The birthplace of the Mavericks’ long run to an NBA championship sits empty now, a broad lawn, weedy and sun-scorched.
Across the way from where Reunion Arena once stood, three police cars waited with engines running and lights flashing Thursday morning, keeping last-minute traffic from encroaching on the championship parade a block away.
On this day, a “Special Event $10.00” parking sign was the only reminder of past glories at the site.
But for the old “Reunion Rowdies,” fans who followed the Mavs from inception, the memories of those brash, young teams from the early ’80s resonate in this year’s championship club and in the current atmosphere at American Airlines Center.
The Rowdies grew out of “Moody Madness,” when those first Mavericks fans followed their team to SMU’s coliseum for one memorable playoff game against the Seattle SuperSonics. Back in those days, the Mavericks were displaced from Reunion by events like professional tennis.
Those fans were young and loud, so loud that longtime Mavs follower Raymond Jones of Dallas remembers games when “you couldn’t hear yourself think,” and players couldn’t understand their coaches’ instructions.
Mike Fisher, a longtime journalist and broadcaster, remembers that “the tickets were cheap, the beer was cheap, and it was the place to be.”
It was, Fisher said, the perfect incubator for the young Mark Cuban.
“Cuban was a Reunion Rowdy,” Fisher said, “and as owner, he turned this once again into a fan base that turns out 16,000 strong for the Mavericks, and can get 250,000 people out for a 105-degree parade.”
And it was Cuban, who once occupied the nosebleed seats at Reunion, proudly hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy for the fans along the parade route.
The NBA title puts the Mavs at the same level as the Dallas Cowboys and Stars, as the undisputed champion of their sport. And it means all three Texas NBA teams can stake that claim.
It also brings some swagger back to Dallas, an attitude that echoes the early ’80s, when those first Mavs teams were just learning to win. Fisher, for one, welcomes the return to yesteryear.
“Over the years, this had turned into a ‘boots and Botox’ kind of crowd,” Fisher said. “There was some fear with the ‘blue-out’ [when Mavs fans were given matching blue shirts for the playoffs] that the people down in front wouldn’t wear them and ruin their outfits.”
No worries. Mavs fever was a full-blown epidemic by then. And if anyone doubts it, consider the number of people who turned out on a sultry Thursday morning to cheer for their champions.
Grady Tasby of Dallas was a regular at Reunion in the old days, when championships seemed just out of reach. Leaning against the sun-warmed wall of Union Station on Thursday morning, he savored the moment.
After 31 years of cheering, he wasn’t sure this day would come. And when the playoffs began, Tasby didn’t think the Mavericks would be there at the end.
“They surprised me, they really did,” he said. “Some people call it luck. But to me it was a blessing.”
Nearby, as the crowd chanted, “Let’s go, Mavs! Let’s go, Mavs,” Jones saw the enthusiasm of those old Reunion Rowdies.
“I miss those days,” he said, “but I think now we’ve got that feeling again. I was at a game this season, sitting way up high, and it felt like the old days.”
For Michael Gee of Dallas, watching the parade with his family, this championship was the culmination of three decades of devotion to the Mavs. He cheered for players like Jason Kidd, who began his career at Reunion, moved away to play other places and came back to finally win a championship.
Most of all, he cheered for Dirk Nowitzki, who took much of the criticism during the Mavs’ collapse against the Miami Heat in the 2006 Finals. Critics said Dirk was soft, that he couldn’t lead his team to a championship.
The critics sure got that wrong, Gee said.
“You know what I like the most?” he said. “Dirk could have left for more money last year, but he stayed because he wanted to win a championship. He showed me a lot.
“I think he’s on the same page as Larry Bird — one of the best to ever play this game.”
That’s a bold claim, but this old Reunion Rowdy wouldn’t back off.
“That’s what I think,” he said. “I really do.”