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Seven years ago, I met Stephen Curry for the first time. He was 14 and skinny, about 5-foot-8. He told me that one day he was going to play in the NBA.
I wasn't sure, at the time, he'd be a good high school player.
Last week, I visited him at Time Warner Cable Arena where Curry, about to make good on his NBA dream, was working out with a diabolical trainer, who made him run sprint after sprint, dribble backward and forward, then run three quarters of the court and make 10 NBA-range 3-point shots in a row. Of course, if you miss, you start over.
“This is what it takes,” said Curry, a lottery pick by the Golden State Warriors this summer. “You've got to go to training camp at the top of your game and not use it to get in shape.”
Curry, now 6-3 and towering over me, is starting to look like a guy who's spending extra time in the weight room. He talks confidently about averaging 20 points per game as a rookie. Curry, who recently signed a Nike shoe and apparel deal, speaks confidently of a goal to be NBA Rookie of the Year. But he's also nervous about leaving home.
Curry is 21. He's lived in Charlotte all his life. He went to college at Davidson, just a short drive from Mom and Dad. Within a few weeks, he'll report to training camp in Oakland, a five-hour plane flight from here and move into a three-bedroom condo about five minutes from his new home court.
“It's kind of weird to leave here,” said Curry, who says he can't avoid autograph-seekers at SouthPark Mall even though he wears a cap pulled low. “I'll be a little nervous being away, but I'll be so wrapped up in basketball that what city I'm in shouldn't really matter.”
NFL Hall of Fame lineman Joe DeLamielleure, who lives in Charlotte, is heading to Mexico next week to visit an orphanage that he and two roommates at Michigan State helped raise the money to build partially by riding bicycles 2,000 miles over 21/2 weeks. The ride began at halftime of Michigan State's annual scrimmage last spring and ended at the orphanage site.
DeLamielleure, who once blocked for O.J. Simpson for the Buffalo Bills, is helping John Shinsky with the project. Shinsky, recovering from neck cancer and 33 radiation treatments, was an orphan. He's now an educator and humanitarian. A third roommate, Eljay Bowron, a former Secret Service director, also rode on the fundraiser.
The three will visit the 140-child orphanage in Matamoros, Mexico. CBS has followed the trio, DeLamielleure said, and is filming a piece to run during its Thanksgiving Day broadcast and during the Super Bowl.
Love the night matches at the U.S. Open, but there has to be something we can do so the matches don't start so late. The 10 o'clock news was on before Andy Roddick on Monday.
The big high school games this week are Independence at Rock Hill South Pointe and Mallard Creek at East Meck, but there's an interesting game between 1-0 Berry and 1-1 Waddell. Both teams won one game last season. Someone will have won two after Friday. That should create a playoff-like atmosphere for two teams not used to the big game.
Langston Wertz Jr: 704-358-5133; lwertz@charlotteobserver.com; twitter.com/langstonwertzjr; facebook.com/langstonwertzjr
