Part 1 of a two-part series / Part 2: Eagles and Phillies
When Joel Embiid was announced as the cover star for NBA Live 19, it was a first.
A first for Embiid, who appears on the cover of a game for the first time. A first for EA Sports, which never had a Sixer represent its basketball series in its nearly 25-year history. And a first for this new era of Sixers basketball, where an endorsement like a video game cover shows that the team has a legitimate star for the first time since Allen Iverson.
But Embiid — and Ben Simmons in another part of the world — have joined a club too, a surprisingly long list of Philadelphia athletes who have graced a video game cover going back to 1997.
Here’s a look at the full list and the success each player had that led to their cover nod, plus some trivia about the games themselves.
Today, it’s a look back at the Flyers and the Sixers.
John LeClair – NHL FaceOff 98 and NHL FaceOff 2000
Coming off a 50-goal season that included an All-Star selection and a run to the Stanley Cup Final, Flyers winger – and ⅓ of the Legion of Doom – John LeClair was chosen for the cover of NHL FaceOff 98, Sony’s platform-exclusive hockey game for the original Playstation.
He represented the game well, matching a career-high 51 goals and earning another All-Star Game selection for the 1997-98 campaign.
As one of the NHL’s prominent American stars, LeClair returned to the series’ cover two years later for NHL FaceOff 2000.
Did you know?
- The Blackhawks’ Chris Chelios was on the cover for NHL FaceOff 99.
- For NHL FaceOff 2000, the development team consulted decorated head coach Scotty Bowman (with the Red Wings at the time) for in-game strategies and how CPU-controlled players should behave away from the puck.
- Mike Emrick is the current voice for EA’s NHL games, but that wasn’t his first video game gig. Starting with NHL FaceOff 99, “Doc” and Darren Pang served as the series’ play-by-play team. Previous entries did not have any commentary included.
- Player models were completely re-worked for NHL FaceOff 98, carrying greater detail and making use of motion capture for the first time in the franchise.
Eric Lindros – NHL 99
Eric Lindros was one of hockey’s most recognizable stars in the 1990s, and after posting 30 goals and 41 assists in 63 games during the 1997-1998 campaign, “The Big E” was put on the front of EA Sports’ NHL 99.
Lindros recorded 93 points (40 goals, 53 assists) in 71 games for his cover year, but the 1998-99 season was the beginning of the end for the star center’s tenure with the Flyers.
On March, 7, 1998, Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis caught Lindros with his head down trying to find the puck, and the All-Star center was diagnosed with his first concussion. The relationship between Lindros and the Flyers began deteriorating over the course of the next year and completely fell apart after an April 1 road game against the Nashville Predators.
Lindros suffered a punctured lung that was missed in a diagnosis by team trainer John Worley. His lung collapsed over night and he was finally admitted to a local hospital after teammate Keith Jones found him pale and struggling to breath in their hotel room.
Injuries and concussions plagued Lindros into 2000, and he was stripped of the captaincy after publicly criticizing Worley for how his injuries were handled. The concussion issues continued up to the Eastern Conference Final, where Lindros took a crushing check from Devils defenseman Scott Stevens in Game 7.
That was Lindros’ last game in orange and black. He sat out for all of the 2000-01 season and was dealt to the Rangers in Aug. 2001.
Did you know?
- The Colorado Avalanche’s Peter Forsberg was on the cover for the previous year’s NHL 98. He was one of the five players the Flyers sent to Quebec in the blockbuster trade that landed Lindros in 1991.
- NHL 99 was the only game in the franchise to appear on the Nintendo 64, and had exclusive play-by-play to accompany it. While the Playstation and PC versions featured commentary from Jim Hughson and Darryl Reaugh, the N64 version featured the voice of Bill Clement. NHL 99’s play-by-play was limited on the N64 compared to its counterparts, likely due to the restricted memory storage on the system’s cartridges.
Allen Iverson – NBA 2K, NBA 2K1, NBA 2K2, NBA 2K3, ESPN NBA Basketball (2K4)
“The Answer” represented the NBA 2K series from the very start. He was the cover star for NBA 2K on the Sega Dreamcast and remained as the franchise’s cover man for the four years that followed.
Iverson averaged at least 26 points and was an All-Star each season during that five-year span, and of course, won MVP and led the Sixers on their run to the Finals in 2001.
And for the record…yeah, Sega ads used to get pretty weird.
Jeremy Roenick – NHL 2K3, ESPN NHL Hockey (2K4)
Established as one of the game’s top American-born players by the time he signed with the Flyers, 14-year veteran Jeremy Roenick recorded 67 points for the 2001-02 season, and was approached by Sega to be the cover athlete for NHL 2K3.
Roenick scored 27 goals the next year and returned to the front of the box for ESPN NHL Hockey.
Claude Giroux – NHL 13
A breakout 93-point season and a monster playoff performance against Pittsburgh that led to coach Peter Laviolette calling him “the best player in the world” put Claude Giroux’s stock at an all-time high.
