Bob Maver has been sitting courtside for the Cavs for decades

Bob Maver will be courtside at the Cleveland Cavaliers playoff game today. He's a member of the stat crew. He's got a great seat. The only people closer to the court are the players in the game. The Cavaliers have been playing NBA basketball since 1970. Maver has been on the stat crew since 1971. He is 88 years old. He is the oldest and longest-tenured stat crew member, tied at 55 years with the man who hired him, Chuck Broski, who is now retired. The beginning "I could walk to the arena," he said to me. The Cleveland Arena was located at 3717 Euclid Ave., east of downtown and in the fall of 1970, it became home to the brand-new franchise in Cleveland. The Arena opened its doors in November 1937. Bob was born one month later. "I used to park cars there when I was in high school," he said. By 1971, when Bob went to his first Cavaliers game, the place was old. The hardwood floor had so many dead spots that quick guards, who relied on the basketball bouncing back up in a timely manner, left many dribbles behind. Boston Celtics great John Havlicek refused to shower at the Arena. He'd walk across Euclid Avenue to the team hotel, still wearing his jersey after games against the Cavaliers, and take a shower in his hotel room because he feared he'd catch an "incurable disease" if he showered in the Arena's visiting locker room. "It was cold in there," Bob said about the Arena. "I always wore a coat or a jacket, 'cause you'd freeze." Three years after Bob joined the Cavaliers stat crew, the Arena would be shuttered. By 1977, it would be demolished. The team was as bad as the Arena. They were a perfect match. The Cavaliers won only 23 of 82 games in the 1971-72 season, Bob's very first. Nonetheless, he was anxious his first season. He wanted to be perfect, even if the team wasn't. "I was very nervous," he said. "I had seen just one Cavaliers game prior to working. It was a tough job. You didn't want to make a mistake." The team was so bad that Bill Fitch, then the head coach, threw his chair at a referee during a game at the Cleveland Arena in frustration. The opposing coach, Cotton Fitzsimmons, said to Fitch, "It's a good thing you weren't sitting on a couch." Bob was not far from Fitch when he heaved the chair. "I thought, wow, that's crazy doing something like that." A tiny, plastic, single-hole pencil sharpener would become Bob's most-valuable asset. "I was in charge of keeping track of rebounds, blocked shots and field goal attempts," he said. Bob did all of his work on notebook paper using pencils. "I'd sharpen my pencils before the game, so I'd always have a sharp one ready," he said. "There is a lot going on. You gotta be quick." The recording of a rebound has changed significantly. "There was a time," Bob said to me, "if there was a missed free throw on the first attempt, a rebound would be credited to the offensive team's center even though a second free throw attempt was coming. So, take Wilt Chamberlain, he'd get credit for a rebound every time one of his teammates missed the first of two free throws." Chamberlain, who played 14 seasons for the Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Lakers, holds the NBA record for most rebounds in a single game with 55, the all-time record with 23,924 and the single season record of 2,149. The thread Bob has been keeping tabs on his teams for a very long time. He was 10 years old in the summer of 1948 and worked at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. "I turned the stiles," he said to me. The ushers at the ballpark had kids turn the stiles that allowed fans into Indians games. After all the tickets were taken, the usher would let the kid in the game. "It was a great deal for a kid who loved baseball," Bob said. It was also a great season. In 1948, the Indians drew a then-major league record 2,620,627 fans and little Bobby Maver turned a lot of stiles. The Indians had a team that included future Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Satchel Paige, Larry Doby, Joe Gordon and Lou Boudreau. Young Bobby's favorite player, though, was Ken Keltner, the Indians third baseman credited with stopping Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941 with his glove and throwing arm. "He'd look at the ball before he threw it across the diamond to first base," Bob said in admiration. "He had a great arm." Bob saw Indians' pitcher Don Black throw Municipal Stadium's first no-hitter in 1947. "It was the first game of a doubleheader, and my mom and I had seats right behind Don Black's wife and the wife of Indians first baseman Eddie Robinson. In between games, Black had given the no-hit ball to his wife and I got to touch it," he said. Bob asked the pitcher's wife if he could keep the ball. She said no. Bob laughed at the memory. The Indians won the American League pennant in 1948 and beat the Boston Braves in the World Series. The ballclub hasn't won a World Series since then. The 78-year drought is the longest active championship drought in Major League Baseball. Bob almost didn't get to see the 1948 Series. The Indians hosted games