Julius Erving Biography

Fast Facts

• Won the J․ Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1983
• Was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993
• Was named one of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996
• Played basketball for the University of Massachusetts, enrolling in 1968
• Starred on the Roosevelt High School basketball team
• Started his professional career in the American Basketball Association playing for the Virginia Squires and the New York Nets
• Played for the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA for 11 years
• Was one of the first players to make impromptu individual expression such as midair spins and whirls punctuated with slam dunks an integral part of basketball
• Became the owner of a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Philadelphia
• Considered to be one of the main catalysts for the ABA-NBA merger in 1976