One of my favorite things about SLAM is that they look back and re-publish old articles and photos from years ago. Yesterday they posted a feature on Ben Gordon from his high school days:
"Why did Gordon eschew the ample AAU opportunities thrown at him this summer? “People tried to pressure me to play, but I wanted to relax in my last summer at home,” he says. “I went to adidas camp and did pretty well, so other than that I’m just working out with guys here and by myself.”Maybe the biggest reason for Gordon’s healthy perspective is that he didn’t grow up on basketball. He was born in London to his vacationing Jamaican mother Evonne. though they moved to the States before he was one and to Mount Vernon before he turned three, he didn’t attend a varsity game at the storied school (the Knights also won a state title in ’91 and dominated the 70?s and 80?s with cats like Gus and Ray Williams and Rodney and Scooter McCray) until he played in one as a freshman."
Gordon is still a legendary high school player in Mount Vernon, which has one of the best basketball traditions in the country.