Got a late start in basketball… Sure, most NBA stars have probably been playing basketball since they were old enough to dribble (a basketball, that is), but Amar’e Stoudemire is an exception to that rule. According to his bio, he didn’t start playing organized basketball until he was 14 years old. That didn’t seem to halt his progress, though, because while he only played two years at the high school level, he jumped from high school to the pros in 2002, winning the Rookie of the Year award with the Phoenix Suns. Recovered from multiple surgeries… Blessed with amazing physical skills, Stoudemire patterned his game after Shawn Kemp and Shaquille O’Neal, but has had stumbling blocks to overcome. During the 2005-06 season, he had to have two surgeries on his knee, including a microfracture surgery that could have ended his career. Instead, he came back the following year and averaged just over 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game. And just when he thought his injury worries might be over, he suffered a detached retina during the 2008-09 season, which led to eye surgery and having to wear protective goggles. Helps at-risk youth to succeed… Coming from a rough childhood himself, including the death of his father at an early age and attending six different high schools, Stoudemire’s doing what he can to help kids in need. The Each One Teach One Foundation he started in 2003 aims to help “each child thrive and achieve goals well beyond even their own expectations,” with events throughout the year in the Phoenix area.
By the numbers:
- Won the NBA’s Community Assist Award for the month of October in 2008, following his journey to Sierra Leone, where he helped with rehabilitation of water wells.
- Has been named to the All-Star team five times in his career.
- After reading about a Senegalese student who was injured and unable to play basketball, he flew to Senegal to visit the student (who was nicknamed “Barro”) and paid for the $2,500 roundtrip ticket to fly Barro to Houston to have surgery on his injured left foot, a surgery he couldn’t have received in Senegal.
- Has averaged more than 20 points per game in six different seasons.
- Gave nearly $30,000 toward his Reading and Learning Center at the I.G. Homes Boys & Girls Club in Phoenix, which opened in 2006.
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Photo by Keith Allison via Flickr.