Gregg Popovich let us in during long-overdue Hall of Fame induction

National Basketball Association

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It was a rare peek behind-the-curtain of the winningest NBA coach of all-time, who helped transform the Spurs into a five-time championship dynasty that reached the playoffs a record-tying 22 consecutive seasons.

“I tried to think of a word to describe what this might feel like,” Popovich said. “And it feels even different than I thought it would. For me, it’s unimaginable. And that’s not an attempt to be humble.”

The 74-year-old Popovich talked about how he first fell in love with basketball in grade school in Indiana. He remembered the asphalt. The moon-shaped backboard. He couldn’t quite remember if the basket had a net or a chain.

Reflecting on his childhood helped put his accomplishments into perspective for the coach, who has always made it clear that basketball is just a silly sport, while family, food and wine are life’s three most important pillars.

“It made me ask a question – what the hell am I doing here? How did this happen? It’s hard to describe,” Popvich said, pausing as his eyes welled with tears.

He went on to call himself a “Division-III guy,” referring to his time as a coach at Pomona-Pitzer. He briefly talked about his time at the U.S. Air Force Academy, acknowledging that he was “a wise-ass” who would get booted out of basketball practice “at least once every week and a half.” He even talked about when he tried out for the Denver Nuggets at age 26, and was told he should trade his uniform for a suit and tie, helping send him down his current career path.

But what really stood out was when Popovich talked about his family, something he rarely – if ever – does publicly.

“I have a family,” Popovich said. “People think that I just do basketball. I don’t really like it that much. Basketball doesn’t love us back, does it? We use it like a bar of soap, right? It pays our bills. It gives us a wonderful life. But I don’t remember it saying, ‘I love you, Pop.’ It’s different. It’s the family.”

Popovich talked about his wife, Erin, who died in 2018 from what was reported to be a lengthy battle with a respiratory illness. As the camera panned between him and his daughter, he choked back tears.

“My wife Erin of 42 years was our center of gravity,” he said. “She was our rock and made everything worthwhile and meaningful.”

Popovich went on to talk about his son, Micky, whom he described as an “artist, musician from Seattle,” and daughter, Jill, “who keeps us all on the straight and narrow.”

He even insisted that his two grandchildren stand up.

He called his grandchildren “the star of the show,” adding, “I tell my son and my daughter, ‘I love you – it’s not that it’s gone away – but you guys are a little bit boring now. There’s nothing else I can give you. You’re on your own. Get outta here. Give me the kids.'”

Popovich let us in.

For those who don’t know him, Popovich is an enigma. He can appear brash when he believes a reporter’s question is dumb. He can be dismissive during in-game TV interviews. Or he can be the most eloquent man in any room, waxing poetic about social injustices.

But few people know the real Popovich.

They only know him through breadcrumbs that his adoring players or assistants leave behind. On Saturday, Popovich helped paint a clearer picture.

But nothing he could say could speak louder than this: On a night when some of basketball’s greatest stars were assembled under the same roof, it was Popovich who was the constant theme of the night, appearing in nearly everyone’s speeches.

Parker, who played under Popovich from 2001-2018, called him a “second dad.”

Hammon, whom Popovich hired as the first full-time female assistant coach in NBA history in 2014, said, “I know you weren’t trying to be courageous when you hired me. But you did do something no one else in professional sports had ever done.”

(Both Hammon and Popovich had tears in their eyes. Popovich went on to blow her a kiss.)