Big Star & Raw Sports present… The CHRIS CHILDS Story on the “LEGENDS WEEK PODCAST”. This was an amazing journey and Chris is a brilliant storyteller. He recalls his early years coming up in California, high school days at Foothills HS, being arguably one of the greatest players to ever play at Boise State University, his professional career in the CBA, battling with alcoholism, the legendary fight with Kobe Bryant, and much more!
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What’s the deal y’all boy big star raw sports films man appreciate y’all joining me this evening here for a classic um you know uh 2020 uh grand finale of legends week tonight we got um you know high school legend you know college legend uh i see the voice in the
Building i see you big dog i see you i see the voice i miss you man tonight we got a good one voice make sure you stay tuned man billy hoy i appreciate you tuning in man you all you’ve been tuning in ever since you know you first jumped on uh tonight we
Got a classic man um some some hoop history is definitely gonna be told tonight from nba legend uh chris childs um you know college star uh bowie state university uh uh boise state university i’m sorry um ah alvin williams i see you big dog i see you i appreciate you tuning in
Uh we got chris we got we got chris childs on tonight man um you know played in the cba had a non-traditional uh route you know to the pros to i see chris chiles is joining us he had a non-traditional uh route to the nba uh
You know tore it up did it you know did a great job and got called up from the cba to the nba uh we’re gonna get my man chris childs on hey chris if you saw the button to send me a request to join um click that and or i’ll try to pull
You on manually um see if i can just do that give me a second chris i just uh sent you the request to join manually hopefully it pulls you on the screen pretty easy no doubt out for sure al stay on hey child you there big dog
My guy chris charles the legend how you feel big dog hold on let me let me get this straight yeah take your time i’m doing the same thing get myself adjusted get you know get adjusted get comfortable man i’m blessed man i’m blessed by the best
Man i can’t complain real quick uh i just want to shout out another letter i heard you say what’s up to my boy hey yeah yeah alvin williams is on if you see it right there uh i’m gonna pin it right there uh he said that’s academy of
Hoops that’s alvin williams right there he said okay toronto that’s right that’s my boy that’s right another another philly legend man alvin williams shout out to you i appreciate you tuning in big dog hey chris i just want to let you know man i’m so thankful man um you
Know i i’m such such an honor to be sitting here with you tonight man i appreciate your time and scheduling with me to jump on legends week man to talk you know to talk to the younger generation and talk to the people about some hoop history man um
Yes sir just want to let you know real quick man two things like i got a lot of ground on one cover with you tonight man um two things as far as the purpose and the whole mission behind legends week and why i started this whole thing um
I’m in love with hoop history you know i’m saying old school that’s my thing you know the history behind the game and everything and um individuals like yourself man the reason why i have you on is because you know i don’t ever want anyone to forget uh about about the
Chris childs legacy you know what i’m saying about your history things that you did and on the high school level in college at boise state um your your your your non-traditional path which is really inspiring you know going through the cba and everything you know paying
Your dues getting called up to the nba um and just your your um your your contribution to the game as a whole i don’t want people to forget you know your contribution man um and so this is just my way of giving your flowers and saying thank you so much for for
Everything that you gave also um you know i promote you know current high school athletes and college athletes and everything so this is really good and really big for these younger younger players in high school now that are trying to get to where where you were
You know that are trying to you know trying to accomplish some of the things that you’ve accomplished and for them to be able to hear your story and your testimony man um it’s it’s really helpful um to these to these high school kids you know a lot of them be tuning in
And um i got a lot of messaging i get a lot of messages from them um just saying how they appreciate hearing you know og stories like yourself man so thank you so much for joining us tonight man you know we gonna have a blast man yeah
Let’s do it man um i’m glad to be a part of it man you know i see a lot of a lot of people coming on here i see i’ve seen you your thing with your kids no dog thank you man yes where if we could take a quick i
Appreciate you mentioning that shout out to my boy my firstborn uh the king sophia starling he’s a a biology major at virginia union university uh the alma mater of um um uh ben wallace went to vu uh you know got some notable players there but um um
He’s a biology major he’s his over he’s he’s a third year biology student his um his overall gpa is a 3.5 now um just got his you know most recent report card and he’s killing it man making dad mom and dad proud man shout out to my boy safizi
Man yeah that’s fine man i like to hear that appreciate it man hey we’re gonna get right into it uh chris childs uh again thank you uh we’re gonna play a quick game i call it 10 random questions just to kind of get us warmed up you know
Before we get into the story is that all right let’s do it all right so all right so um who’s a local player in the california area um that uh that inspired you uh you know playing ball you know in the 80s or you know when you was coming up
Well you know of course it was magic johnson coming through there you know with the lakers but for me you know for some reason i was always i love the philadelphia 76ers okay you know watching doc and mo cheeks and all those guys play so i had a little
Bit of the the west coast and magic and then the east coast with uh dr j got you what about some local guys like you know local players that we may not have heard of in the playground and stuff you know some some local california guys who
Inspired you coming up oh my brother my brother played okay he was uh he’s like nine years old to me he went to oregon state for a couple years okay and he was uh he was definitely more talented than i was okay because he can do it all but
Uh i had i guess i just had the the more uh ferocity and desire yeah uh when it all costs uh mentality so guys wherever he went he took me so everything that i i was and i am today i owed him no doubt
Hey let me um let me put my phone on do not disturb real quick so i don’t get interrupted give me one second cool all right we good hey all right so um so all right so so you came up in in what class were you in high school class of what
Uh 85 okay all right so mid 80s um you know i’m big in the documentaries and everything you know you being from cali i figured i’d ask it um did you hear of um demetrius hook mitchell like in in 80s when you was coming up yeah i know look i know word
Tell me you know if if the viewers if you haven’t seen the hook demetrious hook you know mitchell story you have to see the documentary tell me tell the people something about hook man and you know what you know about him personally and how talented he was man
You know a lot of times when you when they’re doing uh doc’s series on people and you get the the the bad stories of you know going to prison everything one of the nicest brothers you ever want to meet give you a shirt off his back he’s very you know
Quiet he’s he he’s not one of those loud vocal guys you would think from you know stories that he’s like that but he’s nothing like that he’s just such a good dude who fought some bad breaks but you know a guy that was a probably not even six feet
That was not a just a high play he was a power dunker yes you know every time he would dunk you you wouldn’t hear it like it would hurt so um i mean he the hook man can get up man when i saw see they showed jumping over the car yeah
That that don’t do it no justice that’s right i’m sure he probably man that’s life that’s life man hook will probably jump over 18 willa man [Laughter] you know that’s crazy man yo i have to find him man uh i have to find him if
There’s any way that i could find him i would love would love to find him to be able to if he even if he doesn’t have social media to try to figure out a way somebody who does so i can see his face so i can hear his voice man if god will
Align that for us that that’ll be a blessing man i would love yeah i’ll uh i’ll i’ll try to reach out please that’ll be a blessing i think he’s still in oakland okay last time i checked i don’t know if he’s incarcerated or not but well i recently
Saw i really know how you look on instagram and just do a hashtag a hashtag recently hope mitchell just today and i saw um a female somebody maybe a family member you know who took a picture of him only like a couple days ago maybe on christmas or something like that he’s
He’s around you know what i’m saying according to that yeah i’ll find him love i’ll hit some of my people and i’ll hit gary payton to see if he knows god bless that’d be a blessing man an honor um all right so so another question um
In the 80s you know tell me about the regarding the california hip-hop scene in the 80s uh what was it like you know where we were you popping and locking was you breaking in the 80s like what was the you know the rat what was the scene like in the 80s for hip-hop
Well i mean in california you know it was it was like gang bangers you know everybody but okay you know the gang bangers would tell me man you don’t want this life you keep whooping yeah keep doing what you’re doing but you know sometimes you
You take heed to it and then other times you want to see you know you want to fit in but yeah i didn’t ever i wasn’t a breakdancer man i was just a straight hooper i’m a hip-hop junkie no doubt but i was man i was i was hooping and i was trying
No doubt that’s what’s up um regard regarding hoops what’s the what’s the most points you ever put up in a box score at any level summer league high school college pro most points you ever had you think i think that well i know
In the pros my high was 30 32 or 37 won but i i had a 50-point game in high school okay i had a 50 i think it was like 53 uh with a tour team okay but i you know i was always trying to be the complete
