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Curated category

21st-century American sportsmen

  • Kevin DurantKevin Durant was born on the 29th of September 1988, in Washington, D.C., to Wanda and Wayne Pratt. His father left the family when Kevin was an infant…
  • Dwyane WadeDwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. was born on the 17th of January, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois. His early years were marked by instability after his parents separated…
  • LeBron JamesLeBron Raymone James entered the world on the 30th of December 1984, inside Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospital. His mother Gloria Marie James was only…
  • Clyde DrexlerClyde Austin Drexler was born on the 22nd of June 1962 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up in the South Park area of Houston, Texas.
  • Kobe BryantKobe Bean Bryant entered the world on the 23rd of August 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father Joe played eight seasons in the National Basketball…
  • Elvin HayesIn the senior year of 1963, Elvin Hayes led his Britton High School team to a state championship in Louisiana. He averaged thirty-five points per game during…
  • Karl MaloneKarl Anthony Malone was born on the 24th of July, 1963 in Summerfield, Louisiana. He grew up as the youngest of nine children on a farm run by his single…
  • Tim DuncanTimothy Theodore Duncan was born on the 25th of April 1976, and raised in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He grew up as the son of Ione, a professional…
  • Stephen CurryWardell Stephen Curry II arrived at Akron General Medical Center on the 14th of March 1988. His father Dell played professional basketball for the Charlotte…
  • Joel EmbiidJoel Hans Embiid was born on the 16th of March 1994 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He grew up playing volleyball and soccer before switching to basketball at age 15.
  • Kawhi LeonardKawhi Leonard was born on the 29th of June 1991 in Los Angeles. His father, Mark Leonard, owned a car wash in Compton where he worked until his death.
  • Tom BradyThomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. was born on the 3rd of August 1977, in San Mateo, California. He grew up as a fan of the San Francisco 49ers and attended…
  • Isiah ThomasIsiah Lord Thomas III arrived in Chicago on the 30th of April 1961. He grew up as the youngest of nine children on the city's West Side.
  • Kevin LoveKevin Love grew up in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he played basketball from his earliest days. As a child, he practiced bounce passes with a cardboard box and…
  • Scottie PippenScottie Maurice Pippen Sr. was born on the 25th of September 1965, in Hamburg, Arkansas, to Ethel and Preston Pippen. His father worked at a paper mill while…
  • Tony ParkerWilliam Anthony Parker Jr. arrived in the world on the 17th of May 1982, inside a hospital in Bruges, Belgium. His father Tony Parker Sr.
  • Magic JohnsonEarvin Johnson Jr. was born on the 14th of August 1959 in Lansing, Michigan. His father worked at General Motors while his mother cleaned homes and prepared…
  • Chris BoshChristopher Wesson Bosh was born on the 24th of March 1984 in Dallas, Texas. He grew up in Hutchins, a suburb where his father played pick-up games at a…
  • Klay ThompsonKlay Alexander Thompson was born on the 8th of February 1990 in Los Angeles to Julie and Mychal Thompson. His father became the first overall pick of the…
  • Kyrie IrvingKyrie Andrew Irving entered the world on the 23rd of March 1992, in Melbourne, Australia. His parents were American expatriates named Drederick and Elizabeth…
  • George GervinGeorge Gervin was born on the 27th of April 1952 in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Martin Luther King Jr. High School where he struggled until his senior…
  • Big Three (Miami Heat)LeBron James entered the National Basketball Association as the first pick in the 2003 NBA draft. He came directly from St. Vincent, St.
  • Chauncey BillupsChauncey Ray Billups was born on the 25th of September, 1976 in Denver, Colorado. He grew up in a city that would later become his professional home base for…
  • Dikembe MutomboDikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo arrived in the United States at age 21 with a specific goal. He intended to study medicine and return…
  • Terry RozierTerry Rozier was born in Youngstown, Ohio, on the 17th of March 1994. His father Terry Rozier Sr. went to prison when the boy was only two months old.
  • Walt FrazierWalter Frazier Jr. was born on the 29th of March 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up as the eldest of nine children attending David Tobias Howard High…
  • Kareem Abdul-JabbarFerdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. grew up in the Dyckman Street projects of Inwood, Upper Manhattan, after moving there at age three in 1950.
  • Ben SimmonsBenjamin David Simmons arrived in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy on the 20th of July 1996. His mother Julie was a White Australian and his father Dave was…
  • Andrei KirilenkoAndrei Kirilenko was born in the Soviet city of Izhevsk on the 18th of February 1981. The same place that manufactured the AK-47 rifle would later give him…
  • Damon JonesDamon Darron Jones was born on the 25th of August 1976. He played for the Ball High School Golden Tornadoes basketball team before graduating in 1994.
  • Earl LloydEarl Francis Lloyd was born in Alexandria, Virginia on the 3rd of April 1928. His father worked in the coal industry while his mother stayed home to raise…
  • Joakim NoahJoakim Simon Noah entered the world on the 25th of February 1985, in Manhattan, New York. His father was Yannick Noah, a French singer and former tennis…
  • Jesús FerreiraJesús David Ferreira Castro arrived in Dallas, Texas at the age of ten after his father, David Ferreira, signed with FC Dallas.
  • Cam Ward (American football)Cameron Anthony Ward was born on the 25th of May 2002, in the West Columbia, Angleton area of Texas. His father Calvin works in the energy industry while his…