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Curated category

All-American college men's basketball players

  • 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…
  • 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.
  • 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…
  • Jerry WestJerry Alan West was born on the 28th of May, 1938, into a poor household in Chelyan, West Virginia. He grew up as the fifth of six children to Cecil Sue West…
  • 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…
  • Larry BirdLarry Joe Bird was born on the 7th of December 1956 in West Baden Springs, Indiana. His father worked as a veteran of World War II and the Korean War before…
  • 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.
  • Patrick EwingPatrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. arrived in the world on the 5th of August 1962, just one day before Jamaica declared its independence from Great Britain.
  • Hakeem OlajuwonHakeem Olajuwon was born on the 21st of January 1963 in Lagos, Nigeria. He grew up as the third child among eight siblings in a working-class family that…
  • 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.
  • Bill RussellWilliam Felton Russell was born on the 12th of February 1934, in West Monroe, Louisiana. The town operated under strict segregation laws that dictated every…
  • Chuck Cooper (basketball)Charles Henry Cooper entered the world on the 29th of September 1926 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father Daniel worked as a mailman while his mother Emma…
  • 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…
  • Michael JordanOn a Tuesday in the summer of 1978, Michael Jordan stood on the basketball court at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina.
  • Charles BarkleyCharles Wade Barkley was born on the 20th of February, 1963 in Leeds, Alabama. He grew up as the first black baby to be born at a segregated, all-white town…
  • 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…
  • Shaquille O'NealShaquille Rashaun O'Neal entered the world on the 6th of March 1972, in Newark, New Jersey. His biological father was Joe Toney, a high school basketball…
  • Andrew WigginsAndrew Christian Wiggins arrived in the world on the 23rd of February 1995. He entered life in Toronto, Ontario, before his family settled in Vaughan, a…
  • Wilt ChamberlainWilton Norman Chamberlain was born on the 21st of August 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up as the sixth of nine children to Olivia Ruth and…
  • Bob CousyBob Cousy fell out of a tree when he was twelve years old. The fall broke his right hand and forced him to play left-handed until it healed.
  • 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…
  • Dan IsselDan Issel grew up in Batavia, Illinois, where his backyard bordered that of Ken Anderson. Anderson would later become a National Football League quarterback…
  • 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…
  • 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.
  • George MikanGeorge Mikan stood six feet four inches tall in 1942 when he walked onto the DePaul University campus. He weighed just over two hundred pounds and moved with…
  • Rick BarryRichard Barry was born on the 28th of March 1944 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He grew up nearby in Roselle Park, an urban middle-class community where his…
  • Andrew BogutAndrew Michael Bogut was born on the 28th of November 1984 in Melbourne, Australia. His parents, Michael and Anne, had immigrated to the country from Croatia…
  • Artis GilmoreArtis Gilmore Sr. was born on the 21st of September, 1949 in Chipley, Florida. He grew up as one of ten children in a family where his father worked as a…
  • 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…
  • Christian LaettnerChristian Donald Laettner was born on the 17th of August 1969 in Angola, New York. This small town sits near Buffalo and Niagara Falls.
  • Ossie SchectmanOssie Schectman entered the world on the 30th of March 1919 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His parents were Jewish immigrants who had fled Russia to build a…
  • Julius ErvingJulius Winfield Erving II was born on the 22nd of February 1950 in East Meadow, New York. He moved to Roosevelt at age 13 and attended Roosevelt High School.
  • Pete MaravichPete Maravich died on the 5th of January 1988, midway through a pickup basketball game at a church gym in Pasadena, California. He was 40 years old.
  • Detlef SchrempfDetlef Schrempf was born on the 21st of January 1963 in Leverkusen, West Germany. He began his basketball journey with youth teams at Bayer Leverkusen before…
  • 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…