Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe reunite at Bronx ribbon…
It’s no secret the connection that Knicks followers of a sure era really feel toward the 1972-73 championship-winning squad. But a pair of stars from that crew share a deeper connection that was on show Thursday morning in the South Bronx.
Speaking before a packed gymnasium at the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School, two-time NBA champion and former U.S. senator Bill Bradley spoke from the guts about his pal, one-time on-court rival and eventual Knicks teammate, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe.
“The fact that it has Earl Monroe on the [school] name, that might be a little reason why I’m here, but you guys are the reason that makes my heart full. Earl is the reason of my heart, because he is in my heart,” Bradley said with Monroe sitting off to his left and drawing an audible response from the varsity’s college students in the group. “When you are a teammate and you go to the top, it’s a forever bond, and we did that twice.”
New York Knicks legend Earl Monroe, surrounded by Sen. Bill Bradley, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and kneeling from left, former Knicks John Starks, Stephon Marbury and Tim Thomas, poses for a photograph at the dedication of the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School in the South Bronx, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Bradley, 83, added that his look Thursday was “one small way for me to say to my friend, I love you.”
The two Knicks legends had been facet by facet once again to rejoice the opening of the new 69,000-square-foot facility for the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School, a specialised constitution faculty in The Bronx whose curriculum is based around basketball and careers past the court.
The faculty opened in 2021 and offers its 440 college students from grades 9-12 with an schooling in topics ranging from broadcast, print and digital media to law and advertising and marketing.
“Everybody can’t play basketball, even though everybody wants to, but there’s so many other aspects of the sports and the game that you can be involved in without being the sports person,” Monroe, 81, said after the event. “I think that this is an excellent way for people to be involved in the sport and still get the same satisfaction as scoring a basket.”
New York Knicks legend Sen. Bill Bradley, left, shakes fingers with NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The ribbon-cutting ceremony drew a star-studded checklist of visitors, including former Knicks stars John Starks and Stephon Marbury, Knicks movie star superfan Tracy Morgan, ESPN persona Mike Greenberg, who hosted the event, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Silver famous how becoming it was that Thursday’s ceremony was happening after the Knicks ended their 53-year championship drought this past summer time, making them the first Knicks title squad since Monroe’s 1973 crew.
“It felt great,” Monroe said about seeing the Knicks win another title. “We’ve had some great players come through over the years, and finally getting over the hump. Not only just for me, just for the city itself. We’re a city of champs, so we deserve it.”
But the Knicks can have a goal on their back this season as defending champions, and repeating is no small process.
Former New York Knick Stephon Marbury takes a selfie at the dedication of the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School in the South Bronx, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Monroe was half of the Baltimore Bullets crew that prevented the Knicks from repeating in 1971, knocking them out in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer didn’t appear too nervous about the Knicks’ mindset going into this season.
“Certainly, the fact that you’ve won, obviously, it makes it so that you understand that you can win again,” Monroe said. “So I’m quite sure that they’re coming into this thinking that we’re No. 1, and I’ll tell other people to prove that we’re not.”
New York Knicks legends Earl Monroe (proper) and former Sen. Bill Bradley attend the dedication of the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School in the South Bronx space of New York on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
NBA commissioner Adam Silver stands with Dan and Abbe Klores as Silver proclaims the new Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School building will likely be named after them, in the South Bronx, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
While Monroe and Bradley are eternally tied together on the court, from their days enjoying in the Baker League in Philadelphia through school and into the NBA, Bradley’s lasting reminiscence of Monroe mirrored more from what he noticed Thursday than on the court.
“This is the Earl Monroe that I know,” Bradley said prior to the start of the ceremony. “From the first day I met him, when we had a shootout at Bry Pope Baptist Church in Philadelphia in the summertime, Earl Monroe was interested in the community, and this is the epitome of being interested in the community.”
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