Who were your childhood bball heroes?

[Jaydumo20]

Who did you idolize growing up? NBA or college? Bench player or superstar? Did you have posters, or starting lineup figures?

This is particularly fun when you realize that as a kid, you probably couldn't discern real greatness. Our favorites often weren't the stars. Randomly seeing a great play by a role player was sometimes enough to turn you into a fan. Probably the reason why I had a huge Derrick Mckey poster above my bed.

 

[UCfor3]

Larry Bird

 

[rbny1]

Art Quimby

 

[TheHorde]

Chuck Aleksinas

 

[superjohn]

Clyde Drexler- I had a free standing 6'7 cutout of him in my bedroom.

I tried to mimic his two leg kick jumper, his head down on full court drives, and his crazy finger rolls. The only problem was I wasn't tall, couldn't really jump high, and pretty much sucked.

 

[UConn3432]

Ray Allen and Penny Hardaway

 

[Griffman]

Cam Spencer

 

[GampelGladiator]

Nadav Henefeld

The Fab Five

Michael Jordan

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Liam McNeeley

Also Dominique Wilkins…

 

[coachcap]

John Havlicek

 

[ucjoet]

John Havlicek. Still play is number 17 when playing the lottery or roulette. Loved Hondo.

Off topic, but here is a trivia question. His Ohio State basketball team, had 3 future Hall of Famers on it. Who were they?

 

[Kenny11]

Ray Allen, Iverson, Rip Hamilton

I also grew up in the and1 era so Skip, Sauce, Alimoe, AO were also important to me lol

 

[Madmannsucks]

Bill Russell.

 

[bendm]

Rasheed Wallace and KG. I had dreams of growing to 6'10 and being a stretch 4 at UConn and the nba.

 

[Chasm64]

Wilt Chamberlain and the Poughkeepsie popper Wes Bialosuknia

 

[UC0NN]

Chris Smith

 

[WallyPuds]

Vince Carter. Jumping over a 7’ French guy AND the honey dip? 10 year old me couldn’t get enough

 

[GlastonTim]

Walt Frazier, Cazzie Russell and the rest of the Knicks.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Dr. J and Clyde Frazier

 

[runner11]

Ray, AI, Steve Francis for some reason

 

[Ewekon]

Dr. J and Clyde Frazier

ditto on clyde

 

[Horatio]

Dr.J and Earl Kelly

 

[c29328]

Bill Russell, Walt Frazier, Mike Gminski, Ernie D. I had the Frazier poster on my wall as a child.

 

[Viet Vet]

Pro: Wilt
College: Bill Bradley

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Steve Nash.

Had a full sized Fathead (throwback for the 90’s/2000’s babies) of him in my bedroom. 13 was my favorite number. Tried to play like him as well until my High School coach stuck me in the post because I was the tallest player on the team…

Even went to a couple Suns games with my Dad. Being from New York that was true dedication.

 

[Hromp]

Answer is Bobby knight, Jerry Lucas and hondo. Mine were skinner Frederick, earl kelley and Julius Erving.

 

[Stew Crew]

PRO - As a child, Kareem. As a teen, Larry Bird.

College - Corny Thompson.

 

[boog204]

I loved Dominique and early Jordan.

 

[CL82]

Clyde Drexler- I had a free standing 6'7 cutout of him in my bedroom.

I tried to mimic his two leg kick jumper, his head down on full court drives, and his crazy finger rolls. The only problem was I wasn't tall, couldn't really jump high, and pretty much sucked.

That was how it was back in the day though. You picked out a guy and tried to mimic everything about him. It was particularly noticeable in Little League when you're seeing kids imitating the batting routines of their heroes.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

John Havlicek. Still play is number 17 when playing the lottery or roulette. Loved Hondo.

Off topic, but here is a trivia question. His Ohio State basketball team, had 3 future Hall of Famers on it. Who were they?

If you're including Havlicek, the other two were Jerry Lucas and Bobby Knight (HOF as a coach). Frank Howard (MLB first baseman, who also was nicknamed Honda) was a starter on that team as well.