NBA legend Julius Erving was among the famous faces taking part in the Bermuda Celebrity Invitational at Tucker’s Point Golf Club yesterday.

The former Philadelphia 76ers small forward and NBA champion was delighted to be back on island to participate in the captain’s choice tournament featuring a raft of American sporting and television celebrities.

“It feels awesome to be back and I was looking forward to it,” Irving, who also won two American Basketball Association titles before it merged into the NBA with the Virginia Squires and New York Nets, Erving told The Royal Gazette. “Willie Gault invited me to this event and we had lots of fun out there.

“Met some interesting brothers and they were very respectful and very into the social piece and camaraderie being with someone they heard about and maybe idolised a little bit, so that was kind of nice.

“They were basketball fans and fans of life and I think professional sports sometimes separates an individual from common, and we were able to break through that gap and enjoy each other.”

“I play about once a week with some friends back in Atlanta and then I get invited to a lot of events, so those are scrambles, shambles and rambles. The game is different when you just have to chase your own foul balls.”

The Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, commonly referred to as Dr J, is perhaps best known for slam dunking from the free-throw line in Slam Dunk Contests.

To this day the former NBA MVP and 11-times NBA All Star player holds close ties with the 76ers, with whom he won an NBA title in 1983 after sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in the final.

“I work with the 76ers with the alumni programme which is fun and gives me the opportunity to go to about eight games a year in Philadelphia,” Erving added.

“Other than that I coach one of the teams in the Big3 League that Ice Cube started, so that's ten weeks out of the year being involved in basketball.”

Asked whether he has ever accompanied league co-founder and rapper/actor Ice Cube in the recording studio, the 74-year-old replied: “He hasn't invited me in the studio yet and I don't know if I can rap as I haven't tried.

“In my era it wasn’t called rap, it was called rhyme so I was exposed to a lot of guys in the 60s and 70s who were pretty good at rhyming so I might have a taste for that. But the rapping thing might be a whole another level.”

Super Bowl champion Gault was equally as thrilled to back on island for the star-studded event.

“My second time in this tournament and I had a great time,” he said. “I was here last year for the inaugural tournament so I brought some friends back and it was a great time. Bermuda is a beautiful place.

“Conditions was windy that made it challenging but good though, and golf is golf. You can hit good shots and bad shots, but we played really well overall.”

Gault won a Super Bowl ring as a wide receiver with Mike Ditka’s Chicago Bears, who beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX in 1985.

“"It was great winning the Super Bowl with the Bears,” recalled Gault, who was also a member of the US Olympic team that boycotted the 1980 Olympics and made the US Winter Olympics bobsledding team as an alternate in 1988. “We had a great team, great guys, and it was a blessing just playing together as a team.

“It was the perfect storm really; really great offence, great defence. Number one defence in the league, number 2 offence. “It was just our time and we actually did it.”

American talk show host, actress, model, businesswoman, reality television and radio personality Claudia Jordan was among those making their first visit to the island’s shores.

“I go to a lot of islands and I am sad to say it took me 51 years to finally get here, but it is so beautiful,” she said.

“I was sending pictures back to my friends saying we have to come back here. It's so gorgeous and I cannot wait to come back.

“If they invite me next year I am definitely back and even if they don't I'm back.”

As for the golf, The Real Housewives of Atlanta actor added: “I broke a nail so I was very committed and we had a great time.

“I am sorry to the country of Bermuda as I think I left about 20 golf balls out there. I lost quite a few.

“It was very, very windy so we were shooting into the wind a lot, but it was a good time.”

Among the local players in the field was Bermuda Professional Golfers Association president Quinton Sherlock Jr who played alongside former National Football League and Major League Baseball legend Bo Jackson.

“It was an honour and a pleasure to be able to play with Bo Jackson and it was definitely a good day,” he said. “A lot of OK golf but definitely a lot of fun out there.”

Owen Darrell, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, also had the pleasure of playing alongside former Los Angeles Raiders running back and Chicago White Sox outfielder and designated hitter Jackson.

“I had the privilege of playing with Bo Jackson who for a guy my age growing up was an icon in sports in the United States in basketball and the NFL, so it was a lot off fun,” he said.

“It was a good time out there and hopefully all of the celebrities that we here will go back to their respective homes and tell people about the experience that they had in Bermuda and encourage others to come back.

“I am glad Hazel Clark [two-times US Olympian and director of global sales and business at the Bermuda Tourism Authority] and those at the BTA organised this and also glad that the Government of Bermuda could support it and hopefully more exposure is brought to the island. Hopefully we can use this to springboard more and more people coming to Bermuda.”