Walt “Clyde” Frazier honored with the Curt Gowdy Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame

Beloved former Knicks player and current MSG Network analyst Walt “Clyde” Frazier received the Curt Gowdy Award for his excellence in broadcasting from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Friday night.

This comes along with being inducted to the same Hall of Fame as a player back in 1987 after winning two titles for the New York Knicks as their star point guard.

Frazier has been with MSG Network since 1987, starting out on radio and then transitioning to television. He’s been dazzling us with his suits and helping to build the basketball lexicon ever since and we should know as this site is named for one of his famous hoops rhymes.

At times, many people wonder why Knicks fans have continued to watch the team through thick and thin over the years. Frazier along with play-by-play Hall of Famer Mike Breen are a big reason why. Breen recently spoke about Frazier to the New York Post’s Marc Berman saying, “When Walt was a player, he was a Hall of Famer because of how hard he worked.”

The voice of the Knicks went on to add, “Same thing as a broadcaster. He doesn’t just wing it. And I think he’s better now than he’s ever been. It’s more than his vocabulary.”

As much as we love, “styling and profiling,” “swishing and dishing,” “spinning and winning,” “posting and toasting” and so many of his other rhymes and phrases, Frazier’s ability to connect with the audience through the language of hoops and becoming someone you can’t live without on a Knicks broadcast makes him just as much of an icon on the microphone as he was on the court. Not many people in sports can say that.

Frazier recently told the New York Post that he, “estimated he’ll probably go another three seasons — which would bring him to the age of 80. But he will cut back on road trips because of a bad back.”

These are three seasons that should be enjoyed and savored by Knicks fans because there never will be another quite like Frazier again.

The double Hall of Famer should be appreciated now more than ever and we look forward to the new season to hear his velvety voice once again. Almost as much as seeing the Knicks get back out on the court.

A basketball legend in every sense of the word.