Follow Club Spurs on Twitter
He is flush with exhaustion, dripping with sweat. Bent at the waist, he clutches his shorts and shoots an upward glance at the scoreboard. Malik Rose doesn’t like what he sees. His North Star Dodge team trails the San Antonio Gamblers, 58-53, in the second half of the Ultimate Hoops League Championship game at Lifetime Fitness Center on Interstate-10.
Rose has just scored -- a little up-and-under -- to pull his team within five. But the Gamblers are too quick, too good, and pull away for an 81-66 victory.
“We were undefeated until the last game,” laments Rose, the former Spur who retired from the NBA two years ago. “We were the New England Patriots.”
Like the NFL Patriots of 2007, North Star Dodge blew through the league untouched until the championship game. Though disappointed with the result, Rose enjoyed the journey. “It’s not great competition,” he says, “but it’s great getting up and down the court. I rarely shoot. Pop would love me because all I’m doing is rebounding.”
This is Rose today, scrapping among ex-high school stars, former collegians, and a pro or two. With two NBA championship rings, Rose does not play for glory. He plays for fun and his health. After gaining 25 pounds in retirement, Rose caught a look in the mirror. “It wasn’t pretty,” he says. Off to the gym he marched. “I hit it pretty hard. I’m not going to be one of those dudes that gets crazy out of shape. It’s not going to happen.”
Today, Rose is on the run. Basketball court. Treadmill. Weight room. Then there’s Rose running as a family man -- married in 2007 with two young children -- and businessman: He operates Philly’s Phamous, a sandwich shop on Blanco Road. The shop’s Facebook page includes customer raves about the Philly Cheesesteak, fries and Italian ice.
Once a hot spot at The Quarry, Philly’s Phamous closed after the Spurs traded Rose to the New York Knicks in 2005. After retiring in 2009, Rose re-opened across from Churchill High School. “It’s the same menu, the same everything,” he says. (And if you bring a printed copy of this story to the shop, Rose adds, he’ll give you a free Italian ice).
Business, he says, is growing. After all the goodwill he created in Silver and Black, that shouldn’t surprise. Fans loved Rose’s off-the-bench tenacity, his willingness to bang and rebound, the way he added another layer to his game every off-season. Though he never won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, fans considered him the best. San Antonio also loved his personality -- friendly, colorful, always willing to sign autographs. That didn’t change when he joined the Spurs TV broadcast team last season as a substitute color analyst for Sean Elliott. Rose was embraced as if he’d never left.
“I had a lot of different feelings,” he says. “There was the homecoming feeling and reconnecting with everyone. There were heartfelt moments. But there were times I still wanted to be out playing with the guys.”
Rose now finds his greatest fulfillment at home. When he cracks open the door, 20-month-old daughter Marley runs into daddy’s arms. Trailing behind is 9-month-old son Miles, a toy basketball or baseball in hand. “It’s the best feeling in the world,” Rose says.
Marley and Miles are rough-and-tumble playmates. “She hugs him and tackles him,” Rose says. “Then he tackles her.”
Will Miles be a linebacker? A bullish power forward? The only thing Rose knows for sure is he’ll soon be taking the little guy to the gym.
The way Rose sees it, fatherhood came at just the right time. Marley was born shortly after he called it a career. Miles arrived 11 months after Marley.
“I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with my kids if I was still playing,” Rose says. “God doesn’t make mistakes. He gave me kids when I retired. They are awesome. I’ve been blessed.”
