WEBVTT - Vol. 1: Rex Chapman ft. Michael Rapaport 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:04.080 Charges. That's created by Portalais and Control Media. It's produced 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:10.800 by dB Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. This 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:14.000 time a former Son's player who you might remember as 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.360 t Rex. More video in just a moment, But this 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.880 is Rex Chapman's mug shot, and we are learning a 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.079 lot more about the charge of the Charge. When you 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:27.880 google Rex Chapman, the first image that I see is 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.160 your mug shot. But I've made it all the way 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.560 through an NBA career and now I'm a full blown 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.400 you know, OxyContin and Viking and attic. I feel so 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:43.160 bad for what I did to my children. Oh man, 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:51.919 oh I just want to cry. Welcome to episode one 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.720 of Charges. I'm your host, Rex Chapman. Today we take 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:58.320 a deep dive into my past and the trials and 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.600 tribulations that I've gone through in my highly publicized career. 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.480 To guide that conversation, we have my longtime friend, my dude, 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.120 my guy, Michael Rappaport, filling in his guest host. I've 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:11.720 known Mike since we were teenagers at the five Star 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:15.160 basketball camp where I was his camp counselor. He couldn't 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.200 play for ship. He's a talented actor, but his hoots 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:22.440 game leaves much to be desired. Enjoy Episode one of 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:32.480 Charges with Rex Chapman. Charges. All right, my name is 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:37.560 Michael Rappaport, the guest host of my long time friend, 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:40.160 someone who I was a fan of before I met 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:46.760 him as a basketball coach in the nineteen eighties, Rex Chapman. 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:51.200 Welcome to Charges with Rex Chapman. I am a special, 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:56.560 one time only guest host. This is Rex Chapman's podcast. 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.600 Will explain why I'm here, what I am doing here? 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:05.040 Sexy Rex Chapman. How are you? My friend? My goodness? 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:08.480 Charges with Rex Chapman. Who to thunk it? You? Me 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:12.679 and you from teenagers now doing this? Let's just explain 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.000 what people could expect why you're doing this podcast, Charges. 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:18.880 You know how you came up with the name and 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.040 the whole concept of it. Well, you know, I think, 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.960 uh me as an athlete, uh, and we've seen a 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.519 lot of people in every walk of life, but especially 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:30.919 for athletes come under a lot of scrutiny when they 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.519 when we get in trouble, and there's an never ending 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.359 supply of athletes, young athletes a lot of money and 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:39.640 uh a lot of free time that run a foul 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.080 and UM kind of came up with the idea for 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:50.040 this after bouncing back from you know, my troubles painkiller addiction, jail, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:53.600 and UH really want to let people know, with the 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.079 people that we're going to talk to, that you're never 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:58.400 as bad as your worst moment as long as you 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.000 learn from it. You know, I'm ended on having guys 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.440 on the guys. I know guys I don't know who've 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:05.919 run a foul. Uh. We call it charges because you've 0:03:05.919 --> 0:03:08.400 been charged with something. Uh you know, a bit of 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.959 a take on the old Twitter block or charge, but um, 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:14.560 you know charges, you've been charged with something. It was 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.880 an ugly time, it was a tough time in your life. 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:19.960 You've let a lot of people down, You've let yourself down, 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:25.880 and that moment when it happened to you is really painful. 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.160 It's painful to talk about, but I think it's cathartic 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.120 and I think people will get a lot out of it. Um, 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.440 all right, we're gonna get to your charges and uh, 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.720 you know what I started, you know, asking you questions, 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.960 but just to give people a little context. So, growing 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.480 up in the nineteen eighties, I had dreams and aspirations 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:48.240 of being a professional basketball player. At one point, uh 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:53.200 the McDonald's High School All American Game was a huge, 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.280 huge deal. I think it's a big deal now too, 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.920 but we're so oversaturated with Instagram and this torn and 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.080 in that tournent. But there was a time in the 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:06.400 eighties where the McDonald's High School All American Game was 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:10.600 that was the only game that mattered for high school stars. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.240 I found you. I think I had heard about your name, 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.719 because again, this is the eighties, so it's not like 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.719 you could google every single high school player. What year 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:21.800 did you play in the high school the McDonald's High 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:26.200 School All American Game? Six? So yeah, I would have 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.800 been in a year or two ahead of you. Maybe, yes, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:31.479 a year or two ahead of me. So I was 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.000 a a dreamer of playing high level college basketball, high 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:39.400 level uh NBA basketball. This is my dream. And I 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.640 remember hearing about Rex Chapman, but you didn't see clips. 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.800 But I remember first seeing you play in the High 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.040 School All American Game, and you were everything that I 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:54.800 wanted to be. High flying, shoot, athletic, fearless, dunking white 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.279 unicorn from down South. I didn't like the hair, I 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.320 believe you did. You have a mullet at this point, 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:05.400 was that a choice? Did you think that was cool? 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:07.880 I did. I thought it was cool. Also, I didn't 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.240 really call it a mullet. I called it a shag, Mike, 0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:12.200 you might know. You might have heard about the shag 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:14.880 from back in the day. In fact, me and my boys, 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.800 you know who, we would do. We would short you know, 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:19.760 business in the front, but we would grow it out 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:23.880 in the back and permit we would get it permed 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.880 and then blow dry it, bless it out. Oh man, terrible, 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.000 just terrible. It was like a basketball player with a 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.640 wrestler's look like look like Billy ray Cyrus exactly. So 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.440 I saw Rex play in the high school All American Game, 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:41.000 and he had a great freshman year at Kentucky, which 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:43.080 I want to ask you about, but just to you know, 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.400 quickly contextualize how I met Rex. And then the summer 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:51.040 after your freshman year of Kentucky, I was, I believe, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.960 going