We’ve all heard of some strange journeys to the NBA. Dennis Rodman had a terrible home life as a kid. Scottie Pippen was largely unknown until his junior or senior year. Larry Bird quit at Indiana and said he would have been happy working for the city of French Lick because he had a good job and only came back to basketball because his coach at Indiana State was astute enough to understand how to push Bird’s buttons. Just lately? Khaman Maluach.
None of them really match that of Swen Nater.
Born in
in 1950, just five years after World War II, Nater’s parents divorced. His mother remarried and she and her new husband took one child when they moved to the U.S. but left Swen and his sister in an orphanage.
A TV show learned about them and took the siblings to the U.S. to reunite with their family – on TV. Can you imagine?
Nater was interested in basketball but his stepfather was opposed. He tried out in high school, barefoot, and when he was told he’d need shoes, swiped a pair.
He never played in high school but he grew to 6-11 and finally played for a JUCO that was coached by a former John Wooden player, Don Johnson. One thing led to another and then he played for Wooden at UCLA, backing up Bill Walton.
Nater was drafted By the ABA and NBA in 1974 despite never having started at UCLA and was the first player ever drafted by the NBA who never started a college game.
He had a long and solid career in the ABA and NBA, and is the only player to lead both leagues in rebounding (1974-75 in the ABA and 1979-80 in the ABA).
As we said, a lot of players had interesting paths to the league, but other than Maluach’s, we can’t think of anyone’s that was more challenging.
Blue Healer Auctions | Drop us a line
