In 1992, Madison Square Garden unveiled it’s Walk of Fame, which recognizes athletes, artist, announcers and coaches for their extraordinary achievements and memorable performances at The Garden. Each person is honored with a plaque that designates the performance category in which his or her contributions were made. Previous honorees include: Willis Reed, Patrick Ewing, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Billy Joel, Elton John, Muhammad Ali, and John McEnroe. The Walk of Fame is located in Chase Square, where it is seen by the millions of people who attend games, concerts and events each year.
On May 11, 2015 – Four legends of Madison Square Garden – the iconic, American band the Grateful Dead, Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender, Eddie Giacomin of the Rangers, Basketball Hall of Fame forward, harry Gallatin of the Knicks, and award-winning photographer, George Kalinsky.
The Grateful Dead, which is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year, will be represented by band members Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann, and by Trixie Garcia, the daughter of the late Jery Garcia, and Reya Hart, the daughter of Mickey Hart. Giacomin, Gallatin and Kalinsky will also be on hand for the special ceremony. The Garden legends will be inducted by Basketball Hall of Famer and Former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (Kalinsky), Rangers Hall of Famer Rod Gilbert (Giacomin), Knicks legend John Starks (Gallatin), and renowned New York radio deejay Jim Kerr of Q104.3 (Grateful Dead).
George Kalinsky
Award-winning photographer George Kalinsky is on of the most famous image makers of our time… or any time. His lens has captured some of the most important faces, places, and events in the world of sports, entertainment, and politics.
As the official photographer of Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall, he has created many iconic images. Newsmakers such as Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, Peggy Flemming, Pope John Paul II, Luciano Paverotti, Patrick Ewing, and Mariano Rivera have all stated that George Kalinsky has taken their stage. His iconic shots of Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, and Billy Joel are all displayed in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Recently, a photo painting Kalinsky created of Michael Jordan became a special birthday gift for President Obama, given to him by the First Lady.
Photographs by: George Kalinsky
Kalinsky’s honors and awards include the 2001 PMDA International Photographer of the Year (highest award in the photo industry), the National Center of Disabilities Sportsman of the Year (2001), the New York Board of Rabbis Man of the Year (2006), the National Arts Club Medal of Honor (2010), the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (2010), and the New York Knickerbockers Legacy Award (2015).
Among the many venues in which his work has ben exhibited are the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the International Center of Photography, and The Olympus Plaza Gallery in Tokyo. His works are also part of the permanent collections of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cornell University, the New York Governor’s Mansion, the Jewish Museum of New York, the Southern Vermont Arts Center, the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame, and Madison Square Garden.
Since 2008, some of Georg’s most iconic photographs have been displayed on huge billboards in New York City’s Times Square, drawing the attention of millions of passers-by every day. In addition to his ten published books, which have sold more than 2 million copies, Kalinsky’s photos have also appeared in hundreds of other, books, magazines, newspapers and web sits throughout the world.
Currently, Frank Sinatra Enterprises is producing a documentary on George’s 49-year career.
Harry Gallatin
Harry “the Horse” Gallatin was the NBA’s original “Iron Man” and a central figure of the New York Knickerbocker squads that dominated the League’s Eastern Division in the loop’s early days. The Basketball Hall of Famer played nine seasons as a Knick (1948-49 through 1956-57) and forged a legacy of tough, blue collar workmanship symbolized by his streak of 610 consecutive games played, a Knick’s record that has stood for nearly 60 years.
A seven-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA selection, Gallatin was one of the infant NBA’s top rebounders. He led the league in total rebounds (1,098; 15.3rpg) in 1953-54, and still ranks fourth on Knick’ all-time rebound list (5,935).
Gallatin was a key member of the Knicks’ three straight Eastern Division championship teams under Joe Lapchick (1951, 1952, 1953) which captured the city’s imagination and laid the foundation for team’s current status as New York’s Team. In nine seasons with the Knicks, Gallatin averaged 12.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, finishing his NBA playing career with Detroit in 1957-58.
He later served as head coach for both the St. Louis Hawks and the Knicks, winning the NBA’s first-ever Coach of the Year award wit the Hawks in 1963. Enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991, Gallatin became the first of “Lapchick Knicks” to be honored in Springfield, later joined by Dick McGuire, Al McGuire and Sweetwater Clifton.
