“The hard work I put in is because I didn’t want to let you down.” During his Hall of Fame speech, Dwyane Wade credited his father for being a source of inspiration. Three championships, a final MVP, and a statue outside the Kaseya Center, the career turned out more than okay for the Heat icon. The journey was never smooth with multiple injuries, but the perseverance remained thanks to his dad’s teachings. Who himself was a budding sport himself, but had to choose another part due to an emotional loss.
On Making Space with Hoda Kotb, D-Wade spoke about how he fell in love with basketball. He wasn’t the best player while growing up, but his father did not give up. “My dad, he’s a guy who went to the military at 19 years old. But my dad was a very good baseball player. He actually felt that he was going to go to the major leagues, right? And some things happened in his life that took him to another direction.” It was the death of a close friend that not only led him to enroll in the military but also ended his love for baseball.
“Which he wound up going to the military because of his best friend wound up getting killed in front of him. And he just he stopped playing baseball, and he went and did something else, and some other things happened. And so he channeled his love of sport into his son. He channeled it into me, and he took me like literally everywhere with him,” revealed Dwyane Wade.
The 3x NBA champion, also called this process, is when he “fell in love with the game.” But that wasn’t the case always while growing up. Previously, he called his father a relentless coach who had a “mean streak.” If the young Flash failed to complete any of the drills, Dwyane Wade Sr never let that go.“And I would cry through it; he didn’t care,” Wade said on The Atlantic. “I’m talking about my shoulder hurting, my hand hurting, I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, whatever; he didn’t give a f–k. And so that was tough as a kid.”
Dwayne Wade’s broken family did not stop him from achieving success
The Marquette alum was just 8 years old when his sister, Tragil Wade, sent him to live with their father. She wanted to protect her brother. Their father, Dwyane Wade Sr., loved his kids, but he was also tough on them. But why did they move? Because their mother would often end up behind bars. Jolinda spoke to CBN in 2022 about her journey and recovery from dr-g add-ction, which resulted in her being in jail.
Oct 28, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Former Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is honored at halftime during the game against the Detroit Pistons at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images
That’s why Dwyane Wade previously called his family broken. “It was a broken family, a broken home.” He often found solace in his ex-girlfriend Siovaughn Funches’ home. “I needed to be selfish… I got out there and put my life in the hands of another family and not my family.” Despite issues at home, D-Wade only had one goal in mind on the court.
“So a lot of my journey was that I just want to be that kid to make his mom proud, to make his dad proud, to make his family proud.” The Heat legend has reconciled with his family and often spends time with his parents. He credited his father in his HOF speech and helped his mother rebuild her life.
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