You know you've arrived when a single moniker or nickname makes your status well known in your sport.

Vernon Earl Monroe was simply known as "The Pearl" and before there were names like Magic, the Doctor, His Airness or Michael, Pistol Pete there was the Pearl. He had many other nicknames and variations like Jesus (because his game was the truth), Black Jesus, Magic and Black Magic just to name a few.

In Spike Lee's 1998 movie, He Got Game, starring Denzel Washington and now Boston Celtic Ray Allen, there's a scene where the two stars discuss the young man's name (Jesus Shuttlesworth) and how he got it. Yes, you youngsters of a different generation, the same renowned New York Knick fan Spike Lee who pays homage to Monroe in the film as The Pearl helped Spike's beloved Knicks to a title when he was a kid in the 70's.

"I don't feel the New York Knicks would have won their championship without Earl Monroe there," Raptor assistant coach Alex English said. "He gave "Clyde" Frazier the opportunity to move to the off guard and to be able to match up with that backcourt was difficult."

When I spent time with my relatives in New York in the 1970's, I was too young to understand the impact Monroe was having on the game and society at the same time as I sat watching on the old black and white TV. Why were my dad and uncles jumping up and down and giving each other skins (the precursor to the modern day high five was "giving skins" as it was called in the '70's) when Monroe was leaving defenders in his wake with their high-top canvas Converse All-Stars glued to the hardwood? Thanks to some perspective, I now understand.

Monroe's moves were an expression of his individuality but also made a statement about a time of change in American society. During an era when Afro hairdos and the American Civil Rights movement were in full swing, The Pearl's moves were revolutionary in their own right and seemed to make it acceptable to bring a sense of showmanship and flare to the game and life for that matter. Although he never looked at it that way, the Pearl's game legitimized flamboyance in a player's game since he was doing it at the highest level of basketball. Monroe paved the way for the modern-day showmen and suddenly made entertainment a major, and at the same time, acceptable component of the game.

"He had a lot of the ghetto qualities in his game, the street way of playing," smiled Raptor assistant coach Mike Evans affectionately remembering the time period. "Sure, we all had a little bit of that. All of the kids that grew up in those economically deprived neighbourhoods had little bit of that in their games and he just took it to the top level."

"A lot of people remember 'Pistol' Pete as a guy that was a lot of flash but before 'Pistol' Pete, there was Earl Monroe" commented English. "A lot of those guys that had the flash they got it from Earl Monroe.

Monroe is given credit for popularizing the spin dribble and the old school yo-yo dribble where you dribbled it front of you and then did a half turn with your back to the defender taking another dribble and waiting for the defense to react. He was mesmerizing on the court. The stop-and-go hesitation dribble was also one of his calling cards.

"You had to make sure you were focused but sometimes you would catch yourself watching, 'cause he was Earl the Pearl," laughed English. "He had a lot of flash but he could score the ball. It wasn't just flash, he could score the ball."

Canadian basketball great Brain Heaney was a rookie teammate of Monroe's with the Baltimore Bullets in 1970's joked that he was the one that had to guard him in practice.

"I had to guard him every day in practice because nobody else would go near him," laughed Heaney. "All the vets wanted nothing to do with the Pearl because he would make them look bad, so as the rookie, I got the assignment."

Normally at halftime of a broadcast I seize the opportunity to hustle out to use the facilities and grab a snack and a drink. But on this night, I stayed put as they raised Monroe's jersey to the rafters in the Verizon Centre. It was a thrill to meet and speak with him briefly before the game. It was only the second retirement ceremony I've ever witnessed in person, the other being Isiah Thomas' in Detroit. Saturday night in Washington I sat and watched a legend immortalized.

Coaches may not have liked what Monroe was doing but players had caught on to the elements of style in his game and the cat was out of the bag.

"A lot of people thought he was just showing off," remarked English. "But that was his game and if you go back and look at his game, whenever he made a spin move or threw a between the legs pass it was called for. He wasn't just making it because it was something to do. He was making it because the defender had stopped him from doing the correct thing so he created. He had a very creative basketball mind and he'll go down in history as the guy who started all that stuff."

A recent generation of fans will reminisce about Julius Erving, Magic, Michael and Dominique. But as a youngster, Mike Evans, who was born in North Carolina and whose brother went to Winston-Salem State University, the same school as Monroe, reflected on his days as a spectator watching Monroe do his thing. No highlight shows, you had to get there to see it yourself.

"It was like standing room only, you couldn't even get in the gym," laughed Evans. "People were standing outside the trying to get in and see this guy perform, it was just incredible to watch him in action."

"You talk about Earl the Pearl when he had the ball coming down the floor in transition, it was the same kind of thing as those guys," said Evans with a twinkle in his eye. "Everybody was on the edge of their seat thinking 'What's he gonna do with the basketball?' It was truly an exciting time in basketball."

Heaney echoed Evans' sentiments about Monroe and the excitement he created.

"The Pearl was sensational. He was almost a ballet dancer in basketball shoes," Heaney said. "In his prime if The Pearl was in a game the place would stand up five or six times and just shake their heads put their hands to their foreheads and say 'that's impossible, how did that happen?'."

"When he was in the Philadelphia Summer Leagues, you couldn't get seats anywhere. You couldn't even get into the gym," a smiling Heaney said.

Like one of Evans cohorts, Raptor assistant coach Alex English, Monroe isn't always mentioned in conversations when great players are discussed.

"I don't know," said Evans when asked about why Monroe's name is not always mentioned amongst the greats. "Maybe in the basketball purist mind he didn't do everything the right way and in their minds a lot of times they still hold that against guys, but hey, he's a Hall of Famer."

You can debate his greatness but you can't deny Earl "The Pearl" Monroe's impact and what he passed on through the years to modern day basketball.