From the book All the Colors Came Out by Kate Fagan. Copyright © 2021 by Kate Fagan. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company, New York, N.Y. All rights reserved.
In my closet is a pair of red suede Puma sneakers. They are low-top, the signature shoe of Walter “Clyde” Frazier, who starred for the Knicks in the 1960s and ’70s. When I was growing up in Schenectady, N.Y, in the ’90s, Frazier was the color commentator for the Knicks. His voice became the soundtrack of my youth, and he spoke like he played basketball: smooth, with exciting flourishes.