Wrapping up this interview in an arena …

Wrapping up this interview in an arena that will soon bear his name, Gervin thinks on it all for a second. What if he had gone to a different school? What if he’d played at Long Beach State? What if all those dominoes didn’t fall in order for him to land at EMU as an outsized star at the unlikeliest place? What if he never played in the 1972 NCAA College Division national semifinals? Gervin lets out a sort of half-laugh. He says, “You know, I really think I became the Iceman from that controversy. I learned to control my emotions. Think about it. And guess where I was? At Eastern Michigan University.”