Son of former Bucks GM details father's inspirational story in book
MILWAUKEE - Twenty or so years before the Bucks won their most recent NBA championship, they were legitimate contenders and there was a high schooler fully immersed in the fun.
Dan Grunfeld's dad, Ernie, just happened to be the team's general manager.
"The Bradley Center was rocking with Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson, and Sam Cassell," said Grunfeld. "I mean those were wonderful times. If you remember the song, Milwaukee Light it Up, Light it Up, everyone was singing that song at lunchtime and it was just a really great time to be a Bucks fan."
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Basketball was an escape for the high school junior, Dan.
For Ernie, it was a lifeline.
"My dad has been so successful, I am so proud of him, but he's a human being first and foremost," Grunfeld said. "So to grow up in the Holocaust, you know my dad never had grandparents - they were all killed in Auschwitz. And fleeing communism as a refugee, not speaking English, and then having his older brother pass away from leukemia a year later, that's a very tough background. Basketball gave my dad a new life and gave our family a new direction. So my book is entitled by the grace of the game, very intentionally right."
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Dan Grunfeld, an All-State player at Nicolet High School, Stanford standout and European professional player is also a published author.
His new offering comes from the heart.
He is close to his 96-year-old grandmother, who lost five siblings and both parents in the Holocaust and he idolizes his father.
"It's just really remarkable where my family started and where we ended up," said Grunfeld. "For my dad in particular who people know as this basketball personality and he's very well known in the game, but what he's overcome and what my grandparents have overcome so that I can have the opportunities that I've had is just remarkable and I am just so inspired by them."
Dan Grunfeld intends to write more books, but he admits there's no story like this one.
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