Ron Naclerio, the longtime basketball coach at Cardozo HS in Bayside, Queens, grew up hearing the story of how his father, Dr. Emil Naclerio, had operated on Martin Luther King Jr. after King was stabbed in Harlem in 1958.

“I remember my father telling me that if Dr. King had sneezed, he would have died,” Naclerio said.

But Naclerio, who was just a toddler at the time, didn’t fully understand the operation’s historic resonance until his father, who passed away in 1985, came to be called “the man who saved the civil rights movement.”

In front of a packed auditorium of students and teachers at Cardozo on Oct. 23, Naclerio for the first time met Martin Luther King III, the son of the man his father had saved.

“I’ve been nervous a lot of times coaching basketball,” said Naclerio, who has been at Cardozo for more than 30 years. “But this is the most nervous I’ve ever been, meeting one of the greatest Americans.”

The two men — one black, one white, both the sons of remarkable fathers — shared a hug on stage, with King commenting, “Had his dad not been a very skilled surgeon, I never would have gotten to know my own dad. My family will always owe a great debt to his family.”

King, whose voice and presence echo his father’s, spoke passionately to the students about his father’s legacy.

“Dad dedicated his life to eradicating what he called the triple evil of poverty, racism and violence,” he said. “He created a blueprint to teach us how to love each other.”

Noting that recent allegations of racial profiling by police have led to outbreaks of violence, he urged, “My father had a vision of creating a nation where freedom, justice and equality reigned, and we’re not there yet. We can and we must do better.”

King, whose father received the UFT’s prestigious John Dewey Award in 1964, was appreciative of his youthful audience, reminding the students that his father was only in his mid-20s when he became the leader of a nationwide movement.

He drew a connection with his father’s message of peace that the students could relate to. “We should not be using technology to denigrate our friends,” he counseled. “It’s cowardice to go online and talk about how you don’t like someone.” Students laughed knowingly at the remark.

At the end of the assembly, students lined up for photographs with King and an emotional Naclerio.

“What a great day,” said Naclerio, holding a copy of a letter of gratitude his father had received from King in 1959. “I was overcome.”