Gallatin enjoyed a long post-NBA carer as an athletic director at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and currently lives in retirement in Edwardsville, Ill. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991.
Eddie Giacomin
Always a fan favorite in New York, Eddie Giacomin spent over 10 seasons with the New York Rangers, appearing in 539 matches and posting a 267-174-89 mark, along with a 2.73 goals against average and 49 shutouts.
On the Rangers all-time goaltending list, he ranked first overall in career wins (267) and shutouts (49), and second in appearances (539) at the time of is departure in 1975. The legendary goalie also ranked at or near the top of several single season Ranger records, ranking first in wins for a season (37-1968-69), tied for firs in appearances for a season (70, 1968069 and 1969-70) and tied for fourth in shutouts for a season (9, 1966-67) at the time.
Additionally, he is one of the only two Ranger goalies in franchise history to reach the 30-win benchmark five times (1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1973-74). Giacomin played in six NHL All-Star Games (1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973), including five straight appearances from 1967 to 1971. The net-minder was selected as a First Team All-Star two times (1967, 1971), and was honored as a Second Team All-Star three times (1968, 1969, 1970). In 1971, he was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, sharing the honor with Gillen Villemure.
In addition to his puck-stopping ability, Giacomin made Rangers history on March 19th, 1972 when he became the first Blueshirt goalie to register a multiple-point game with two assists vs. Toronto at Madison Square Garden. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987 and became the second player in team history to have his number retired when the Rangers honored his No. 1 on March 15, 1989.
After leaving the game, Giacomin operated a popular sports bar in the Motor City. He served as an assistant coach with the Islanders and the Red Wings before returning to the Rangers as a goaltending coach and special assignment scout. At the home opener in 1985-86, Giacomin was honored at a ceremonial face-off.
Grateful Dead
Since the Grateful Dead embarked upon its long, strange trip in 1965, millions of kindred spirits have developed a taste for that distinctive flavor: a cosmic cocktail of blues, folk, R&B and country spiked with freewheeling improvisational jams that sparked moments of musical transcendence.
Even today, as the iconoclastic band celebrates its golden anniversary, their songs still fill the air: 13 studio albums, more than 130 (and counting) archival releases, countless audience recordings, and a satellite radio station cranking the Dead night and day. The scruffy band from San Francisco that invited the world to “come and join the party every day” during the Summer of Love, has become and institution studied by scholars around the world.
On its way to becoming one of America’s most influential rock bands, the Grateful Dead developed an especially collaborative relationship with its audience. When the band and fans came together, it conjured a magical harmonic convergence of energy.
It’s been 20 year since the Dead played its 2,318th and final concert (a world record), and yet it continues to inspire fervent devotion among Dead Heads, a tribe of faithful fans that crosses generational, cultural, and geographic boundaries. The band also played an influential role in revolutionizing the concert-going experience by developing new audio technology that raised the sound quality at shows. They also started selling concert tickets through the mail, which enabled fans to easily follow the band, complete with a shared identity grounded in the Dead’s music and defined by its own traditions, economy and slang.
Despite it’s lack of radio-friendly hits and corporate sponsorship, the group’s popularity as a live act grew steadily over its 30-year run. During the 1980s and 1990s, the Dead was consistently ranked among the top-grossing tours.
But possibly the most important decision the group ever made was to let fans record its shows and trade those tapes. The dovetailed perfectly with the Dead’s habit of never playing a song the same way twice. Every night was different. Set lists changed on the fly as the band minded its extensive repertoire, which included about 100 songs in rogation on any given tour.
“There are bands, and then there are movements.” – Jim Kerr
Fans responded and avidly collected every recording they could. Even the Library of Congress to in on the act. In 2011, it added a fan-circulated recording of the band’s May 8, 1977 performance at Cornell University to the National Recording Registry.
The obsessive taping by fans – and the band – created the Grateful Dead’s legendary tape vault, which represents the most extensive set of performance recordings in American popular music.
Concert promoter Bill Graham, who produced the Dead’s famed concerts at the Fillmore and Winterland Arena in San Francisco, captured the spirit of the and in 1978 when he wrote: “They’re not the best at what they do. They’re the only ones that do what they do.”
Text by: Madison Square Garden Media