ESPN Analyst And NBA Veteran Tim Legler Is Obsessed With Halloween

Children approaching Tim Legler's home in southern New Jersey last Halloween were met by a life-size replica Jason Voorhees sitting in a chair near the front door. This version of the hulking, unkillable hockey mask aficionado who power-slayed his way through the Friday The 13th franchise held his signature machete, and had a bowl of candy resting in his lap. Behind the hockey mask, eyes bulging and struggling to remain silent, was Legler himself—veteran of 10 NBA seasons, fixture on ESPN's NBA coverage, and as exuberant a Halloween dork as you'll find anywhere.

"Kids would reach real reluctantly toward the bowl not knowing, like something doesn't look right about this," Legler said. "I would grab their arm as they grabbed their candy. I made a couple of kids freak out. It was pretty fun."

To say Legler loves this time of year isn't doing his Halloween obsession justice. On television, he may look and act like a measured, articulate, serious basketball junkie. He really is that person. He is just also the guy in the Jason Voorhees mask looking to make neighborhood kids jump. That goofy, fun-loving persona is something his friends and family see on a regular basis, but something which NBA fans would only know about had they happened upon his house while trick-or-treating.

He also likes scaring people. He fondly remembers watching the original "Halloween" film as a 12-year-old soon after it was released in 1978. "That was the first movie that scared the living hell out of me," Legler said. "That's always been my favorite, go-to Halloween movie." If it's possible to say that someone has taken Michael Myers as an inspiration and have it be a compliment, Legler would be it.

When he was a kid in Virginia, Legler's family didn't decorate much. But as he got older and raised his own family, he couldn't get enough of the holiday. When his children were younger, Legler dressed up as a werewolf—or some other Halloween standard—when they went trick or treating together. And yet, it wasn't until he met his second wife, Christina, that Legler began taking his passion to another level. On their first date in 2006, they discussed their hobbies and realized they both were obsessed with Halloween, horror movies, and decorating.

After marrying and moving into their home in 2007, the Leglers decided to go all-out. This wasn't some "happy, ghost-type stuff," as Legler described it. Instead, they put up scary props—zombies, corpses, and mummies all lit by strobe lights, scored by creepy music playing on hidden speakers, and bolstered by a fog machine tucked away in the bushes. At first, some children stood out by the street and had their parents walk up to the Legler home. They were too afraid.

"I don't know if we were that popular our first couple of years in the neighborhood," Legler said. "We were scaring the hell out of the little kids."

By this point, the neighbors have embraced the Leglers. Kids ask them when they're going to put up the decorations, which is usually mid-to-late September. The Leglers have so much stuff that it takes a day and a half to get everything in place. They also monitor the weather, and if it's windy or rainy, they bring some of the decorations inside.

"We get teased a lot," Legler said. "Originally they were like, 'Oh my God, you guys are overwhelming.' We've noticed each year [the neighbors] are starting to do more and more. They say it's because they don't want to feel like the slackers on the street with us living there."

The Leglers are never satisfied with their set-up, and so they research online, read catalogs, and scour stores for new decorations. Last year, they added a 13-foot long inflatable black horse with a skeleton driver and pumpkin in the carriage. They joke that some of the decorations are on the disabled list or close to retirement; a scarecrow in front of their house has a chipped nose and is missing his right hand.

Above the doorbell at their home a skull holds a sign that reads "Enter If You Dare." If the Leglers are at home, it's a safe bet they're watching a scary movie or television show. They love FX's "American Horror Story" and Fox's "Scream Queens," and are still big horror movie heads. They also visit haunted attractions such as the "Night of Terror" in their Pennsylvania hometown and the "Halloween Haunt" at Dorney Park, an amusement park about an hour away in Allentown.

"The whole month of October we're dedicated to Halloween," Legler said.

But Legler's dedication to freaking people out is not just an October thing. Throughout the year, he hides in his home and jumps out at his wife and children. He can be counted on to answer the front door wearing a werewolf mask when the spirit moves him. "He does it all the time," Christina Legler said.

Sometimes, Legler's good-natured pranks go a bit too far. Christina Legler remembers her husband scaring a girl in the neighborhood so bad that she wouldn't talk to him for a few weeks and threatened to not attend his basketball camps.

"He felt so bad," she said. "He said, 'I'm so sorry.'"

Fortunately for Legler, he was only needed in Bristol on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, ensuring that he'll be home this weekend for Halloween. He's excited to attend a neighborhood Halloween party on Friday night and unveil his decorations in full on Saturday. Will Legler dress up as Jason Voorhees again this year? We can take the element of surprise out of this one.

"For sure," he said. "Definitely. No question."