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There is a word that gets thrown around carelessly in basketball: cool. Walt Frazier — Clyde — redefined what it meant on a court. Cool was the 36-point, 19-assist Game 7 in the 1970 NBA Finals, delivered against Jerry West without a flicker of panic to win the franchise's first championship. Born March 29, 1945, in Atlanta, Frazier was the engine of Southern Illinois's 1967 NIT title before the Knicks selected him fifth overall that year. Red Holzman built an entire defensive philosophy around him. Frazier won two championships — 1970 and a 1973 Finals dismantling of the Lakers alongside Earl Monroe — earned seven consecutive All-Defensive First Team selections, and entered the Hall of Fame in 1987. The Knicks retired his #10 because no player in franchise history embodied the championship standard more completely. He made winning look like the only reasonable outcome. Cool is not a style. It is a standard, and Clyde set it.
The Making of Clyde
Walter Frazier Jr. was born March 29, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia. He arrived at Southern Illinois University in 1963 and developed the fundamental architecture of his game: ball pressure that generated steals before steals were officially counted, and a composure that never wavered regardless of the moment. In 1967, Southern Illinois won the NIT championship. Frazier was the engine. The New York Knicks selected him fifth overall in the 1967 NBA Draft, and within three seasons, Red Holzman had built an entire defensive philosophy around his abilities.
Two Championships, One Standard
The 1969-70 Knicks went 60-22 and won the franchise's first NBA Championship. Willis Reed gets the iconic credit for limping onto the court before Game 7 — but Frazier's 36-point, 19-assist masterpiece in that same game actually won the title. He did it against Jerry West, the man they called Mr. Clutch, and he made it look effortless. In 1973, now paired with Earl Monroe in a backcourt partnership that seemed impossible on paper and inevitable in practice, Frazier directed a 4-1 Finals dismantling of the defending champion Lakers.
Seven consecutive All-Defensive First Team selections across his career established Frazier as arguably the greatest defensive guard the league had produced. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987 and named to both the NBA 50th and 75th Anniversary All-Time Teams.
The Voice of the Garden
After the Knicks traded him to Cleveland in 1977, Frazier played two more seasons before retiring. He has spent the decades since as a beloved analyst for the Knicks on MSG Network — his alliterative commentary style (dishing and swishing, posting and toasting) making him as famous to the current generation as his playing days made him to the first. In a franchise still searching for its third championship, Frazier remains the measuring stick every Knicks guard is held against.
Why the Knicks Retired #10
Walt Frazier's #10 hangs from the Madison Square Garden rafters because no player in franchise history embodied the championship standard more completely. Two titles. Seven All-Defensive First Teams. A Hall of Fame career. But the deepest reason is simpler: Frazier made winning look like the only reasonable outcome. He approached every game with serene certainty that the Knicks would find a way. Cool is not a style — it is a standard. Clyde set it.
