Some months ago, Ernie DiGregorio was signing memorabilia at a card show in Boston.
“This guy comes up and he has all this Buffalo Braves stuff,” DiGregorio recalls. “And we start talking, and he was just really knowledgeable about the Braves.”
As well he would be. Greg Tranter is co-author of “Buffalo Braves From A to Z.” And tonight, DiGregorio will join Tranter and co-author Budd Bailey — a retired Buffalo News sports reporter — at the Buffalo History Museum to talk about the new book.
Chalk up another assist for Ernie D.
“His career turned out to be more like a comet than a star,” the book says, “but it sure was fun while it lasted.”
The reference is to Ernie D’s rookie year, 1973-74, when he led the league in assists and free-throw percentage and directed the NBA’s highest-scoring offense, setting up Bob McAdoo, the league’s leading scorer at 30.6 points per game. DiGregorio scored 15.3 points per game himself that season and won Rookie of the Year honors. The Braves lost a six-game playoff series to the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the NBA championship.
In the 1974-75 season opener, DiGregorio scored 33 points in a 126-119 win in Boston as the Braves won four of their first five. Alas, in their next game, on a West Coast swing, DiGregorio tore cartilage in his left knee. He was never quite the same player after that.
“We were out at Golden State, and I felt a pinch in my knee,” he says. “It screwed me up for a couple of years.”
The Braves are always a story of what if. What if they had stayed in Buffalo? What if they had kept Moses Malone? What if they hadn’t sold McAdoo?
And, of course: What if Ernie D had stayed healthy?
“I really don’t think about it like that,” he says. “You can’t do that. ‘Hey, what if I hit Powerball?’ No, you’ve got to face reality. And sometimes reality is a bitch.”
DiGregorio prefers to think about the good times. For instance, 50 years ago…
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