Stamford family reflects on ties to past Knicks NBA championships
The New York Knicks' two championships came in 1970 and 1973, back when Stamford's J. Walter Kennedy was the NBA commissioner.
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The New York Knicks last won the NBA Championship in 1973. Back then, a gallon of gas was about 39 cents, the top song was "Tie a Yellow Ribbon " by Tony Orlando and Dawn, and the NBA Commissioner was Stamford, Connecticut’s own J. Walter Kennedy.
J. Walter Kennedy was born and raised in Stamford and served as the city's mayor for nearly two terms. He resigned with four months left to become the commissioner of the NBA in 1963.
“He was a very strict and stern NBA commissioner, but he was loved at the same time, by players, by coaches and by the league,” grandson P.J. Kennedy told News 12.
“He had the unique ability to bring people together, and I think that was probably his strength,” added daughter-in-law Bartan Kennedy. “He had a reasonable solution for any problem that came up.
J. Walter Kennedy held the job for 12 years, during which he oversaw the league's expansion from nine to eighteen teams, secured major television contracts and helped grow the NBA into a national sports powerhouse.
It was during his tenure that the Knicks also won two titles. The first was in 1970. Bartan Kennedy has fond memories of regularly sitting courtside with her husband during that season.
“My seatmate on this side was Dustin Hoffman and beyond him was the actor Elliot Gould,” Bartan Kennedy recalled.
That is, until Game 7 of the finals when the Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden.
“My father-in law said, ‘No, you're not going down to the final game because you’re about to give birth, and I don't want that to interfere with the playoffs. I don't have time for that.’ Well, I was so disappointed,” Bartan Kennedy told News 12, adding that her husband stayed home with her. “I didn't give birth for four more days, so I could've gone, and I never let my father-in-law forget it. As a result of that, my husband Bob teased my son Bobby his entire life that he made him miss the 1970 game.”
Three years later, in 1973, Bob Kennedy got to see the team’s second championship in person, but Bartan Kennedy missed out. She was pregnant again, this time with twins, including son P.J. Kennedy, who, no surprise, was raised rooting for the Knicks.
“This is everything for us right now,” P.J. Kennedy said about the team’s magical run in the playoffs. “Growing up a Knicks fan, watching the legends like Patrick Ewing, Charles Oakley, John Starks. Just knowing the legacy of the last time they won was 1973, and my grandfather was a part of that, it just means a lot.”
News 12 asked P.J. Kennedy if his grandfather was privately a Knicks fan.
“I think I would say now, unofficially, he was a Knicks fan, yeah,” P.J. Kennedy responded.
So, can the team win it all now for the first time since J. Walter Kennedy led the league?
“I think so. In four,” P.J. Kennedy said laughing.
