(Ep017) Dan Grunfeld: Surviving the Holocaust, Overcoming Hate with Grace and Forgiveness, and Using Basketball as a Path to Greatness
When Dan Grunfeld’s grandmother was a teenager, “Life was nothing more than a loving family, a tall tree, and an endless supply of sweet, juicy cherries.” But in an instant, the Nazis overran Europe and murdered her parents and five siblings in the Holocaust. Somehow Anyu and a sister survived the liquidation of the Budapest ghetto and after she married another Holocaust survivor, they escaped the Communist rule that dominated Easter Europe after the war and emigrated to New York CIty.
Dan’s father, Ernie, was bullied because he couldn’t speak English and lost his beloved older brother to leukemia. But before his brother passed, he predicted that Ernie would overcome all his obstacles and become great.
Basketball gave him the chance to fulfill this prophecy, and as his parents worked long hours in their fabric store, Ernie honed his game, earning a scholarship to the University of Tennessee. There he formed a dynamic partnership with Bernard King, and “Ernie and Bernie” rode roughshod over their SEC competitors. Soon, the little boy who was picked on was a strong man standing atop the Olympic podium with a gold medal round his neck, then an NBA champion, and later the GM of the Knicks and Wizards. His son Dan followed in his footsteps, starring at Stanford and playing pro ball in Europe for eight years. All the while, Anyu was the family’s rock, as Dan shares in his moving family history By the Grace of the Game.
In this episode, Dan reveals:
How his grandmother survived the Holocaust with the help of an unsung hero
What it was like for a family to leave everything they knew to come to New York
Why he keeps a spoon beside his bed as a potent symbol of the human will to endure
How basketball gave his father a chance to transform an immigrant family’s story
What the game and his family story have taught him about hard work, perseverance, forgiveness, and hope
The time a young Carmelo Anthony blocked his shot into the stands during his first practice at ABCD Camp
How Jamal Crawford was asking him for help on how to be better in Mike D’Antoni’s offense with the New York Knicks
To hear the rest of Dan’s profound story, read By The Grace of the Game, and connect with him on his website and via Twitter.
