“I’m a big (reason) why the game is what it is today. And I can walk out of my house and hold my head held high and talk about this game, because I know what I was able to do on this floor. What I was able to do is the model of what everybody is trying to do right now,” said Marion, now a board member of the National Basketball Retired Players Association. “Everybody is trying to find somebody to do everything that I was able to do. Which they ain’t been successful. But they’ve found some bits and pieces to do some stuff.”