After the Knicks clinched their first NBA title in 53 years, guard Jose Alvarado Jr. invited his dad to the locker room, where an epic merch drop took place.
“He gave me his whole uniform, his jersey, shorts, sneakers, headband, the champion shirt. . . . He said, ‘Pa, hold this. It’s wet, but put it on,’” Alvarado Sr., 49, recalled.
The proud dad, a Brooklyn electrician who raised his son in the Roberto Clemente projects on Wythe and Division Avenues in Williamsburg, said he “cried like a baby” after the historic win.
“He’s from New York and to win in New York with his team, it was just amazing,” he said.
Alvarado Sr., a Crown Heights native, was only 19 when his son was born. He wisely packed his child’s schedule with sports to keep him out of trouble.
“Williamsburg now, it’s not the same, but when I was growing up, it was drug-infested, gang-infested, a lot of killing. So I was trying to keep him out of the streets,” said Jose Sr.
Junior’s early sport of choice was football, and there were no tackle football leagues for kids in Brooklyn, so his dad would take him two and a half hours by train and bus to a pee-wee league on Staten Island.
“I came out of work at 1:30 p.m., got home at 3, got on the bus to the R train, and then back on a bus to go over the bridge, and then walk from Hylan Boulevard,” said Alvarado, a union electrician with Local 3.
When Jose Jr. was 8, the family moved to Flushing, Queens. Young Jose played basketball at P.S./M.S. 200 and was on six streetball teams — ultimately getting noticed by Nick Sanchez, the assistant coach of the storied Christ the King High School team. He invited him to their basketball camp.
“I said, ‘Yeah, how much is it?’” Jose Sr. recalled. “He goes, ‘It’s about $225 a week. I said, ‘Alright, I’ll take a week.’
“When I went to pick him up for the last day, Coach Joe Arbatello came to me and was like, ‘Can we keep him here for another two weeks?’ I said, ‘As long as it’s free,’” he recalled, laughing.
“He said, ‘I’ll take care of it.’”
Jose Jr. went on to attend Christ the King and play with the AAU program, which Jose Sr. had to work overtime to afford, plus sacrifice entire weekends to get him to games in different states.
“I used to hope at times they lost. I was like, ‘I gotta go to work tomorrow. I can’t drive at 12 o’clock at night and get to work at 4 in the morning,’” said Alvarado Sr., whose 20-year-old son Jeremy also played basketball at Christ the King.
But college scouts began to take notice.
“The first person that came to me was Georgetown. And then, after that, it just started flooding,” he said. “Then, one day, Coach Pastner [of Georgia Tech] came by and rang my bell.”
When Jose Jr. played at Georgia Tech, where he earned the nickname “Grand Theft Alvarado” for his uncanny stealing ability, his dad couldn’t attend many of his games due to his work schedule.
“So I supported him through the TV. I texted him before the game, after. I was his hype man,” he said.
Jose Jr. — who’s credited his dad for his grit — signed with the New Orleans Pelicans in 2021, but in February, FaceTimed his father to tell him he was traded to the Knicks.
“He had mixed emotions, because he loved the Pelicans, he’s a loyal kid,” he said.
Jose Sr. said he’s happy his son — who has two little girls with his long-term girlfriend, and a boy on the way — just signed a three-year contract with the Knicks for over $14 million.
“He can take care of his family forever now,” he said.
The proud dad is still basking in the glory of the championship — and the surreal moments that came with it, including saying hello to Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing.
“He sits right next to me, and he looks at me and goes, ‘Who you with? I said, “With Alvarado.’ He goes, ‘Who?’ I said, ‘GTA 5 [acronym for his nickname, ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ and his jersey number]. The small guy on the team.’ He goes, ‘I’m only messing with you man, I love that kid.’”
Alvarado Sr. couldn’t have been more proud on the float alongside his son at the ticker-tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes — especially seeing kids’ reactions.
“They were like, ‘Don’t touch my hat, he signed it!’ That’s when I was like, ‘This kid could change people’s lives.’ It was beautiful,” he said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