Player you know i understand i understand you know i went watching magic and you know a lot of guys you know you want to you’re responding you’re responsible for more than 50 you know if you got 20 points and 10 assists and eight rebounds you’re responsible for at least 60
Points so no doubt i used to try to fill up the uh the whole entire box fort that totally makes sense um what’s one of your favorite tv shows from the 80s growing up oh man from the 80s uh man let me see probably you know back then it’s probably
I don’t know if if the cosby was in the 80s oh 100 yeah that was the 80s that was yeah that’s crazy right cosby yeah that started so it was it was it was like everybody else to cause we should show the show yeah tonight
Oh a glow yo hold up pause yo that’s one of the most unsung tv shows don’t nobody but everybody listen listen chris when everybody talk about good tv shows don’t nobody mention in the heat of the night that was my joint dog tibbs yes
In the heat of the night was a good job man and then you had uh i think good times was out there of course of course you know what’s happening at all actually yeah i’m sure who’s one of the toughest players you had to guard at any level in the prose
College that you remember garden well i mean the pros are definitely you know mj mhm uh my man most underrated were two of the most underrated guards point guards ever played a game and raj strickland and terrell brandon okay gotcha yeah it was monster so
I mean i can keep on and on and on you know every guy every guy in the nba if you’re a great officer offensive player defensively you can only hope to contain them you can’t stop a great offensive player basically yeah all these people say oh he’s a kobe stop or
You know ain’t no such that that doesn’t exist you know we just try to as defenders we just try to do our best to contain not let them you know go crazy so so he’ll make the home make the core of his playground that night exactly
Really oh yeah i told him t brandon very underrated no doubt no doubt no doubt um another another 80s question what’s one of your favorite cartoons growing up in 80s oh man you know i was the bugs bunny in the the coyote yeah you know uh heckle and jekyll the two
Black crows yes oh another underrated crew nobody talks tackle the two black crows yeah uh yosemite sam all right you know i was on all of them man for sure for sure um who was one of your uh personal well you mentioned on magic johnson um um besides magic you know somebody else
Said that she went that you enjoyed nba wise who was growing when he was coming up i mean it was really because baseball was my sport so i didn’t really know like i said it was i’ve watched you know all the players okay why switch it favorite baseball player and one of
Your favorite baseball players ricky henderson okay ricky henderson you know the way he has swag uh-huh you know we hit a home run before you get to first base he dancing and pimping and popping his collar and everything no doubt i gotta look up some highlights i’m sure
Man you got to man they’d be mad as hell because ricky be out there wow had that swag huh man he run the base popping his colleague stutter so that’s why i love our people man because we always do it different right we do it different and they try to
School yeah for sure um what’s some of your um favorite um you can either do sports related movies or just one of some of your favorite movies in general but but a sports related movie and then just a favorite movie in general all right sports related one of my
Favorite movies is the fish to save pittsburgh classic man classic dr dr j classic dr j man and the dude bullet you know uh and then you know other than that cooley high yeah oh man one of the saddest movies man it was dope but but when it gets toward the end man
When when when when they’re chasing you know what i mean chasing chiefs and it’s just like the vibe and then when damon and him you know stone and robbers catching oh man that’s worse that’s a bad vibe man even when when they with the whole police car chase when they get locked up
And they see him getting out not knowing that his teacher got got the hook up you know what i’m saying they see him working out oh no he yeah the mac uh cotton come to harlem which way is up man come on you’re a movie junkie you’re a joke
But it’s a it’s a movie out right now bro everybody has to watch it’s called i think it’s called out of sight or out of something that’s on netflix okay i got a little yeah and it speaks about uh how we as people have forgotten who we are i understand
And where we’ve come from okay and how where how do we get to where we are today because of how they send people over here to assassinate our people so it’s it’s a it’s a dope movie to sit down and watch with your child okay you know what i mean look at that
Yeah cornbread cornbread earlier they shot girlfriend sunshine like larry fishburne you know i mean cameo i’m gonna get the name of it real quick hold on this is dope i appreciate it man hey for everybody tuned in man you uh you’re here with a big star raw sports films
It’s legends week and we got my man chris childs on man just warming up going through the 10 random questions man um we about to get into the story but just talking movies and just you know off the court type stuff you know nothing even basketball related right now man talking movies man
This is dope man yeah it’s called it’s called out of darkness out of darkness all right out of darkness everybody make sure y’all check that out he said it’s on netflix it’s called out of darkness i’m gonna make sure i check that out you know definitely watch that with the fam
For sure yeah yeah thank you stars star diva star that’s that’s that’s my wife right there that’s it hey hey hey chris tell her tell her one of the first things you said about my boy earlier because she wasn’t on oh i told uh tell them congratulations big up
So that’s that’s something that’s powerful when the young man and father are sharing something like that that’s big because always sports we don’t get the other side of the academic so kudos to both of you thank you man yeah out of darkness no doubt no doubt appreciate it man
Hey um last question of the 10 random questions oh the movie um when colors came out when colors came out i mean you guys were living colors yeah yeah you guys were living that um you know living that lifestyle so so like what is it like for you guys
When a movie like that comes out you know what i’m saying is it like you know i mean like what was the impact on you guys out there you know it’s it’s it’s tough man because you know me coming i’m i’m in bakersfield mm-hmm la is an hour and a
Half away so why are you that close yeah we used to go to l.a and go to concerts and i remember one time we got shot at by some rolling 60s wow you know i had me and my boy it was three of us one dropped in the car
They started shooting we had to jump in the back of the uh the truck and the flatbed wow and we just went back home and we had like eight bullets holes in the uh in the car what’s up luke look at he said you got you got any bars
I ain’t spitting tonight little oh wait what the hell no no no no no i i i spitting tonight man yeah man you know you see it on tv yeah but to to experience the not where the you know the wrong colors in the wrong neighborhood or say the wrong thing
To somebody and you know it’s just a crazy way to live man you know i love my town where i’m from i love cali but i don’t go back as much because there’s too much going on but yeah you know i love them from a distance
805 i love you all don’t try no doubt and we will definitely talk more about that that just the culture and everything that cause i think it’s important for the people to know and i’m curious as well we’ll talk you know a little bit more about that you know
Later on the show hey so if we can man let’s start us off um so just reintroduce yourself to the people and um you know how i like to do my interviews you know you know i appreciate you know um just kind of your personality and everything already so i
Don’t want to get in the way of of you telling your story i want you to be comfortable to be able to tell you tell the story how you want to tell i have questions and i’ll just kind of you know flow with your flow but if you can’t man
Just just reintroduce yourself to the people to the audience and just start us off where your story begins and we’ll just we’ll just start there all right yeah this is chris childs former new york knick 10-year vet uh played for three nba teams the knicks nets and raptors
I grew up in bakersfield california uh got two brothers three sisters mother and father good family uh always you know we were very close uh we did everything together support each other in everybody’s endeavors sports school uh business what not but uh i tell everybody my parents always instilled in us to
Play any sport you want or do something be active then that’s what we all did and i i was a baseball player gotcha well that was my favorite sport but the basketball jones came with my brother and him taking me everywhere uh to go with him to play
And so i started playing basketball at four wow gotcha you know i had a ball in my hand we had a basketball court in the backyard so i just started dribbling and my brother’s like now you gotta do it like this and he showed me yeah you know
A way to do it so i gradually you know progressed but i was still in love with baseball got you uh and growing up in california at that time was a lot of great baseball players uh whether in vegas late oakland san francisco area sacramento i mean just a lot of
Great baseball players so that was my dream is to be a a professional baseball player but uh basketball wise everybody kept uh comparing myself and my brother okay you know you know you’re not better than james was that so that fueled that fire yeah that uh let me show i’ll show you better
And i can tell you of course yeah yeah and so uh you know my freshman year i mean i was good to you know great first through sixth and fourth grade i was playing with the sixth grade team okay then in junior high my name you know started getting that buzz
Get to high school my freshman year i’m like alright i know i’m better than a lot of the guys on varsity so i’m getting ready to play varsity yeah because that was my that was my standard because my brother as a freshman sported varsity got you and so i’m like
