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Herb Turetzky, the Nets’ longtime scorekeeper and a record-breaking NBA fixture, died Monday at the age of 76.
The team announced the news Tuesday morning.
“For 54 years, Turetzky was synonymous with Nets Basketball,” the Nets said in a statement. “He was the one constant since the inception of the franchise, and his passing leaves a void that can never be filled.
“A fixture at center court, he touched the lives of generations of Nets players, staff and fans, leaving an indelible mark on those who knew him. His warm smile and kind-hearted nature will be forever missed by all at Barclays Center, and his legacy will endure for years to come.”
Turetzky retired in October after 54 years as the only scorekeeper in franchise history. The Brownsville native had worked over 2,200 games dating all the way back to their debut tilt as the New Jersey Americans of the ABA at the Teaneck Armory back on Oct. 23, 1967.
That stretch was eventually certified as a record for professional basketball games scored in the Guinness Book of World Records. And of all those games – spread over nine different arenas and countless memories – none were sweeter than the night he got pulled into the victorious locker room shower in 1976 after Julius Erving’s Nets won the ABA title over Denver Nuggets.
By the end of his long career, he’d been confined to a wheelchair and assisted by his wife, Jane. He’s survived by his wife of 51 years, their daughter Jennifer, son David, daughter-in-law Heather, and grandchildren Jack and Harper.
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