Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hurricane Hugo destroyed the only Olympic-sized pool on Saint Croix in 1989, forcing Duncan to train in the ocean. His fear of sharks ended his competitive swimming. He had been aiming to represent the United States at the 1992 Olympic Games before the hurricane struck.
Duncan's mother made him and his sisters promise on her deathbed that they would graduate from college. She died of breast cancer on the 24th of April 1990, the day before his 14th birthday. Duncan honored that promise despite projected top-pick status in both the 1995 and 1996 NBA drafts.
Duncan won five NBA championships with the Spurs, in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2014. He won the NBA Finals MVP award three times, in 1999, 2003, and 2005.
Duncan retired as the NBA's all-time leader in wins with a single team at 954 victories, surpassing John Stockton's mark. He was also the sixth player in NBA history to reach 15,000 career rebounds and one of only five players to reach 3,000 career blocked shots.
Duncan earned the nickname for his reliance on simple, technically sound play rather than athleticism or flash. His opponents and detractors called him boring, a description he addressed directly: showing emotion, he said, gave opponents a psychological advantage.
Duncan earned a degree in psychology at Wake Forest University. He also took courses in anthropology and Chinese literature, and co-authored a chapter in the social psychology book Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors with professor Mark Leary.