Julius Erving Carries Late Brother

Julius Erving has said that carrying the memory of his late younger brother Marvin gave him a slight advantage on the basketball court. Erving lost Marvin to lupus while both were teenagers. The Sixers star told an interviewer that he felt his opponents were unknowingly playing against both Erving brothers at once.

In a commentary piece published this week, author Colm O'Callaghan reflected on an interview he saw of Erving. O'Callaghan described Erving's account as moving and free of sympathy-seeking. The athlete shared that after three days of crying at his brother's grave, he chose to keep Marvin with him wherever he went. Erving described the presence of his brother as 100 percent real, serving as both a comfort and a responsibility.

O'Callaghan noted that Erving grew up in Roosevelt, a small suburb on Long Island near New York City. The town is known for producing various cultural figures, including Eddie Murphy, Charlie Murphy, and Chuck D. O'Callaghan lived in the neighboring town of North Merrick. The two communities were separated by a highway but differed significantly in demographics.

The author recalled his father, a Nassau County police officer, who served in Roosevelt. In 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., O'Callaghan's father drove to the area to help quell riots. O'Callaghan said his father was not ignorant and once played a song by Gil Scott-Heron for him, acknowledging the artist's perspective on race.

O'Callaghan wrote that many of his friends' families had moved from Brooklyn and the Bronx to the suburbs. The shift was driven by demographic changes and economic factors. The rise of shipping containers reduced the need for dock workers by up to 90 percent, eliminating a reliable income source for unskilled laborers.

Despite living in a community that implicitly excluded Black people as neighbors, O'Callaghan idolized Erving during his adolescence. He remembered watching Erving play at the Nassau Coliseum. Erving's high-flying style helped compel a merger between the American Basketball Association and the NBA. Erving later won a championship with the Philadelphia 76ers.

O'Callaghan admitted he had viewed Erving as a two-dimensional superhero rather than a full human being. The interview changed that perception for the author. O'Callaghan said he could now visualize Erving and Marvin biking and playing together as children. He expressed gratitude to Erving for sharing this intimate story of grief and love.

The author also drew a parallel to 76ers center Joel Embiid. Embiid lost his brother Arthur at a young age. O'Callaghan suggested that Embiid carries the weight of that loss onto the court, similar to Erving. He noted that Embiid's son is also named Arthur. O'Callaghan described both men as athletes who transform grief into performance.

O'Callaghan is a retired teacher of French and Spanish who was born in the Bronx and raised on Long Island. He has three sons who live in Philadelphia. He wrote that he no longer has posters of NBA players on his walls, but he remains attentive to stories of athletes dealing with loss. He said the time of year brings a closer feeling to those who have passed away.