain things that come along with playing while still trying to be a family man. It was a long and real conversation, but a necessary one. It still impacts how I prioritize my private life, even today. I wouldn’t have had the awareness needed to navigate those situations without Mr. Robert Reid”, expressed Marcus Session. Robert Reid was a great player, but where does his legacy in the NBA stand today? He played for some great Rockets teams and had legendary centers to whom he could flick the ball to in the post with Moses Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Ralph Sampson. Wasn´t he a bit in the shadow of these great players? “I would classify his legacy, as a player, as the X-factor guy on the roster. The guy who, without him and his consistent efforts on the court, the team doesn’t win. The franchise knew what they were going to get from him every night and he capitalized on that role to help the rockets advance towards the finals. Robert Reid was a pivotal factor in helping to boost the careers of the hall of fame centers you mentioned. He made their jobs just a tad bit easier”, said Marcus Session. I will never forget Robert Reid as a player that enriched my childhood in the 80´s. R.I.P Robert Reid.