So, when EA Sports held a cover vote to let fans decide who would represent NHL 13, Giroux’s growing popularity made him a top seed and pushed him through to the end of the bracket-style voting format. The All-Star center beat Montreal’s P.K. Subban, Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar, and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin on the way to the final round, where he was announced as the winner in the last run of voting over Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne at the 2012 NHL Awards.
The NHL lockout wiped out nearly half of the 2012-13 season, but when the league resumed operations in January, Giroux was named the Flyers’ next captain shortly after. He was a point per game player on the condensed 48-game schedule, racking up 13 goals and 35 assists. However, the Flyers struggled to find consistency and missed the playoffs with a 23-22-3 record.
Did you know?
- The 2012 Winter Classic was included in NHL 13, but Citizens Bank Park was not. In a vein similar to EA’s infamous exclusivity deal with the NFL, Take-Two Interactive (publisher 2K Sports’ parent company) reached a seven-year agreement with Major League Baseball in Jan. 2005. Lacking the licensing rights to use any of the Major League ballparks, NHL’s development team at EA Vancouver instead created its own for the outdoor game. The final product, dubbed “Philadelphia Ballpark” had some general similarities to the Phillies’ stadium in its architecture, but anything that could clearly distinguish it as Citizens Bank Park (the Liberty Bell in right-center, the left field scoreboard, Ashburn Alley, etc.) was absent.
- Scott Hartnell also made the cover vote bracket as a wild card entry. The veteran winger was coming off a career season, having tallied 37 goals and 67 points playing on the top line with Giroux and Jaromir Jagr. Hartnell made it through to the quarterfinals where he lost to Malkin. But hey, he had fun with it along the way.
- During the lockout, many players joined teams overseas to keep skating until a new collective bargaining agreement was reached. EA already had deals in place to include five major European leagues in the NHL games, so the development team released an online roster update for NHL 13 that put players on their corresponding European club. For example, Giroux and Danny Briere joined Eisbaren Berlin during the lockout and were made playable on both the Flyers’ and the German club’s roster in the game.
Joel Embiid – NBA Live 19
Joel Embiid was announced as NBA Live 19’s cover star during the NBA Awards in Santa Monica back in June, becoming the first Sixer to receive the honor.
An All-Star and All-NBA Second Team center this past season, Embiid finally reached the court on a consistent basis and averaged 22.9 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in 63 games. He played a pivotal role in helping the Sixers reach the playoffs for the first time since 2012, and his outgoing, larger-than-life personality endeared him to fans and in many ways made him the face of the franchise.
All of this happened after Embiid faced nearly three years worth of injuries issues and personal struggles, while the Sixers regularly finished at or near the bottom of the standings.
The NBA Live series has also had its fair share of problems the past several years, with EA Sports struggling to find stable ground for its basketball franchise ever since the failed attempt at a reboot with NBA Elite 11. Paired with the annual critical and commercial success of the competing NBA 2K games, and EA has been left fighting for a spot in a market it hasn’t been able to put a dent in.
So, given that Embiid, the Sixers, and the idea of “The Process” finally broke through in the past year, it’s fitting that the player at the center of it all would be chosen to represent a video game hoping it can do the same.
Did you know?
- NBA Live’s last two cover stars went on to become the league’s MVP. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook was on the cover of NBA Live 16 and won MVP in 2017 (EA didn’t release a game for the 2016-17 season) and Houston’s James Harden graced this year’s cover and earned the honor at the league’s award show in June.
Ben Simmons – NBA 2K19 (Australia/New Zealand)
Credit: 2K Sports
Soon after winning NBA Rookie of the Year, Ben Simmons was announced as NBA 2K19’s cover star for Australia and New Zealand.
Like his teammate Joel Embiid, the cover nod is a first for Simmons. It’s also a first for the NBA 2K series, which is using a cover exclusive to Australia and New Zealand for the first time.
Simmons, who was born in Melbourne, was drafted first overall by the Sixers two years ago, but missed all of the 2016-17 season because of a foot injury. When he finally reached the court this past season, he played a huge role in propelling the Sixers into the spotlight.
Simmons averaged 15.8 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 8.2 assists in 81 games. He recorded 661 assists to set the Sixers’ single season record for a rookie, and broke 1,000 points and 500 rebounds on top of that to join Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson as the only other rookies to do so.
The Sixers made the playoffs and even won their first postseason series since 2012, where Simmons made even more history in his young career. He recorded a triple-double against Miami in Game 4, becoming only the fifth player to do it in his rookie year, and the first in 38 years.
Did you know?
- Although Simmons’ cover is region specific, this is the first time two players from the same team will be representing competing basketball games in the same year since Miami’s Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal back in 2005. Wade was on the cover of NBA Live 06, and O’Neal was on the front of NBA 2K6. For what it’s worth, the Heat went on to win the NBA Finals that season.
- Simmons is one of three cover stars for NBA 2K19. The other two are Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is the game’s primary cover star, and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, who graces the cover of the 20th Anniversary Edition.
A history of Philadelphia’s video game cover athletes: T.O., Doc Halladay, and $1 million
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