Although he couldn’t quite deliver another title to New York, Knicks center Patrick Ewing will go down as one of the legendary players in the storied franchise’s illustrious history. He was an outstanding player in his prime, with an amazing sense of scoring in a variety of ways.
But as former Knicks assistant trainer Tim Walsh reveals to the New York Daily News' Stefan Bondy, what few people know is that Ewing was also a legendary germaphobe who had an uncanny sense of people’s hand hygiene.
“He was very aware of people who didn’t wash their hands,” Walsh said. “Patrick knew from two rooms away if someone went to the bathroom and didn’t wash their hands. He knew it. And Patrick was not touching that person all night. Two hours later, in the middle of the game, if that guy just hit the game-winning shot, he was fist-bumping him instead of shaking his hand. He wasn’t touching the guy.”
Apart from the hand-washing thing, Ewing also had a handful of other eccentricities like allowing only Walsh to carry around his sneakers, needing a specific wooden hanger, ice bags, and knee bandages to be used, and having freshly-poured glasses of water.
But whatever quirks Ewing had, including his aversion to touching germ-infested hands, they obviously didn't hinder him from becoming the Hall-of-Fame player he turned out to be.
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