The passing of Ossie Schectman at age 94 severed the last living thread between the Knickerbockers and their inaugural 1946-47 team. Ossie, the captain of that very first Knicks team, had been its lone survivor (an Original Knick teammate, future sportscaster Bud Palmer, passed away earlier this year on March 19).
Ossie, whose 54 games and 8.1 scoring average that first year comprised his entire NBA career, fit the mold of most on that first-year Knicks squad. He was a New York City product (out of Tilden High School and Long Island University), a local star as well as an All-American, and was a newly-minted World War II veteran.