All right this is where the the seal like yeah look at white sibling robbery because we got four boys so she knows that well right so that’s that’s where it all started so i get there and so i’m like all right i’m doing my thing i’m gonna play so the coach
Oh let me let me back up and so i’m doing well and i’m competing so back in the day in my hometown there used to be a black history parade okay so we’re the guys in the locker room hey we’re going we ain’t coming to practice we’re going to the black
History parade this guy got the upperclassmen uh-huh so i’m a freshman so i’m like i’m like okay i didn’t start it but i’m like okay so we go to the parade don’t go to practice so the coaches come back to practice i get the blame i’m like
Well i think he was you yeah using that as an excuse to send me down the uh jv well i’m like how how did i become the leader when you guys see me yeah so i’m like all right whatever i’m hot so i’m like i’m gonna make everybody pay
So i go down there play that you know half year then i’ll go back up to varsity get into a fight at school on campus get kicked out of school wow as a it’s all your freshman year this yeah this is no this is the start
Of my sophomore year oh sorry start got you guys got your sophomore year so i get kicked out of school the first fight ever had in school all right the our family all went to the same high school and so my brother was the star and he ran to school so i think
That had something to do with they were still envious of the love and you know that he had and the power that our family just had as a whole so i couldn’t go to no public school in bakersfield california gotcha i go to uh a private school garces high school
I go out so our basketball season’s over so i go out for the baseball team huh second day of practice i get into a fight cat call me the n-word wow so before he can get the er out of his mouth i was only
And so at that time my dad was like my dad mom’s like all right you’re going to school in washington got you so i had to go all the way to uh to washington state to go to school with my cousin gotcha first day of school
I punched the biggest dude in the school my dad went went into the uh cafeteria walked up to the biggest dude and just punched him in his jaw wait why chris what what’s going happening my other one your paws right there just hold my train of thought because i’m curious where you’re
Going it’s just i’m loving the what’s going through your mind during those times like tell me what’s going on inside what’s going on inside at that time well i’m still upset i’m i’m not an angry person but i’m just upset that i the team that we had
At my high school photo high school was probably number we’re ranked high in the nation okay so we’re getting ready to go to state and i couldn’t be a part of that i understand so it was like the frustration you was carrying yeah i was like dang but my dad had
Always told me when you go somewhere find the biggest dude and hit him in his job so that’s what i did but what he didn’t tell me is what to do after afterwards and so i hit him one he hit me four times and so now we’re brother
My father gave me a little bitty uh little bitty knives that used to go on the keychain yes the little little keychain little flick out joint yeah right yeah yeah so i had one of them and so i had to cut him wow wow
I mean i don’t and i don’t want all the kids to think that that’s how i am but yeah yeah yeah you know growing up that way i i think at that time at that last stop in washington i was just fed up i understand i was fed up and so
I ended up staying there uh the whole year going back and finishing up high school and then uh my senior year they said i was militant all right and the reason they said i was militant is because i protested the act and sat test i thought it was
It’s biased props to you man oh that’s amazing man talk about that man yeah it’s biased towards minorities and so my father my father always told me if you believe something strongly enough then you speak about it you don’t let anybody deter you from your thoughts and your feelings and so
Uh i i had like 30 some colleges coming after me but once i protest and they put in the paper i was militant all the schools left but wow i stuck to my guard and i said and i spoke about it in the paper on the news i had
At least 30 students at the school protesting with me because it like you know it’s straight up biased for sure yeah yeah so finally it was getting close to uh the time for me to find a college and so i was going to go to smu
But they had got the death penalty yeah for was something that one of the players did some scandal stuff yeah yeah i was on my way to unlv they signed greg anthony and tarp told me that i wouldn’t start and i’m like i gave great anthony 39 when he’s at portland state so
I said all right so my heist my the coach in my uh in my town that coached the college team and he coached uh leon woods at cal state fullerton when they went to the final four he ended up coaching at boise state and gave me okay well i signed went to boise
Uh started all four years first day on campus i walked to the senior point guard and said you know i’m taking your spot you ain’t punching you just totally no i ain’t your spot i just said i’m taking your spot and he looked me up and down like this little scrawny kid
And lo and behold after a week of being there i the ticket spot wow wow and at that moment i’m so hungry because of how all the schools disappeared and then once i took the test and blew it out the water they wanted to come back
And at that time like no i’m i’m good so uh four years at boise state uh started every game uh all league every year mvp my senior year uh we go to the ncaas we play michigan with gary grant lloyd vard sean higgins i think i heard
You had a good a good tournament you had a good tournament right yeah i played i played well and that put me on the map because i was one of the i was one of the best guards to come out the west okay but again still on that
Roller coaster of having to prove myself yeah and uh didn’t get draft i was supposed to be in late first round draft pick like did you have an agent that like was people telling you stuff like what were you hearing yeah i was like you’re going
It went from your first round draft and then we went to the pre-draft camp nothing was said it was still all right i played well going up against me rod strickland tim hardaway dana barrows all those all those guys we all came out the same time and so
I’m killing mm-hmm you know but i guess things that start trickling and they’re just like well he’s he he’s not mature enough he’s partying i’m doing everything everybody else is doing it we don’t have a game 20 i’m 20 21 at the time we’re going to
Eat i might have a beer yeah people might have a glass of wine i might go to a club or whatever but what i’ve learned from that experience is that when you don’t go to a major college you can’t make the same mistakes as they do i understand see what i mean so
Some people there’s a puzzle in a puzzle some pieces are bigger than others i understand but it’s still a puzzle so yeah wow i was disappointed but going uh through the cba and playing in that league with that talent and that type of you know motivation uh
Five years i had to suck it up for five years uh went to rehab one year with john lucas for alcohol abuse yeah i heard about that so tell me about that if you can briefly well during the time in the cba i had two children at the time and um
And for the younger viewers um the cba that’s that the cba no longer exists and it’s the g league now it’s the g league it was a d league now it’s a g league gotcha uh which is the better because you have team affiliations so exactly
You belong with just one team instead of being a whole milton park but i didn’t think i had a problem because i was you know game over i go to bar have some drinks whatever but it’s not just the alcohol it’s the the uh everyday um what’s the word i’m looking forward to
The inconsistencies in your everyday life you’ve got kids so you can’t afford to spend money and do this you have a wife you can’t do that so it was just i was just i wasn’t being uh a professional i i wasn’t being professional player and i wasn’t being a professional father and
Husband i understand so uh that part i had to get corrected so the breaking point was i was out you know drinking heavily you know all night and get to the house and i wake up i miss practice i wake up wow yeah i wake up and i’m sleeping at the
Foot of my son’s bed and so when that happened i said you know what it’s time to you know check yourself yeah and so uh man i had an unbelievable owner uh rest in peace named andalong okay white lady man i mean she’s i get chills talking about it to the day because
She was the owner and she flew she said chris i’m going to go with you fly you took me on the airplane flew me down to houston took me to the place and said you have a place on my team whenever you’re written wow and she was
The owner of the quiet city thunder right well quad city thunder she was the owner bro i’ve never seen anybody do anything like that and she’s wow yeah i always have a special place in my heart and so i um i go down here and the rehab was like
Was that uh john lucas’s uh john it was uh we were the and it was a basketball team so we would have tropic thunder oh no doubt trouble we were trying we wasn’t over the tropics the tropics and so um it was it was me i gonna bring anybody else’s [ __ ] they
Might not want me i got you i got you yep so i’m gonna believe it i was there i know i know no doubt so we get there and so we’re working out every day 5 30 in the morning it was like a sports related rehab it was it
Was rehab right it had a sports component to it had a sports component because that was pretty cool yeah that’s what we do yeah so uh it was football players there wow that’s pretty awesome man i’ve never heard of this and so john would uh we would we had a house
Different floors and uh we would have to get up at 4 30 eat be in the van by five and go to the track by 5 30 so we will run in the track and then he had a uh he had a building where he had weights and stuff and he had a
A 90 degree hill with uh what uh astral turf on it and you had to dribble up that hill for an hour wow and so we were we did that i was we was there for 30 days and so that’s right there we go we were the miami truck because we left houston
And moved down to miami to play uh in the in the league during the season because there were there were other teams it was a thing was aba aba league okay i will play it against daryl armstrong in that league a few other guys that were outlawed or in the nba and so
