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Jerry Krause’s wife, Thelma Krause, was at the United Center to accept the honor bestowed on her husband by the Chicago Bulls. The late former two-time NBA Executive of the Year was inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor on Thursday. Krause joined 12 others in the inaugural class of honorees.
During halftime of the Chicago Bulls-Golden State Warriors game on Friday, the inductees were honored. Krause’s wife, however, might have wished she hadn’t attended the ceremony. When the former GM’s name was called, several sections of the arena showered her with boos.
Jerry Krause’s wife didn’t even stand up to acknowledge when her husband’s name came up. She was moved to tears by the disrespect.
Stacey King, a three-time NBA champ with the Bulls who now works as an analyst, didn’t hold back in his comments about what had happened:
“Chicago is a sports town. What we witnessed today when Jerry Krause’s name was called, the people that booed Jerry Krause and his widow, who was accepting the honor for him, was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
“I hurt for that lady. [She] was brought to tears. Whoever booed her in this arena should be ashamed of themselves. That’s not Chicago. That’s New York, Philly.”
King must be quite familiar with the Krauses. He was drafted by the late general manager in 1989 as the sixth overall pick. King spent five seasons in Chicago and played a key role in the Bulls’ first three-peat.
Seeing how Thelma Krause was treated prompted him to call out the fans for their disrespect.
Why was Jerry Krause's wife, Thelma Krause, booed?
Most basketball fans, particularly those in Chicago, see Krause as the culprit behind the disintegration of the legendary late ‘90s Bulls. After winning the championship in 1998, the iconic trio of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman broke up.
Some experts thought the Chicago Bulls should have desperately held on to the three superstars and most of the players on the roster. Many believed that the core of Jordan, Pippen and Rodman still had at least one championship left in them.
It was unfortunate that Jerry Krause’s wife took the brunt of that anger during a night honoring Bulls greats.
Looking back at Jerry Krause's time with Bulls' dynasty
Jerry Krause was named the Chicago Bulls GM leading to the 1985-86 season. He stayed in that position until 2003. Krause played as big a role as any in the team’s six championships.
Krause’s first move as GM was to hire Tex Winter, the Triangle Offense maestro. He later replaced Doug Collins with a former New York Knicks player named Phil Jackson. The Bulls already had Michael Jordan and John Paxson when he became the general manager, so he steadily built on those two.
In 1987, he drafted Horace Grant and traded Olden Polynice to the Seattle SuperSonics for Scottie Pippen. The following year, he traded for Bill Cartwright to form Chicago’s core that went on to win the first three-peat.
Krause retooled the team in the mid-'90s and added Dennis Rodman. “The Worm” became the third wheel in the iconic duo of Jordan and Pippen. The three were the cornerstones of Chicago’s second grand slam.
