Part 1 of the last interview with Gamblero, via OurBKSocial.
It was hard not to notice Jeffrey Vanchiro at each and every Nets home game: clad in bright neon colors, a custom Nets jersey bearing the number 44 and his pseudonym, constantly dancing in the aisles near one of his many season tickets (the rumor is he had six).
The news that Vanchiro, better known as Jeffrey Gamblero, had passed away suddenly after falling from a second-story window two weeks after an ugly, public incident at Madison Square Garden, saddened the Nets, who had already scheduled to practice in Brooklyn at Barclays Center Monday afternoon.
“He was a huge part of (the atmosphere),” Brook Lopez said of Gamblero Monday. “He definitely brought unique energy to the environment, and it was shocking, you know. It was tough for me to hear. … He always brought positive energy. He always had our back. He was there for us. We were just proud to have him be a part of our organization and a part of our team. ”
Deron Williams joked that he was a bit confused the first time we saw Gamblero in the stands.
“I was just like, ‘who is this crazy guy out there dancing and carrying on?'” Williams said. “But he was just a great fan. You could tell he just loved the Nets, from when we were in Jersey to being here, I can’t remember not seeing him.”
Former Nets forward Reggie Evans, now with the Sacramento Kings, tweeted out his condolences.
I am going to miss Jeffrey Gamblero when we play Brooklyn this year. Hurt my feeling to here the sad news. R.I.P pic.twitter.com/4uT5wz6ALv
— ReggieEvans30 (@ReggieEvans30) December 15, 2014
During a Brooklyn Nets-New York Knicks game on December 2, Vanchiro was ejected from Madison Square Garden after arena officials said he had become unruly. Gamblero’s fiance Kristi Evans disputes their record of events.
According to a report from ESPN.com, Vanchiro had become paranoid and erratic in the days following the incident, struggling with sleep, before waking up Saturday night at his father’s house in Queens and jumping out of a second-story window, landing on his head and suffering a fractured spinal cord and severe brain damage.
“He’s never, ever exhibited any suicidal tendencies,” Evans told ESPN.com. “He jumped out of the bed, ran down the hallway … and then threw himself out of a window headfirst and landed on his head.”
Jarring video of his ejection, which showed officials dragging him out of the arena without his prosthetic leg, went viral.