We get down to miami and i’ve known john and luke he’ll tell you this story i’ll call him lukey alright we all call him lukey so when you say coach luke he know you done did something wrong yeah so i’m just setting you up so
We get down there we get to the hotel i’m like man i’m going to the store go to the store get two cases of beer put them in the room we go practice we come home and a couple of fellas we popped in beers so let’s go on for about three days
And so one day we get into practice and we had went out you know when i started drinking hard and so what happens when you drink and you don’t get to proper rest or eat the proper food you start sweating you can smell it in your through your pores yep yep comes
Out your pores yeah right and so we’re at practice we’re sweating i mean just drench and sweat and so i see luke looking at me right and so like out one group was at the free throw line the other group was at the free throw line so
Lucas at the other end hey what’s up uh tucker she laughing i know and so luke at one end i’m at the other and so i see him i’m eyeing him out the corner of my eye i’m sure my team coming as soon as he started walking down i
Started walking to the other end because you’re supposed to shoot and go to then keep going back and forth and so every count back i go the other way so finally he said bump this in the middle of the circle when we come to the middle of the circle i stepped back
And and uh he said chris that he said i came in with exact words and i was like coach look what you taught me he’s like i know it i knew it because you you usually call me luke he said coach luke he said this what we gonna do
You the other it was another cat with me that got busted we were getting ready for the playoffs so we he said y’all not playing in the playoffs you going to a hardcore rehab facility that it was called a better way in miami you can leave anytime but if we had left
We wouldn’t be able to play no more so he’s like y’all going there for 30 days hardcore all right i’m not explaining what was going on so my boy that was with me six six dude crying oh man i say yo i said don’t do that man they gonna take it
I don’t know i can’t do this i can’t don’t do it so he left after three days wow at the new at the new one at the new one so it was just me yeah so i’m like all right i do this i can do this stand on my head right so
What you do is you go to meetings every day you’re still working you go to group meetings but you you end up you enter like it’s like a like a prison really with the bunk beds or whatever man i’ve seen dudes getting down with dudes i’ve seen dudes getting slow wow
Yeah man it was it was it was the real deal yeah they all ordered oh man this is a whole different level right here right and so i’m like okay so i get down to like 25 days i got five days left so i’m doing a countdown while i’m in
You know the joint they they relayed a message to luke and he didn’t like he said why is he counting down the days so on day number 30 i’m packing my stuff up the council come in and say where you going wow where did they say nah luke say you got
To stay long oh my gosh wow so i ended up staying 54 days when i bro when i got out i was so mad i know he was i was hot bro i was like i cussed him out but he laughed yeah he laughed at he said well you’re better now
He said i know you better i can tell and so went back to uh went back to playing went back to houston working out i mean every day working up and so dennis rodman came down there to work out okay and he had on jeans and timberlands and could outrun everybody
I mean this dude was like a machine man it’s like wow like uh what’s the dude from rocky drago whatever yeah yeah yeah like a machine and so after i got out of there it still took me four years to make it because look i played with luke
Tried out with him in san antonio and he cut me yeah yeah yeah you know but i it was a numbers game because they drafted a guy i was killing him giving him the business chris whitney you know who it is but no that’s my boy um and
After that was that was my fourth year so this would have been my fifth year in the cba so i made up my mind i said this is the year that i’m gonna make it because now i know the reason that i’m not in the nba is
Not that i don’t have a talent it’s because i don’t know how to run a team i understand so i learned how to run a team and we won the championship okay and that’s when uh willis reed gave me the call okay he want you to come try out with the nets
And i still have to prove myself like they gave me a partial okay 75 000 i’m like man i said who i got to beat up they said david wesley i’m like all right no problem yeah no problem yeah yeah so i got with him they cut they
Traded him and within a week he couldn’t even get the ball once half court wow he was like locking locking down on d and everything man i was i was hungry yeah they knew it at that time i was in the best shape of my life
I was bench pressing 3 45 wow i was i was in the best shape out of anybody on the team me and uh jason williams was uh it was in jersey so we knew and so i uh played well you know was coming off the bench backing up kenny anderson hey before you
Go there we’ll pause that the rehab experience when um um um luke coach luke lucas said that you know he was upset but but he told you that you were better right uh what did you what did you what did you gain from that experience overall and then how did that you know
What did that do for you besides just the sobriety and everything well it’s not only not only just the drinking i learned how to live on life terms all right see the the drinking is just one of the symptoms yeah we don’t know how to live
On like we don’t know how to open up we suppress everything you suppress it when we’re in an addiction so i learned to talk more i let more open up more i learned how to love myself more you know what i mean and so that brought out the confidence
And it also humbled me that if you continue down that that lie and live that life you can end up being in a place like this i understand see what i mean so i and that just prepared me for how i was going to approach my craft going forward
Getting in the nba being a professional understanding it’s a business and i got to take it more serious no doubt i thought i was serious but i wasn’t serious enough so yeah yeah that whole experience uh i needed it i didn’t and see i wasn’t one of those that just
Drink every day you know it’s like if i want to go out and drink i would drink but what i’ve learned was that i wasn’t responsible okay you know what i’m saying so if you drinking and you call a cab that’s cool with you drinking you get in the car
You’re gonna kill somebody or kill yourself yeah true you know i mean so that’s that’s been irresponsible mm-hmm so uh that in that perspective uh a better way was the best thing for chris got you gotcha so it made the game a lot easier yeah yeah
So so pick up you said uh you know with the nets you’re there just pick up the yeah so i’m there and this is a first year we didn’t win we didn’t win that much but we had fun you know we had a crazy team me uh derek coleman kenny anderson chris morris
Dwayne census bonoy benjamin rest in peace armand gilliam that’s a classic crew right there though man kevin williams rex walters uh jason williams uh clifford ray was our coat one of our coaches butch beard jerry eve stan all back uh just the whole crew i can’t uh i can’t remember the trainer’s name
Damn i think i hate that the ball boys mike carter uh all those cats man it was the best time ever that’s awesome to be around but we these guys i don’t i won’t say that they weren’t serious we just didn’t click the way we should because we had a
Good team yeah and then um the second year i played so well for the first year i played so well they uh traded kenny anderson okay to portland and so now it’s my team still i have to prove myself one year contract 150 000 i’m like
Wow yeah it’s so good so at that time it’s my team i got the neon light so the bulls come in mike talking crazy i gave him a trip i gave him a triple double oh and from that point on me and him just battled yeah you know from there on and
It was like we almost got to fist the cuffs a couple of times yeah because you know mike can get dirty and i don’t i like if you play hard that’s fine yeah but when you start throwing elbows above the shoulders then i got a problem with that yeah yeah well
Played well man the whole year i think i was third maybe third or fourth in the league and three point percent of shooting nice we’re shooting uh high 80 free throw percentage so had a great year now everybody is taking notice free agency so it was between the knicks and the lakers
Uh-huh now were you like wait did you have like like an agent kind of helping you to negotiate or were you negotiating yourself i don’t know why people get agents because they only like i heard somebody else said but i said it before they only work for you one time they sit
Down to collect money for the whole year yeah yeah true so you know i mean they pick up a phone nike okay how much yeah tv your appearances uh bart mitzvahs nah i didn’t do that man so yeah it was between new york and la la only
Want to give me five years new york giving me six okay so i had to max out i wanted to go home my dream was always playing at home yeah so my family can friends can see me but they had to uh watching me on yes tv now because i
Was going to new york yeah yeah yeah uh me myself uh larry johnson and alan houston signed at the same time got you got you and you know we we we were the new guys in town and uh that first year we got busy and we i
Think we would have gave the bulls if it wasn’t for the altercation in miami yeah and what altercation you talking about when uh charlie and uh pj okay get into it where guys came off the bench and at that time yeah yeah what you talking about
For i should be an agent you should new york new york that’s right and so uh yeah man you know we we that rule was that if you had if your big toe was over the line that meant you’re on the court and you get as far as clearing the bench like
We’re in the bench and everything yeah yeah right and so that hurt us because we were up 3-1 gotcha we’re up 3-1 and then we lose that game we know we’re gonna go back to new york yeah and you know mopped them boys up but when they suspended
Five of our guys and only i think two or three of theirs and you have to split so game six i i mean i wanted to play the whole game but you know because i had like 18 in the first half wow killing them in the second half for some reason jeff
