Red Kerr: 'A special, special guy'
When the Bulls honored Johnny "Red" Kerr on Feb. 10 at the United Center, Dr. Jack Martin shared the memory of a trip to the Urbana Steak & Shake with Kerr and a couple of friends in 1953, when Kerr attended the University of Illinois.
There were electric fans hanging on the walls, and when no one was looking, Kerr took his steakburger and stuck it into one of the fans, causing pieces of meat and bun to fly everywhere.
When the staff and other diners turned around to see what happened, Kerr grabbed his ear and pretended to be injured, causing momentary panic behind the counter.
Kerr's personality stayed pretty much the same as he grew older. He was widely remembered as someone who loved life and didn't skip out on many experiences.
The former Bulls coach and longtime broadcaster died Thursday night at 76 after a battle with prostate cancer. News of Kerr's death came just a few hours after Bulls legend Norm Van Lier was found dead at his Chicago home.
"Both guys passing on the same day, it really hits home," Bulls general manager John Paxson said. "We're going to miss them. They were two unique characters that you enjoyed being around. I was around Johnny more, and he was just a special, special guy. For somebody who's my dad's age, he was a young guy at heart. He enjoyed himself and lived life."
Added longtime broadcast partner Tom Dore: "A buzzword in life seems to be passion. Red just had a few passions, but they were family, the city of Chicago and the Bulls. We'd be going out on a long road trip and he'd be excited about going to the cities and watching the games and expecting the Bulls to get better.
"One of the biggest thing I remember about him is how passionate he was about those three things, and you can add the University of Illinois in there, too."
Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had a unique perspective on both men. During Sloan's rookie season, Kerr was a teammate on the Baltimore Bullets. A year later, Kerr was his coach with the expansion Bulls of 1966-67. Sloan later started next to Van Lier in the Bulls' backcourt from 1971-76.
Sloan and Van Lier once got into a fight when Van Lier played for the Cincinnati Royals.
"Norm was a terrific competitor," Sloan said. "He was a great teammate to play with. He put it out there every day in practice. We had a guy come in one day, didn't want to practice very hard. (Van Lier) was on him about as hard as you can get, (saying), 'We practice here. We don't come and take a vacation. We've got to do everything we can to try to win.'"
During the postgame shows on Comcast SportsNet, Van Lier often implored the Bulls to do the same. But as Friday's lopsided loss to the Washington Wizards showed, they didn't always listen.