SPRINGFIELD, MA. — From his place on stage at Symphony Hall, just down the road from the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and not far from where the game was invented, Vince Carter could see his life in one room.
Sitting beside him as he was enshrined in basketball’s hallowed halls were Tracy McGrady, his cousin, former Toronto Raptors teammate and a fellow Hall-of-Famer as well as ‘Doctor J’, Julius Irving — NBA royalty, Carter’s childhood hero and one of the few athletes to have stepped on an NBA floor who could watch Carter at his peak and nod in knowing recognition.
In the front row were his mother, Michelle, his wife, Sondi, his son, seven-year-old Vince Jr., his daughter, four-year-old Vale and his older daughter, 19-year-old Kai.
A few rows back was his coach at Mainland High School in his hometown of Daytona Beach, Charles Brinkerhoff and members of his 1995 Florida state championship team. Scattered throughout the crowd were some of his 261 former NBA teammates, friends from high school, college and beyond, and a wide array of aunts, uncles and cousins.
There were Raptors fans. One of them, Manjot Sangha, 33, flew from San Jose, Calif. and spent $600 on a ticket to see Carter have his moment.
“Vince Carter really impacted my life. When I was 10 years old, I watched the dunk contest and after that, I think things were never the same for me. I wanted a career in basketball.”
Sangha went on to found a basketball club in Toronto — Live Long Basketball — that grew to include 1,000 kids and used those organizational skills to transition to a career in the automotive industry.
“I feel like all of my business acumen came by way of basketball and I owe it all to Vince Carter.”
For his part, Carter made clear that he owes a lot of his success to fans like Sangha whose childhood imagination he was able to capture, and even to the ones who booed, who were put off by his smiles, or the way things ended for him in Toronto, or for the way he could toy with their preferred teams.
“I acknowledge you all tonight and say thank you for your cheers and your boos. It’s been a motivating force, it helped me make it to 22 years,” Carter said. “I never took it personally, I know how we are as fans, we love our teams, but it’s been an honour to fly in arenas for your entertainment.”
Even before he began his speech as the headliner of a 13-member class that included former Detroit Pistons star Chauncey Billups, Los Angeles Lakers stalwart Michael Cooper, and WNBA greats Michele Timms and Seimone Augustus, his voice was cracking, both from the emotion of the moment and all the talking that comes with being the man of the moment.
He was prepared. His plan was to speak from the heart, but he had a back-up plan: “I wrote, it’s typed out, it’s coming from me,” he said shortly before taking the stage, sucking on a throat lozenge. “With nerves and everything, I might wander, but at least I’ll know where to go. I do my own stunts.”
He always did, and always with a flair that was virtually unrivalled.
Carter made the Hall of Fame because he played a league-record 22 seasons, stands 21st on the all-time NBA scoring list — not to mention top-10 in three-pointers made and top-50 in steals. He made it because he was an eight-time all-star, an Olympic gold medallist, the 1999 NBA Rookie of the Year and twice an all-NBA selection.
But he was the evening’s headliner and enshrined at the first opportunity since his retirement after the 2019-20 season because he was the master of the moment. Earlier in the weekend he spoke about perhaps the lasting image from the dunk contest, when he was hanging from the rim by his elbow, the arena momentarily too stunned to cheer.
It was intentional.
“I wanted [the crowd] to be in awe, and silent, and I was able to accomplish that.”
A dunk contest isn’t ordinarily a top-line resume item for a Hall-of-Famer — no one is getting into Cooperstown because they won the home run contest or Canton for their performance in the skills competition at the Pro Bowl — but Carter’s arresting performance in winning the dunk contest at the All-Star weekend in 2000 was a genuine pop culture event.
But Irving — who knows something about dunk contests — knew it was a big deal then and understood what it meant to be a showman in the NBA and was happy to stand with Carter on his big night.
“Vince has been an exceptional guy on and off the court, and his style of play. I was always impressed that he could do things,” the former Philadelphia 76ers great said. “Maybe above and beyond the things the great forwards in the history of the NBA could do. He always put on a show, so he always made fans happy. So I became a fan, and I was one of those he made happy too.”
You play 22 seasons and there are a lot of teammates, coaches and organizations to thank. Carter shouted out as many as he could, beginning in reverse order.
That meant the Raptors came last. He thanked longtime minority owner and team chairman Larry Tanenbaum, former general manager Glen Grunwald, who acquired Carter on draft night in 1998, and the four coaches he had in his six seasons. He called out a roll call of Raptors legends, and explained why it will be his Raptors uniform on display in the Hall of Fame:
“It all started there,” said Carter who will have his No. 15 jersey retired in Toronto on Nov. 2. “I had some memorable moments with that organization, which created Vinsanity, which is why, without a doubt, I’m going into the Hall of Fame as a Raptor.”
He saved his final words for his family, past and present, his emotion showing through as he looked at his mother and remembered his grandparents. His basketball life complete.
“We did it,” he said.