Thought i was tired but i wasn’t but yeah we uh end up losing it and they beat us in uh in miami but that uh hey who who some of the players that miami had that then what uh dan marley uh tim hardaway so well that’s that tough time uh isaac
Austin they had uh i think i don’t know if terry porter was on that team or not uh jamal mashfur hmm um clarence witherspoon okay spoon guys we got you um pj brown uh can’t remember the rest of the crew but we mimicked each other we you know
Yeah who was your garden during that during that um oh i was going i was guarding tim tim hardaway yeah and tim lucky though he lucky because hey what’s up pearl my homeboy pro davis yeah he got lucky because at that time that’s right after that was right that was with the the
Michael me and michael got into it and i got kicked out and david mj yeah i threw the ball in okay and david stern called me called me in the office and was like you can’t do that and getting 10 multiplications and so i was going to get with tim but
What was that just said that’s old chris yes it’s just the charles oakley foundation yeah that’s what’s up yeah you know i had him on check doc that’s the best i appreciate if that’s you checking in i appreciate you today yeah that’s all that’s him that’s my voice in the building virginia union
University yeah that’s my boy what up oh hey albert how you doing man but uh yeah it was it was a great series man we had uh we had those boys but it just wasn’t meant to be and then we continued battling with those guys throughout the years um 99
Look at the old canyon again yeah so 99 was the lockout year and we you know we made a lot of trades you know they brought in spree spree well they brought in uh marcus candy get kirk thomas they trade john uh so we got new blood in i was
I was crushed because my boy oak gum yeah uh my boy john gone because that’s why we all play golf in cars together so i wasn’t too happy with that change yeah you know because i didn’t know the guys coming in would play with the same tenacity and hunger and unselfishness that guys
That you know they left hey what’s up what was that evil whatever it is what’s that and uh but they came in and brought new life uh we played a different type of game we were more up tempo but we didn’t click right away we started off real slow gotcha and uh i
Think we had to win i think 11 of our last 15 just to get in as the ac got you but we knew as long as we got here we can beat we can beat miami because we beat them all you know throughout the year throughout the year yeah we had
Other series with them previous years we knew we can beat them man uh once we got you know got in and met up with those guys we knew it was gonna be a war but we knew we can beat him man we got it done yeah
Hey hey i know i need my glasses on man hey curious what what was it like playing um against mj tell me a few what’s up tell me a few michael jordan experiences man oh man mike uh what is that what can you really say that hasn’t been said
I enjoyed the competition you know look at my son who are the top five guards of the 90s That’s your boy right there yeah that’s my son yeah i’m gonna get to that story so the uh top five guys in the 90s hey okay bryce strickland hot rod uh terrell brandon john stockton gary payton classic that’s a great five right there yeah those are the top five i would be
Crazy just put my name in there but i i was one of the top top guards to defensively no doubt no doubt so i’m in that tough uh no doubt back back to mj i love the competition you know playing against the best and uh he brought out the best
Uh like i said we got him a couple of skirmishes or whatever but it was all about competing because he knew i wouldn’t back down yeah um he knew that uh whenever we played that you know i’m gonna make sure he get he he gets my
Best and i know i’m gonna get his but see what people don’t understand what made michael great it was not just his athletic ability his footwork was immaculate gotcha i mean same thing with kobe uh lebron all the grace that their footwork is what gets them to their their positions mm-hmm and so
But another story about mike is that i whooped him i’ll be whooping him on the golf course okay you should come to miami talk about that okay he know this too because oak call me and say man me and mj gonna be down there in miami we’ll play some golf
So we hooked up went to the golf course and played and i spanked him no doubt yeah yeah so they talk about mike as a golfer you can’t mess with chris child i know that’s right so i got him in something that’s what’s up that’s what’s up but
Yeah but mike mike’s a good dude man we we would go out to dinner afterwards and swap stories and smoke cigars and everything so yeah oh mike uh scotty pippen uh all those guys man uh we we’re brotherhood and yeah it’ll always be that that’s what’s up yes continue i
Think uh where i stopped you at you were talking about like like the duke that the new uh the new cast that they came in yeah making that work and everything so we like we said we had to win the last 11 out of 15 i think maybe 10 out of 15 but
It took us a while to get going to understand that we’re playing a different style different players where guys want the ball uh guys emotional you know you can talk to certain people one way and you they get a reaction or you talk to another guy another way he
Might not react the same so it’s just getting to know uh your your teammates your players and once we got that we rolled on we beat miami uh we swept atlanta okay uh then we got indiana which was a battle uh they’ve always had a great team mm-hmm
Uh was that reggie miller rick schmidt to them guys that was reggie mark rick the davis brothers uh byron scott was coming off the bench sam mitchell uh george mccloud i mean they had a they had a nice crew derrick mckee you know they had a lot of length
Everybody other than mark was six six six seven uh-huh and so we you know lj hit the immaculate uh four three-point play and hit the free throw you know that puts us in the finals for the first time in uh 20 years and uh hey what’s up j mack jay matt that’s my
Homie from from my hometown in norristown he said he said i had to mention rick schmitz that was my guy as he said the baseline jumper that was my guy man the flying dutchman yeah that’s right yeah yeah so yeah man it was uh it was a great experience doing uh
Getting there and then we had to go up against the twin towers san antonio and at that time uh patrick was out lj’s back was messed up uh my knees were shot everybody but everybody’s banged up that’s happy that time of year but we were more banged up than now man
Yeah you know lj happened to battle david and tim you know along with you know marcus can only do so much and then kirk thomas could only do so much those guys were playing volleyball up there man and yeah you know sometimes you just got to take your hat off and
Say they were a better team no doubt you know which they were i think our game plan should have been different because i go back like i should have been more aggressive going at avery because i was bigger faster stronger so uh-huh that should have been more aggressive but
Like i said i was i was i was really banged up but yeah i’ma got it out because one thing is if you and i tell the kids this if you’re hurt you can play if you’re injured you can’t i understand that’s a different so i was hurt
So hey i’m gonna play you gonna play i apprec i appreciate you uh kind of putting that in perspective because that’s the first time that i’ve heard that frame of reference and that is true that’s totally true i mean tons of players who played hurt you know what
I’m saying you play you you play hurt and you get everywhere you play hurt but in injuries that you know could be a different whole totally different story you remember i don’t know if you remember this story the 40 i think the 49ers were playing the raiders they were playing somebody
And ronnie lot finger got caught in somebody’s helmet yeah i remember that yep and it was broke something happened he was like man cut it off he said he said cut it off cut my finger off i’m ready to get back in the game wow that’s that’s the type of
You have to have to be a professional and so like if you hurt you got it you got to suck it up and play yeah tape or whatever you got to do i play with fractures and broken fingers or whatever hey tape it up put put two fingers together and get
Out there and keep it moving you know the infamous uh the tape two fingers that was yes and then they used to put the uh it was real bad they put the little like the uh popsicle stick yeah yeah that’s classic right there right it’s classic man yeah so so
Continue uh with the career so we uh we lose to san antonio in the finals uh the break we got a break so at that time i go to hawaii with you know buddy of mine and his wife and then my feet my fiance we go to kona hawaii
So she’s pregnant at the time I’ve been i think i’ve been to i was divorced for maybe three years at the time maybe three to five years so we get there me and my buddy he plays golf too so like all right let’s go play some golf so we going to the pro shop
As soon as we come out the pro shop guess who we run into david roberts wow yo that’s crazy just beat us in hawaii the same but he had a house there so he’s like hey man uh can i play with you i said nah man we got four we good oh
No you don’t miss it you ain’t disney dog shot you hitting with the old school tick tock locked yeah hey like my man said i shot him down like a disco clown [Laughter] yo that’s crazy he said now we good we got four i said no we got four days oh okay
It was only me it was only me that was 99 right after the finals oh though that’s funny dog yeah so i mean i i hate to be there but i ain’t going to be around him hearing all so uh we stayed we played so we get done playing golf
My boy is like hey man i want let’s go have a drink i want to talk to you like all right so i’m drinking what i always drink cranberry orange juice he have a glass of wine we talking he’s like you know why don’t y’all go ahead and get married now okay
Where do you where this come from yeah i’m trying i’m trying to relax and chill so i thought about it i’m like yeah she’s pregnant all right let’s do it get married on the beach uh the guy that was doing it a turtle came up okay
And he said that means good luck in her wife wow wow he’s a liar he was just in the moment yeah no i’m just now he did say that but i didn’t say that to him but uh that uh that marriage didn’t last long so wow wow but
