FROM NBA ALL-STAR TO METS USHER
Ex-NBA All-Star winning again — as a Mets usher
P ORT ST. LUCIE — You never know who you will find at a Mets’ spring training game. A football player like Tim Tebow could be in the outfield, or a basketball player may be working behind home plate.
It is a regular “Whatever happened to …’’ experience at First Data Field.
There, directly behind home plate in Section 101, is a tall gentleman doing a fantastic job as an usher for the Mets, the perfect combination of friendliness mixed with authority.
That usher is Steve Mix, who played 13 years in the NBA, mostly with the Sixers, and was roommates with the legendary Julius Erving for seven of those years and an All-Star in 1975.
“Julius and I would talk hoops, we would talk life and we would talk family,’’ Mix told The Post of his old roommate. “Every night he would have a candy bar before he would go to bed. He used to say, ‘I’m calling you Sky because you can’t.’ ’’
Mix then let out a friendly laugh.
“We still stay in touch,’’ said Mix, who used to launch lefthanded jumpers along the baseline. “He calls me on my birthday. I call him on his birthday.’’
Mix, 69, also worked more than two decades for the Sixers as a broadcaster.
How did Mix wind up an usher? Like many retirees, Mix wanted to keep busy. His nickname is “The Mayor.” He knows everybody. That’s what an usher does.
“This is a great spot behind home plate, and the people are the best thing about this job,’’ Mix said. “They come in, they are friendly, they’re baseball fans. Instead of passing the ball to Julius, I’m helping ladies down to their seats and helping them back up. I have a wonderful time doing it.’’
Mix and his wife Maryalice moved to Vero Beach a year ago. They’ve been married 47 years and have four children. He called a friend with the Tigers, clubhouse manager Jim Schmakel, and asked what teams were in the area. The Mets were it, and arrange- ments were made to hire Mix as an usher. He also is staying busy doing some basketball camps at nearby Indian River State College.
But the old forward doesn’t play basketball anymore.
“At 57, I could throw it off the backboard on one side and throw it down on the other,’’ Mix said. “At 58, I couldn’t hit the rim. You just stop playing.
“I heard somebody say sometime, when you retire and you do nothing, how do you know when you are done?’’ Mix said of his desire to keep working. “I need that place where I can hang my hat. I just need a place where I can do something.’’
And he is loving it. He occasionally gets recognized.
“I have a couple people bring cards up,” he said, “probably a couple times a day somebody will say something.’’
If someone is in the wrong seat, Mix handles it.
“All you have to do is point it out to them in a friendly way and a smile and they move,’’ Mix said.
Sure helps when you’re 6foot-7.
J.P. Ricciardi, special assistant to general manager Sandy Alderson, knows basketball, too, coaching the sport at Holy Name High School in Worcester, Mass., for 11 years and going to three state finals. One day he was going to his seat, saw the tall guy named Steve Mix and put two and two together.
“At first I said, ‘ That guy is really big to be an usher.’ And then I was talking to him and I see the name Steve Mix and I say, ‘ How many Steve Mix can their be?’ What a great guy, a humble guy,” Ricciardi said. “It made my spring. I’ve been talking hoops with him the whole time. I’ve seen him help a lot of elderly people, too, he’s really compassionate.’’
Ricciardi loves having Mix in the Mets’ mix, and said with a smile, “All we need is Bobby Orr working the press room and we’ll be in.’’