three, four and five. Crowds of 70,306 fans, 81,897 and a then-major league record 86,288 filled the Stadium over the three games in Cleveland. "I went to the gate I always worked the morning of the first game and the usher said to me — I'm sorry Bobby, they have a certain group of people working the turnstiles for the Series. We can't let you in." Dejected, Bob turned around to walk home. "I was devastated," he said. "I was walking back up the ramp leaving the stadium and a man saw me, most likely with my head down, and said — hey kid, you want to go to the game?" The man took Bob to all three World Series games in Cleveland. It has always worked out for Bob and sports. On a Friday in the late summer of 1956, he announced to his mother that he was driving his two friends to Ohio University the next morning so they could attend college. Bob had graduated from East High School three months earlier and had no plans to attend college. He had already started a job as an oiler for the Operating Engineers Union in Cleveland. He picked up his buddies in his grandfather's 1952 Studebaker and drove to Athens. When he got there, he decided to enroll. "All I had was a small bag of stuff for my day trip," Bob said. "I had no place to live. I had no test scores. I signed up for a baseball class." The class served as a "walk-on opportunity" for guys who wanted to play on the OU baseball team. Bob took the class. He made the team and became a three-year starter at second base and shortstop. His senior season he was co-captain, team MVP and 1st team All-Mid American Conference as a shortstop. The Bobcats played in the NCAA Regional Tournament in Minnesota. In the first game, they faced Detroit Mercy and the Titans All-American pitcher Dave DeBusschere. Bob was OU's leadoff hitter. "DeBusschere hit me in the back with a fastball," Bob said laughing, "and I haven't been the same since." DeBusschere went on to pitch for the Chicago White Sox and play 12 seasons in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks. He won two NBA championships with the Knicks in 1970 and 1973 and is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Maver earned a bachelor's degree in education at Ohio University in 1960 and became an elementary school teacher in Cleveland. He taught physical education classes at several east side elementary schools, including Hough Elementary in 1966. "We never went back to Hough to teach after the riots that summer," Bob said referring to the uprisings from July 18-24 that killed four and left the neighborhood devastated. "They transferred all of the kids, and teachers to Jane Addams School." One of Bob's Hough Elementary kids was Gary Jeter. Jeter would become an All-American football player at the University of Southern California and played 13 seasons in the NFL. "Everytime I would see Gary, years later, when he would come home to Cleveland," Bob said, "he would always greet me and call me Coach Maver." The time "I'm still at it. I've been really lucky," Bob said, referring to his work on the Cavaliers' stat crew. Bob has done it all. He went from pencil and paper stats to running the scoreboard, being in charge of keeping the team score, individual fouls, team fouls and time outs and time of game. Now, he keeps the shot clock. "I think it's the hardest job," he said. "You have to watch the game like you are an official." The atmosphere from his courtside seat is an overdose of neural stimulation. The crowd noise, the music, the entertainment, the screaming coaches and the play. "It's fast," Bob said. "Players sit on the scorer's table, coaches and officials stand in front of you blocking your view. Sometimes, it's hard to get a good picture of what is going on." Bob hasn't missed a game this year. "I've had perfect attendance quite a few years," he said to me with pride. He works hurt, too. "I dislocated my shoulder once," he said. "It was winter, and I was out for a walk with my two daughters and our dog. I had a cup of coffee in my hand and there was a patch of ice ahead." Bob, feeling the need to show off, said to his daughters, "watch me" and he took off to slide across the ice. His feet went out from underneath him, and he flipped. His coffee went up in the air, too. He couldn't get up. His daughters had to call a paramedic. When the paramedics arrived, one slipped on the ice, too, and almost fell on top of Bob. "It was crazy," he said, chuckling. Bob worked the Cavaliers game that night. The end Bob has been courtside for "The Miracle of Richfield," "The Shot" by Michael Jordan, the 2016 NBA championship team, "The NBA in Paris" and everything in between. His favorite Cavalier player is Mark Price. His favorite NBA player to watch was Oscar Robertson. "He could do everything," Bob said about Robertson. Michael Jordan is a close second "but, I'd take Oscar over Michael." I asked Bob how much longer he was going to work? "I'm not sure," he said. "If I feel all right this summer, I might go another year." I remind him that he'd be 89 years old, and he laughed. "Yeah, they might just say get that old fart out of there." Contact Ron Jantz at rjantz@chroniclet.com.