Uh i i had two uh beautiful kids uh from that uh she’s a great mother uh done an unbelievable job one of my daughters is at uh clemson playing volleyball now oh nice nice salute to her that’s awesome yeah yeah so and then my other daughters down there
At uh george was she at georgia southern okay well she played about she plays basketball so uh if there’s good stories from all of that so let’s we’re going to move on to 2000 get get back to new york trade deadline come up okay i’m hearing a little rumors i might
Might not so i stayed in connecticut because we practice in white plains and uh i drive to hackensack new jersey get my hair cut at celebrities that’s uh derek coleman’s uh wife uh shop okay and so my barber’s in there i go to him or
He come to me so i was going to the city because we were going to go out after the trade deadline so we’re in there talking you know playing dominoes shooting craps and drinking whatever i get in the chair get a haircut at 11. 11 59 and 30 seconds my phone rang wow
30 seconds more and i’m still a nick so i get traded to toronto are you serious dog 11 59 30. oh my gosh i know it like it was yesterday i’m in the chair i’m like can you believe that everybody’s like shocked almost crying because that was my crew yeah
You know it was like my boy brad alibaba uh corey haynes mike carter i know you know that was my cruise like five of us we getting ready to go out so we stuck and so i’m like and we still going up wow man that’s cool man yeah it was i mean
But that’s that’s the business that’s what i’m saying right same thing that’s the business you know right that’s the prisoner so uh but you know you develop these relationships with the city with your homies and it’s like you know y’all have like a little fraternity for that for however long you
All together you know what i’m saying right right so i’m like toronto but when i got there i was like okay yeah i can do that yeah i can do this because it’s a beautiful it’s a beautiful city beautiful people uh great food a great environment i met a lot of
Good people and then when i got there the coach was lenny wilkins of course yep legend yup yup so i was like oh yeah and lenny’s so down to earth and cool he let you play it’s not you he was like night and day from jeff got you was that wasn’t a
Warm welcome for you when you got there you know from the players and you know the whole organization everything yeah because they knew what i brought to the table and then oak was already there because he got traded a couple years before uh-huh and so he told him you
Know chris come y’all better be ready to practice because he yeah i don’t poke days off no doubt you know what i mean and so the the uh competitiveness picked up in practice ward and that’s what i met uh hey boogie adam williams my man davis uh that’s when i first
Saw the vision that dale curry was instilling into stuff okay wow talk about it in 2000 my son and his son you see in 2000 i think they had to be around 10. and this is stephanie and this is little steph curry you’re talking about your son this is steph seth
And my son would come to practice and they would shoot afterwards wow and when my son was in town because my son was living with his mother but when he was in town i bring the practice these kids were shooting threes from out of bounds right and left-handed wow
So i saw the work that they were putting in i saw the work that dale was putting in with them and did i know they’re going to be as good as they are now absolutely not yeah but i saw the the seed being planted and so all they had to do was continue
Putting water on it yeah and feed it and it was going to grow and it’s just it’s just great to see okay had some great years in toronto was still upset with the nick tray so when they would come um when they would come for the playoffs i
I was ready man yeah i wanted and i don’t like using the word murder but yeah i want i wanted to beat the breaks off of them and i was talking trash and i don’t i’m not i don’t usually talk trash let’s just talk to me but i was initiated got
You guys you guys got a guard and i was talking trash so i was still hurt uh by being traded from the city that i still love to this day yeah yeah that’s my city man i the the fans i i love them and miss them the uh the valets the the
The ticket guys the concession people the the restaurant owners the fans outside the timberlands the pea coats i mean all of that man that was uh it was a beautiful time but uh that it was a business so i played uh two years in toronto
Uh we almost beat philly with ai to go to the finals uh but uh philly end up uh going to play the lakers uh that would have been my second uh-huh it happened and after that uh i had two i went to back to new jersey signed a two-year deal but
Had a hairline fractured wow yeah couldn’t work out like i wanted to and it never got better and so uh me and rod thurm mutually decided i played like 20 something games it was quite well but i wasn’t i didn’t have that burst i understand because i couldn’t push off on my right
Foot so yeah uh rod thorne and i mutually agreed to um to wave me so that someone else could have that stop yeah but another story attached to that when i was in new jersey i was never a guy that uh go to a club and stay into a close i would go
Show my face hang out and i’m out of there by midnight yeah but on this occasion jesse armstead he’s played the giants friend of mine was getting traded to the redskins when he called me he said man chris i know you don’t like coming hanging out late yeah mo pete was tough yeah
Left-handed mo yes sir and um he said yeah man you know i need you to come out i’m leaving that 15-minute conversation i’m like all right so i got called my boy got in the car and this is when everybody had the sky pages yeah yeah yeah so we go to justin’s the
Parties at justin’s puffy spot in uh in the city and it was just a weird vibe man so it’s it’s me my boy brad about my crew and then it was a mc search from third base yes nc search yeah his mom i think he was you know as possible moms and managers
So we’re all hanging out you know i’m not it was just a weird vibe man and i’m seeing dudes how they you know moving a little bit you can just kind of keep the atmosphere kind of things kind of slow down and you can peep the vibe yeah i kept seeing them
People looking at their pages and this and that right and so i was like hey man let’s roll all right so we start walking out a young boy out there with a laker starter jacket on bobbing up and down it just bobbing he’s like hey how are
You doing miss charles i’m like yeah i’m good man how are you and so as we’re walking we’re walking in like a tandem before so four or four and we’re walking and so emcee searching this crew they go and then my boy was walking i said i’m gonna get the car
It was my car cause i turned around and walked to go get the car dude run up on the side of me and slap my pocket right so i turn around and square up like i’m getting ready you know get busy and when i square up another dude came
And pointed at 38 at wow right and so then i look back and there’s two more cats got my crew up against the wall but they got their hands underneath their shirt wow so we don’t know they didn’t know the time they had guns or not so
Cause i put my hands up and dude was like searching my pockets i’m thinking hey if i grab this dude can i shield him i was like nah i’m thinking about my kids yeah and uh i said man just take what you guys i have but about two hundred dollars
Uh i had a watch i had my grandfather uh dog tag on with some diamonds in his face and uh they grabbed that and luckily i had my keys and a magnet underneath the tire got you i always kept the key there because i didn’t want to be in somewhere and pull up
Yeah and so they didn’t get that so they took you know took everything and i had some diamond earrings let me get them earrings i’ll see how you can get them you know yeah yeah you know you got it and so after i did that the dude that tapped my pocket told a
Young boy shoot this in talking about who he told the guy the young kid with the gun and shoot me oh jesus christ so at that time i said oh i got a pinky ring and as i got ready to pull off the pinky ring i hear my boy brad
He ain’t got a gun call the police boom they take off running wow i say brad come on everybody else stay here wait for the police brad we go follow him cause i know they going to the subway so i’m in the car bobbing and weaving they’re following they running they get
In the subway but at the time as i’m driving my boy calling the police get the police the police find us you succeed chris yeah yeah get in the car with us we got him bro when i say like the show cops it was a show cop they shut down every subway wow
Pulled up to everyone brought the guy is that him yeah is that him yeah is that him so caught them all whoa caught them all hold on hold that i’ma finish the story i gotta do something one second no take your time man hey listen
You all are tuned in if you tuned in tonight for legends week with big star raw sports films and my man chris childs man you tuned in you’re listening to classic stories man not just basketball stories but just stories about life man um the legends week series man it’s all
About paying homage um to great players like chris childs man you know everybody has a story you know we’ve seen him in the nba and all that kind of stuff but you know everybody has a back story you know what i’m saying so that’s that’s what we’re getting tonight man the
Backstory of the legend chris childs man this is definitely a blessing definitely a treat man um i’m just um speechless i i don’t know about y’all but i did not expect all of this man um he’s giving it up tonight man the transparency is crazy man i appreciate his personality and um
Just everything about him man also wanna let y’all know um if anybody’s missed uh the first part of this interview um when we’re done i’m gonna save it upload it to my youtube channel just go to youtube um the link will be in my my instagram bio and um
If you go to youtube we just put in raw sports films that’s the youtube channel that’s where it’ll be at um and also um if anybody has any questions for chris childs um you know as we kind of you know start to close out pretty soon or
You know whatever we do um start to type your questions um in the comment section i’m sure everybody wants to you know hear you know certain stories you know what i’m saying um start to type your questions in the comments section and chris will get to him um as he um you
