To Odom's astonishment, Duncan repeated back the entire discussion, making the coach quickly realized that Duncan's distracted look did not translate into distracted attention. During the visit, reticent and shy, Duncan watched television as Odom spoke until the coach finally asked if he might turn it off so he could have Duncan's full attention. King called his old coach, Dave Odom, who made the trip to St. When a group of NBA rookies toured the Virgin Islands, Chris King, who played college ball at Wake Forest University, was impressed by Duncan's performance against Alonzo Mourning. Croix sports pages, Duncan received relatively little interest from colleges. Despite glowing write-ups in the local St. Duncan complied, and later told Sports Illustrated, "I remember thinking that after basketball season ended, I'd go back to swimming, but then basketball season never ended." Not knowing that Duncan would grow ten inches in the next few years, Lowry taught his then-six-foot pupil the perimeter game, lessons that provided Duncan with ball-handling skills and a court awareness that set him apart from other big men in the game.īy the time he was a senior, Duncan was averaging twenty-five points, twelve rebounds, and five blocked shots per game at St. In the days that followed his mother's death, Duncan's brother-in-law encouraged him to play hoops. Planted deep in the ground by his father, it was one of the few things left standing after Hugo passed through. In 1988 Cheryl had shipped a pole and basketball backboard from Ohio to her younger brother as a Christmas present. Duncan's older sister, Cheryl, who had been studying nursing in the United States, returned to the island with her husband to help care for the devastated family.Ĭheryl's husband, Ricky Lowry, who had played basketball at Capital University, a small college in Ohio, encouraged Duncan to pursue basketball. His mother's death from breast cancer just one day before his fourteenth birthday took away Duncan's desire to swim. If the hurricane took away Duncan's place to swim, With no place to train, Duncan tried swimming in the ocean, but was not thrilled with sharing the water with the sharks that inhabited the waters around St. Croix in 1989, destroying the only Olympic-sized pool on the island. Never let it rest, until your good is better and your better is best." Duncan expected to pursue his swimming career to the next Olympics, but Hurricane Hugo hit St. His mother instilled a strong work ethic in her children, and Duncan still repeats her motto to himself: "Good, better, best. She attended all Duncan's swim meets, usually yelling loud enough for Duncan to hear her above the crowd. Tricia represented the Virgin Islands in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke in the 1988 Olympics, and Duncan holds the Virgin Islands record in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events and was a nationally ranked swimmer in the United States in the 400-meter freestyle by the age of thirteen.ĭuncan's mother encouraged and supported her children. Both Duncan and his sister Tricia were talented swimmers. His father, a mason, worked a variety of jobs, and his mother was a midwife. He was the third of four children born to William and Ione Duncan. Virgin Islands, an 82-squaremile island in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Timothy Theodore Duncan was born on April 25, 1976, on St. Yet despite all the accolades continually heaped upon him, Duncan remains the quiet, intense young man who grew up in the Virgin Islands and dreamed of becoming an Olympic swimmer. Winner of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Most Valuable Player honors in 2002, Duncan is no stranger to awards his resume has a long list of well-earned basketball achievements. Combining skills as a passer, rebounder, shooter, scorer, dribbler, and defender, Tim Duncan is one of the best all-round players in the NBA.
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