To lead a professional sports league is rare. To lead two is unprecedented… that is, until Julius Erving, a.k.a. “Dr. J” — towered above, first, the ABA… then the NBA. The ABA was an amalgamation of historic risk-taking owners, managers, players, announcers, and colorful personalities. And so, this painting not only showcases an incredible athlete and human; it celebrates the entire American Basketball Association, which brought the world of basketball tri-colored balls and a dunking revolution.

My collector, friend and sometimes mentor, Robert Oringer and yours truly took our time to carefully curate this celebratory 48″X60″ collage painting.

Choosing the appropriate names, places, and accomplishments to be featured took time. It was important to showcase the range of entrepreneurs, renegades, and stars of the ABA. Guiding the way were Robert’s first-hand experiences, and memories. 

Growing up with his family on Long Island, Robert’s late father, Gary O, often took him, his brothers (Mike and Doug), and their friends to see ABA games. They witnessed the early days in ’69 at the ice cold Commack Arena (aka Long Island Arena); in ’70-’71 at West Hempstead’s Island Garden with its wood plank bench seating (oh those posterior splinters continue to sting); and then in ’72 at the Nassau Coliseum. The latter is where both yours truly and Robert fell in love with hockey (albeit in different eras), thanks to my favorite team — The New York Islanders.

The collage includes sentimental tickets (actual originals) in its four corners. Combined in one image immediately above, you’ll discover:

Top Left: A 1976 playoff game at the Coliseum enjoyed by the four Oringer guys.

Top Right: From the Island Garden— a Nets vs. Carolina Cougars game. This ticket in the painting honors Carolina Cougars star “Jumpin’ Joe Caldwell” for his friendship with the Ostrin family, but also his immense basketball talent and tireless advocacy for players’ rights.

Important background — Joe is a dear friend of Holden “Big O” Ostrin. Over decades, Holden and his sisters, Ivy and Lauren, came to see Joe as an “uncle” through the deep friendship their late-father, Norm Ostrin, had developed with Joe. In delivering Norm’s eulogy, Holden referred to Joe as Norm’s, “brother from another mother”.

Bottom Right: A 1972 Virginia Squires game at the Island Garden, when Julius starred for the Squires.

Bottom Left: A 1977 Islanders ticket at the Coliseum, where Holden frequently hosted Robert for Islanders games in the years building toward their dynastic 4 Stanley Cup run.  

To understand the incredible business mechanisms, shenanigans and drama behind the scenes, I watched three different ABA and Dr. J centric documentaries; and, notably, listened to the Audible version of Terry Pluto’s outstanding book — “Loose Balls”. His historic tome made such an impact, he and the title were collaged into the piece. Mr. Pluto’s work celebrated the ABA as much as it did their first icon — Julius Erving. Interesting factoid? My Dad, a talented floor sniper for Seaford High School, played against Roosevelt, led by Mr. Erving in a high school basketball game. I won’t go into the scoring for said match, but my Dad confirms that Julius was in fact a superstar from the start.

When I initially met the Oringers in January of 2013 (pictured above, yours truly, Marla and Robert Oringer), I was showcasing my “Kick Ass Actors in Kick Ass Roles” at the Wix Lounge in Manhattan. It was our mutual love of The New York Post that brought us together, and started a long lasting relationship that continues to build. 

Robert has amassed, what he describes as, perhaps the greatest collection of (most likely worthless) New York Posts. Dating back to the 1960’s — his trove of bawdy, tawdry, inappropriate, hilarious and risqué pulp proved utilitarian (a sample of editions from his private collection pictured above). Robert is, however, missing the Shangri-La of New York Post covers… “Headless Body In Topless Bar.” If you have an original copy of this treasure… please contact me.

Fittingly, we chose to collage 100% original, 1970’s New York Posts from his personal collection into the picture plane. This painting is truly one you can look at, and read, for hours.

Having collaborated many times, Robert is no stranger to the Borbay portrait process. This is helpful when you arrive at this point… the painting doesn’t really make sense to a fresh set of eyes. It all begins with identifying the shadows… they demarcate the points of likeness, and are critical.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with working from shadows to highlights, highlights to shadows, and mid-tones outward. I’ve learned, it’s extremely helpful to swiftly identify the shadows, highlights and mid-tones. It is possible to nail down the color spectrum, in order, during your first pass… but highly unlikely, and on a work of this scale… procedural prudence is paramount.

Big steps… nailed down the jersey, and my first go at the entire spectrum of colors. A color palette must only make sense within the universe of the painting… so, I decided to go for a vibrant set of warm tones. Here, I could feel the cohesion… but it required more work.

We agreed… the background required something more. So, I went down to the local paint store, had them mix up a translucent batch of uv-resistant acrylic black… and I went to town with a brush, a pot of coffee, and a dream. The result hit the spot. Simultaneously, it was time to create additional tonality within the Good Doctor. We did notice, the “backboard” in the upper right hand side of the picture didn’t work… so it was collaged out.

And, with a few corrections to the collage elements, notably, we discovered I misspelled Sonny Dove, who became Sonny Dowe (you’d think an artist wouldn’t miss a typo after a dozen passes, but hey, pobody’s nerfect)… we arrived at the completed Dr. J.

Creating this piece with Robert was an educational and exhilarating experience… a literal trip back to the 70’s of New York. It was a pleasure and an honor, thank you Robert and Marla for everything. 

And, Mr. Erving, Robert and I look forward to personally delivering to you the “Limited Edition, To-Scale, 3-D Textured” print of this work that Mr. Oringer commissioned as a gift for you. We look forward to the meet up and exchange — thank you for being such an incredible inspiration.

And, notably, before we part ways… here are some important luminaries featured throughout the work, by era:

1969-1970 at Commack Arena (aka Long Island Arena)… 6000 seats

– Sonny Dove

– Luther Green

– Bill Melchionni

– Walt Simon

– Lavern Tart

– 7-footer Ron Taylor

1971-1972 at Island Garden in West Hempstead… 8500 seats

– Rick Barry

– Joe Depre

– Manny Leaks

– Billy Paultz

– Ollie Taylor

– Lou Carnesecca coaching

1971-1972 at Nassau Coliseum… 17,800 seats

– Johnny Baum

– Jim “The Big One” Chones

– John Roche

– Brian Taylor

– Kevin Loughery coaching

1973-1974 at Nassau Coliseum

– Julius

– Wendell Ladner

– Larry Kenon

– Super John Williamson

– Billy Paultz

– John Roche

– Brian Taylor

– Ollie Taylor