Know as he gets a chance to um but i appreciate everybody tuning in we have an amazing audience man chris just stepped away from the camera real quick to go do something but this is uh this is this is amazing man um the stories are just amazing man i got uh
I got 20 more minutes since i got to go train a kid okay yeah you’re perfect perfect we’re good we make it and so hey tell me how you doing that’s uh my partner uh back in boise’s daughter tammy live in atlanta how you doing no doubt and so
They catch them all we go every stop they catch they put the bright light on them catch them catch and kill so wow that’s crazy it was like you got to come back to the uh police station i’m like all right so i get there they bring out
The dude the young guy had the gun with the starter jacket on he had a he had a hole in his jacket so he couldn’t get the gun they caught him with the gun oh wow so he really had a pistol yeah they caught him with the gun
And so they brought back they gave they had my diamond earrings my wife and that was it they’d have mine get the dog tag no because oh man i think you know how that goes man they ain’t gonna keep everything they got yeah somebody kept that yeah
So i mean that’s kind of had some significance to it because it was yeah i wouldn’t rather have that than any anything you know but uh it is what it is and so as i’m sitting there talking to the detective he’s like all right i’ll be
Right back you need anything i said yeah i need a bottle of water so as i’m getting my bottle of water other detector tap me on the shoulders like chris i turned around it was detective that i knew wow that used to work at uh with the nets
Got you got you so i said hey man small world that guy and then that’s he said i said let me in there and lock the door because he told the dude to shoot me shoot this in he said chris you know i can’t do that i said i can’t remember i
Think was butch or something i said but y’all do it all the time man i said just give me yeah just give me just give me five minutes he look around all right unlock the door let me in there right i said whoa whoa this is exclusive come on now
So i look at the dude i say man i gave everything you go shoot me tell them to shoot me i said i advise you to punch first because i’m getting ready to put these things on you about to put these paws on you but and he swung and i’m i need this
I hit him with about 10. straight from the west side yeah i i i i was hitting him with like you can hear him go and then i took the chair and i put it on his neck and that’s when the detective came in he’s like chris what are you doing i
Said i just needed five minutes wow yo and i talked and after i i told the guy who i was saying you gonna shoot me yeah you know i’m such you know it and his eyes were this big and what they found out uh thank you very much uh siobhan thank you um
They were they had guys and justin’s with sky pages relating people that were in there that’s what the diamonds and jewelry stuff that’s what they do yeah it’s not gonna wing back chris can’t fight [ __ ] d watch what’s up dude i don’t pick them man i just i just finished that’s right
They were relaying messages through skype about who was in there and all the jury and stuff and whatnot wow that’s a setup one of the guys the young kid who was 18 with the gun he had already had another gun charged so he got like 15 years and everybody else got like between
Seven and eight years wow that’s crazy man that’s a crazy story man that’s crazy what was that asking about training uh it says 904 ralph uh says chris uh when are you going to train oh we training uh i’m getting i got to go train tonight a private session but we’ll be training
Again saturday morning at seven and on sunday at six hey i know you guys i’m sorry i know you gotta go soon yeah it was a hard foul classic hey i didn’t want to bring it up but people want to hear the bean story they want they want to hear the kobe they
Want to hear the kobe story man if you don’t mind getting into it i know you i didn’t want to bring it up but i know you’ve probably talked about it a million times and that wasn’t my angle tonight but i but i know people won’t
Hear about it well i thought you said beans like beanie seeger when he said man you know you don’t come from my world it’s too dangerous i was talking about the kobe bryant oh yeah yeah kobe bryant story all right man um rest in peace wrestling power yes um icon um global
Um icon uh black mamba the quintessential nba after nba classic classic uh gentleman uh what he was putting together uh was gonna be like no other uh i’m gonna start it off that way because i think that’s more important than uh what we went through
And if you don’t mind in your mind real quick even before you share as much or as little as you want to um about his passing and everything how did it impact did you like yeah well well let’s do this let me get let me get
What happened between us out the way and i’ll i’ll go i’ll talk more in depth of uh his passing back then that’s what basketball was a young guy trying to prove himself a old guy trying to stand his ground not a guy but a veteran a veteran yep
And we had got into a cross match with uh allen took a jump shot and basketball you’re taught to get back if the guard shoots and so as allen was shooting it kobe would take off and so i had to get back and get allen’s man i’ll point you got mine so a
Couple times going to court he hit me with a couple of elbows i’m like okay and so i remember like it was yesterday it was a referee marty mccutchen i say monty you know you gonna do something about this and he gave me the the emoji yeah yeah like
Yeah and that that pissed me off even more so i was like i’ll handle it and i i stepped to cove i say man do that again i’m gonna take off on you and he you know we walked up on each other and i know i pushed him
I pushed him and we walked up to each other and i kind of nudged me with my head he gave me a little shot and after that happened it’s just instincts take over and uh you know the rest is history um you know i i never wanted that to be my
In all uh who or what i brought to the game i know it’s stuff that the young kids like to see and the internet uh likes to put out there but we have to keep in retrospect and keep in mind that what kobe would always get talked about because he
He mimicked a great player everybody mimicked somebody yep rappers mimic other rappers actors mimic other actors singers mimic other singers if you’re going to mimic somebody why not mimic the greatest basically so when people say that it it’s just idiotic you know because he perfected a game that hasn’t been perfected before yep
See what i mean so that’s that adds more to his greatness of you know who he is and who i mean who he was and who he is as a player and as a man what he was able to do after going through some ups and downs
When i saw him tear his achilles and get up and shoot two free throws and walk off under his own power that lets you know the competitor that that man was yeah and well everybody that competed against him everybody played with him respected him to the fullest his passing
Took a lot out of me at the moment at the time and feel to this day because when you have someone that achieves greatness on the court and is about to do the same thing off the court you want to continue to see that journey that he’s on and unfortunately god called him
Uh had uh another game for him to play uh when it when it when it happened um if it wasn’t for the kids that i was training at the time because i was training i want like 50 phone calls and text messages and once i walked outside and heard the news
The ball i just i lost you wow and ironically i when i went to train that day i had on a shirt of me and kogi wow that someone sent me and i wore it for the kids and i was going to tell the story of what happened
I walked i had to gather myself and get myself together for the kids so when i walked back in the gym i called the kids that i was training i called all the kids that were in there playing basketball it’s probably 50 to 60 kids i just told them stop what you’re doing
Come get in this circle we’re gonna pray and then i have some news to share and um i did i got through a trembling explaining what occurred and all they cared about was hey coach we love you wow you know what i mean hey thank you dee wash uh
We love you and they all get everybody in the gym gave me uh kids that i i wasn’t training yeah they were just boys i helped all kids are trained and if you’re in there and if i hear the ball bouncing differently than it should be sounding i’ll go and help that kid
And hey won’t you come join us because the ball needs to sound different when you’re dribbling yeah so if it wasn’t for those kids um it would have took me longer to they never recovered but to to feel whole again because time stopped yeah you know i mean time stopped and i was
In a a fog man for about two months you know and because all i can think about is his wife his other children mm-hmm gianna hur kobe the other people on the plane their families yep uh the pilots the pilots families yep um the the the airline of the helicopter
Service those people what everybody was going to have to continue uh answer to that’s tough yep you know i mean that’s tough for any and everybody so uh we can’t just yes we can’t we miss what kobe went through and founding but everybody that was involved in that that terrible uh
Uh ordeal incident um we got to continue to pray for everybody all of them for sure you know especially you know the families that you know lost their loved ones they they’ll never recover you know it’ll always be there that you know we we say through the grace of god that he
You know covers us and you know keep us safe and you know get us through this you’ll get through it for a few hours out today yeah but my dad’s been gone for eight years and it’s not a time that goes by during the day
That i don’t think about it and i want you know we want the physical yeah we want the physical and you know you got to have those moments but you need the love and support of family friends yeah uh we got to get back to telling you know our fellow brother just
A brother sister on the street i love you black man i love you i love you queen yeah you know i mean we’ve got away from that yeah of of praising each other and picking each other up stop putting each other down and that’s what i respected
About kobe he was doing that for for women you know get them equal pay to get them recognized and you know the needs and everything man because we all have sisters that’s right you know man i black women are queens man that’s right you know treat them that way praise them that way
