Dryden resident pens book on rise of NBA

Pete Croatto is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in several big publications like The New York Times, VICE Sports and SI.com. On Dec. 1, the Dryden resident will be releasing his first book titled “From Hang Time to Prime Time,” which dives into the rise of the NBA in the ’70s and ’80s.

The idea came to him seven years ago after writing a lengthy piece on Marvin Gaye’s soulful rendition of the National Anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game for Grantland. In his eyes, that was the moment that the NBA established itself as different from the NFL or MLB. The project helped Croatto discover that that was just the tip of the iceberg, so he took a much deeper dive.

Now, seven years and 315 interviews later, Croatto has his first book. He did not have a set list of people he wanted to talk to. Instead, he just kept going deeper by asking interviewees who else he should talk to.

“Eventually, it just became a habit,” Croatto said. “Someone gives you a couple names, you call them up and go from there. Every story that I’ve written, there’s always one or two people that are the linchpin, that are the gold mine, who are very excited to talk to you and are allies. They’re willing to direct you to everybody. I had a couple of people for this book that were just huge in that regard.”

The selling point of the book is that it looks at the NBA from business and entertainment perspectives rather than just the on-court product. NBA legends like George Gervin, Julius Erving, Walt Frazier and Oscar Robertson were interviewed by Croatto, but in his eyes, their stories have already been told.

“The people that I wanted to see were the folks that maybe hadn’t been talked to in years, if not ever,” Croatto said. “The NBA’s rise doesn’t really go down to one person or two people. It’s a bunch of people who played roles, some bigger than others, in turning this sport into this massive shining model that you see today.”

Completing this project has helped change Croatto’s perspective when looking at the massive spectacle that the NBA is today.

“It made me realize just how far the NBA has come and how small scale it was,” he said. “Even in the mid-1980s, it really was almost a mom-and-pop operation. A source gave me a phone list from the NBA office in 1981 or 1982, and I think there were 30 names on it. So, we’re talking the whole entire NBA, there were 30 employees, which is insane. If you look at the numbers now, the NBA has offices worldwide. It has thousands upon thousands of employees.”

One story in particular that accentuated that point in Croatto’s eyes was how future NBA Commissioner David Stern revitalized a dead TV deal with CBS with an angry outburst directed at a network executive. Nowadays, television networks are clamoring for basketball.

The bulk of this project has been done in Dryden as Croatto moved here about five years ago from Pennsylvania. It was the perfect setting to push the book to the finish line.

“To come to a place like Tompkins County, which not only has a wonderful quality of life but also was affordable and had a relatively low cost of living has been wonderful for us,” he said. “I love it here.”

Croatto’s wife, Laura, is a full-time music professor at Ithaca College, and they have a 4-year-old daughter at home. He balanced the caretaking of his child with writing the book and was grateful to be able to do it here.

“To do it here was a real blessing because it’s very quiet here,” Croatto said. “People are really friendly. There are a lot of resources that are available. Being close to two wonderful colleges like Ithaca College and Cornell was a real help with research. Having the Tompkins County Public Library 10 minutes from my house was amazing. It’s really been serendipitous.”

The book will be released featuring blurbs from people that Croatto looks up to like sportswriters Jonathan Abrams and Jeff Pearlman and film director/producer Brian Koppelman. It means a lot to Croatto.

“It was very gratifying to reach out to those folks and have them read the book and have them provide blurbs,” he said. “Even if the book got ravaged by critics, that would have been just immensely satisfying. I talked about this with my wife and a few other friends. To me, the book is the triumph. Writing and going through the travails that many writers have, it is extremely rewarding and extremely gratifying to have a book come out.”

With the book set to be released Dec. 1, Croatto is holding Zoom chats throughout Tompkins County. The first will be held by the Odyssey Bookstore in Ithaca on the night of the release, followed by a potential autograph signing at Odyssey on the fifth. Another Zoom chat hosted by the Tompkins County Public Library will take place Dec. 8.