BOCA RATON — Each time the Miami Heat hold training camp at Florida Atlantic University it brings us to a full-circle moment.
The first game in franchise history — an Oct. 14, 1988, exhibition against the Seattle SuperSonics — was played at the same FAU gym (sort of) in which the Heat are practicing this week.
The Heat opened their four-day camp at FAU on Sept. 29. The building has a new look inside and out, undergoing multiple renovations though the years. The floor, which was an issue on that night 38 years ago, has been softened to NBA standards. But the venue still sits on the same site on the school's campus in Boca Raton.
Heat television play-by-play announcer Eric Reid was there, having arrived in South Florida weeks earlier to work with
Sam Smith on the team's television and radio broadcasts.
"I knew nothing about Boca Raton at that time," said Reid, who now lives in Boca Raton. "That FAU gym was packed. The excitement was wonderful."
Reid, who was working Boston College football games for NESN when he got the Heat job, said everyone felt like "basketball pioneers."
"The University of Miami had dropped basketball for a long time," Reid said. "The Miami Floridians (who played in the American Basketball Association) were a distant memory. And this was the NBA. It was the start of everything. The newness of it, it was just an exciting time. The 0-17 (start to the regular season) reality was still a few weeks away and this was just an exciting time as the franchise really began."
In name only was the Heat anything close then to the product we have seen since Micky Arison bought the team in 1995 and made Pat Riley an offer he could not refuse to leave New York.
The inaugural season was one of many that paved the path for what has become a consistent, well-run organization, long before Heat fans were introduced to Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James and Chris Bosh and the newest building blocks Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
And three NBA championships.
But it had to start somewhere. And that somewhere was FAU.
Miami Heat's first-ever game at FAU was a loss to SuperSonics
The night was a celebration. Miami broke camp held at the University of Miami with 17 players still on the roster, 16 played. Coach Ron Rothstein rolled out a starting lineup that included Pearl Washington, Kevin Edwards, Grant Long, Pat Cummings and Scott Hastings.
Edwards, the second of Miami two first-round picks in 1988, lead the Heat with 18 points. Center Rony Seikaly and guard Jon Sundvold were nursing injuries. Seikaly was the first draft pick in franchise history, taken ninth overall in 1988 out of Syracuse.
An estimated crowd of 4,200 witnessed an entertaining 116-107 Sonics' victory. Jerry "Ice" Reynolds lead Seattle with 23 points. Xavier McDaniel, Michael Cage and John Lucas did not play.
With partners Billy Cunningham and Lewis Schaffel looking on, the Heat lead by nine points midway through the third quarter before Seattle went on a 21-4 run.
"I just hope people appreciate how hard we played," Rothstein said after the game. "I'm sort of pleased but not satisfied. It's going to be a long, drawn-out process but I hope people appreciate how hard the guys played."
That long process turned out to be a very long season.
After losing their first 17 games, the Heat finished 15-67, a record equaled by the 2007-08 team as the worst in franchise history.
Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Heat's first game at FAU: 'This was the start of everything'