You know i mean bow down to them that way because it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t be no us that’s right so kobe was on that journey and i’m trying to continue that journey with what i do when i mentor these young men when i’m out there feeding the homeless um
If i just see a young brother walking down the street sagging and looking mean you ain’t got to do that young blood you know be happy with your life you know i mean strive for something better that’s right i mean then then sagging and banging and stuff man
God has another purpose for you but it’s up to them to find it and some kids be like i ain’t trying to hear that yeah and that’s cool can i say i i respect that i’ll keep it moving but i’ma still let you know that
The way the way you the way you’re going and how you move there’s no good results exactly what i’m saying and so yeah man that’s how i get down brother i appreciate it man hey i’m gonna let you go soon cause i know you said you gotta
Go train um soon yeah it’s counting down one last question man then we’ll let you close out you know any way you want to um what it’s a twofold question what’s what’s uh what what are a few things that you’ve learned about life um through the game of basketball and then
Um just just a few keys to success you know anything you want to say to the younger generation um and then also still got that jumper and also you know for the gang culture the kids need to hear besides basketball the life you know like just life in
General where i stay at um it’s a little city out in pennsylvania the gang it’s like a gang in the city it’s like a different gang on every little block you know i’m saying like the gangs are crazy a lot of kids are going away from sports and it’s a lot
Going on so just talk to the youth man in any way you want to man well well basketball itself man it teaches you one about competition but it teaches you how to lead all right we need more leaders you know you have to be able to follow
Too but we need more leaders we need more uh young and older men to start coming back and leading these young men because uh when i was growing up i was raised by my mother my father my grandmother my aunt my neighbor my neighbor’s neighbor my neighbor’s neighbor neighbor yeah
You couldn’t get out of line that’s wrong with anybody that’s right and when i when i needed to to know something i would go sit on the porch or go to big mama house or go to grandfather’s house to get knowledge now on social media youtube and all that
Stuff is teaching our kids you got to sit down with your kids and explain to them what life is all about you got to get dictionaries you don’t have the books anymore you can get online but you i miss the old dictionary books when your child comes
Home and asks you what does this word mean my father was so go get that book right there and you figure it out that’s right once you figure it out i need you to come back and write it in a sentence see these are life lessons and so
Basketball by my dad doing that basketball taught me how to relate to people better gotcha how to get involved how to get in the community if i can run a team in new york the knicks if i can run that team i can run more than that so i can get
Out and talk to these kids that’s right and let them know what life is all about from my perspective yep i can’t tell you about other people’s perspective i can tell you my perspective my uh heartaches the things i went through my story my journey and it’s up
To you if you don’t listen or not but i’ma share it with you uh i’ve been around the gang life my whole life growing up was i am a gang absolutely not they they pushed me away from that gotcha one i know what that life is like because i
Have friends that have died i have friends that were in prison my brother did 35 years in prison wow still i mean my friend hook mitchell in prison you know that’s if you’re lucky you know what i mean so when you’re out there a lot of portraying to be gangs members
But they’re not because gang members they play for keeps mm-hmm you know i mean there’s there’s no negotiating you see that i’m true you’re gonna shoot me yeah or you know i i just advise all the young kids and this is probably just a cliche it is a cliche
Be a leader not a follower you know i mean they don’t love you you know there’s no love involved when you have to go kill somebody to be initiated in the game yeah or you have to go take something that’s not yours get in that be getting that that that
That gang of nerds yeah in fact that’s that’s the coldest gang now yeah because i t text and all that that’s where the money is that’s right so be if you’re gonna be in any gang being a nerd gang yeah because that’s where all the money
Is and go learn a trade uh continue going to college continue educating yourself one degree is not enough these days uh i advise young kids now they’re going to school uh speak different languages so you can travel and not if you’re gonna be a lawyer do you know corporate law where you’ll be
Able to travel with european law uh just continue education educating yourself to the fullest because they’re gonna always ask of us to do more yeah we have to go over and beyond so don’t give them the opportunity to close the door in your face because you’re already them put in the work to
Get your education so that your your uh demeanor will speak for itself the way you have yourself to where you speak to people because you’re always auditioning for somebody that’s right whenever you walk outside you’re auditioning that’s right so be your best you no doubt i appreciate that
Man that’s a great uh great word to end on man um i just want to say my thank yous real quick then i’ll let you close it out um thank you thank you so much thanks to our audience man our amazing audience that’s joined us for the duration
Tonight man um thank you for your transparency i mean you pretty much you know you know touched on you know so many different things and different different aspects you know emotional journeys i mean you brought it all man and i appreciate what you said like like
When you went to like to the rehab in the therapy one of the things that it’s helped you with was to communicate and to to get things out and to be transparent so so i see i i experience i experience some of that with you just in
Your transparency and just you know how you’ve um been able to process your life and then articulate it in a way that’s helpful for others to hear you know i’m saying it’s really good in the capacity that you are in now like with the with the youth mentoring coaching training
You know i mean because like i’m sure yeah it’s more you know it’s more than basketball than just playing basketball you know you have those conversations with your players you know what i mean if they’re going through things you can sit them down and talk to them so you’re
Great at that man you have a great mouth you’re a great brother man without it without me even knowing you just from what i’ve heard from you um you seem like a really good brother man so you’re you’re a valuable asset to the community so thank you so much thanks for sharing
With us tonight thanks for your legacy thanks for your contribution to the game man um anything you want to say that close close this out man i’m gonna just say this first i’m gonna be done with it uh tell your lovely wife nice to talk to the media you guys don’t
Actually want with your son thank you when you continue doing what you’re doing brother a lot of other cats need to come on here and share because we’re kicking knowledge and you’re giving knowledge too i i can tell you’re a good person and a good brother your humble brother thank
You yeah i mean you have a good spirit so continue to shine brother continue to shine and keep releasing these young boys on life there she goes queen had to come back against the parents there you go yes yes continue doing that man and if there’s
Anything i can do for you in the future brother don’t hesitate to ask i got it god bless you man i mean that reminds me one of the things that i like to do um you know as far as paying it forward um if it’s anything nick nick community what’s happening no
Doubt if it’s anyone that you would like to see on the interview um i greatly would appreciate if there’s anybody any other legends anybody that that we don’t know about that you can help me get in contact with you know maybe hook um gary payton anyone that that you can help me
Get in contact with that’ll be a tremendous blessing and i appreciate it i got you man i got some guys in line for you i’ll get a v-max oh man i get v i get a franchise and i get i get ai i get us all together
I get them guys to come on man god bless you man thank you so much i’ll stay in contact and we’re going to make all right jones big up big hugs to you too man yeah hey i’ll stay in contact we’re going to make it happen man um have a
Great training session tonight and i’ll be in contact with you also got to get an address from you in the dm i’ll send you my you know your information so i can um so i can send you some gear i see some raw sports t-shirts and everything
As well all right no doubt all right all right brother all right god bless you man keep going man yes sir busy peace hey it’s your boy big star man i appreciate y’all tuning in i appreciate the audience man this was definitely a classic um you know we went out with a
Bang this was my last show of 2020 um you know legends week man if if you’re if this was your first night uh with big star in legends week this is pretty much what it’s been um i’ve interviewed uh got my list here i mean any i mean i’ve interviewed um
Uh man we started out with um you know a lot of philly legends rasheed brooklynborough you know jared kears billy owens um flip murray um most recently i’ve interviewed bone collector god sham god um corey homicide williams um uh jerry stackhouse shane the dribbling machine kenny anderson um and tonight
You know we we had um you know my guy on man chris childs man um if you if you’re not following my page make sure you follow me on instagram um follow me right now i’ll follow you back um subscribe to my youtube channel uh world
Sports films on youtube um in 2021 it’s definitely going down man i’m
3 Comments
DOPE INTERVIEW
I watched you at Boise State, your teams with Arnell Jones and Doug Usatillo, so much fun to watch. Coach Bobby Dye always started with his jacket on and within 5 minutes it was off and he was yelling at the refs, getting the crowd fired up. Nice to hear your story and glad you're doing well!
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