into the tenth grade of the eleventh grade, it 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.279 doesn't matter. And Rex um was one of the camp 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.880 counselors at the Covenant. Again it was the five Star 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.520 basketball camp was everything. Abc D camp was coming along, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.400 but five Star was the place to be. And Rex 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:10.280 Chapman was one of the camp counselors there and he 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.560 had the pleasure of being my camp counsel for a 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:18.120 week at the five Star basketball camp. And Rex was 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.000 playing at quite the whole time. Uh. He had his 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.919 short shorts, he had his hair, um, but he was 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.080 a star. He had made a huge impact um in 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:31.120 the basketball world, um, in my life. And it was 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.760 just like dope, I mean, this is the high school 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:37.599 basketball camp. I was there with Seawan Kemp. Shawn Kemp 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.720 was probably older than you at the time. He had 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:42.640 like a full beard and the goat. But this is 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.880 the best of the best basketball game. Everybody went to 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:48.200 this camp, Michael Jordan led by his Patrick Ewing war 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:52.080 Dell Curry, and I was fucking with Rex the whole 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.400 week and talking ship to him, trying to get, you know, 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:57.240 attention from him because it was Rex Chapman, the high 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:02.880 flying white unicorn from Kentucky. D And then we connected 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:05.880 years later, but you remembered that time. What was most 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.320 impressive about what you saw from me that week in 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:15.600 my game and just my whole personna, Oh my gosh, hilarious. Um. 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.560 You know, I was there with Ramille Robinson. Both he 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:20.960 and I had been at the camp as campers like 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:24.360 two years prior, and so we decided to come back 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:28.400 and be counselors for Garf Howard Garfinkel, and then we drafted. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.240 I end up drafting you on my team. You know, 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.480 only guy, I think probably only guy in five Star 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.520 history that could not do a jump stop. Just don't 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:40.280 know how to do a jump stop. You're not a 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.320 good player. You know the game, you know the game 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:48.880 incredibly well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you got it. You're like 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:55.640 Chris Mullen, but a lot slower and yeah yeah, no, man, 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.160 you were hilarious with your New York bullshit all week long, 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.720 just laughing, making people laugh. And the funny thing about 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.040 that is, you know, after that, you know, I go 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:07.560 on back to Kentucky and then I'm in the NBA 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.280 and then I'm at a movie one time, a couple 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.559 of years later, and I'm I'm looking, I'm like, maybe 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.440 beautiful girls. It was. It was one of your early 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.200 early movies. And I I'm there and I'm like, who 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.080 the hell is this guy? Who is he? Who is he? 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.400 And one night I'm I'm asleep. I sat up in 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.240 the bed and I went fucking five star. That's exactly 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:38.200 who he is. That's Mike Rappaport, my boy six five 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:42.199 guard Rex Chapman, the features story on Al McGuire's preseason special. 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.439 And that's the way it was for this six Apollo 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:49.400 basketball team, having to deal with unbelievable hype. Possibly the 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:52.600 most publicized player in the history of Kentucky high school basketball. 0:08:53.440 --> 0:09:04.160 He wants another freshman, chap shows was watching the future heavyweight. 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.920 First of all, at that time when you go from 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.679 high school All American to that first year in Kentucky. 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.839 And for people that don't know, and I'm really disappointed 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.200 that a lot of the footage is grainy, it's not 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.680 as good. It's not in high death um. But your 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.200 freshman season at Kentucky, I mean, was it everything that 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.040 you had hoped and dreamed from as a young kid, 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.800 like to get to Kentucky, growing up at Kentucky and 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.000 then having a very very good freshman season, Like, what 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:41.920 do you remember about that time? It was a typical, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:46.599 my guy, It was a typical from a couple of standpoints. 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.240 I dreamed of going to Louisville. I had committed to 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:53.720 Louisville verbally, and then they Kentucky changed coaches, went from 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:56.280 Joeby Hall to Eddie Sutton, and I flip flopped and 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.319 went to Kentucky. I'll tell you though, Mike, I wait 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.400 a hundred and sixty pounds as a freshman. You know 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.280 when I got on campus. You know, today they talk 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.440 about high school seeing they first they talked about juniors 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.559 reclassifying and going to college. I could have never done that. 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:13.880 I mean I would have been broken in half. They 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:17.319 talked about seniors, you know, going a year of school 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.400 and then going in the NBA. I still in the way, 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:21.920 like one seventy at the end of my sophomore year. 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:25.000 And then the other part of that was my dad. 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.319 I grew up watching my dad, watching his team's play, 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.120 watching him coach. He coached at a high level Division 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.960 two school Kentucky West Lynn. They want a couple of titles. 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.920 I loved watching his teams play. That's how I learned 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.200 to play basketball, just watching his teams play, his players. 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.480 And he had me perfectly wired. You know. He when 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.320 I left home, he was like, man, I hope they 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:52.440 don't red shirt you this year, and he was being honest, um, 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:55.559 and I believed him. We got to school. I got 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:58.800 to school, the weightlifting was horrible. I could lift the 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.520 bar forty I pounds, that's how much I can bench press, 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.600 and um, the conditioning killed me. We got in the 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:08.680 first day of practice and I'll never forget it because 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:11.719 it was really awkward. And first day of practice and 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.439 my coach, Ettie Sunnon hall of Famer, just passed away 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:18.319 big big drinker though big drinker and a drinker at 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.040 this time, and we're running like a three man fast break, 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:24.640 three on two, two on one something like that. Very 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:28.160 first practice, I caught a pass. I faked a pass 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.800 ball fake threw it into the post. He stopped practice 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:36.040 and went, see that right there, that's why he's the 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.520 best player on the team. And I wanted to run 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.720 and hide. I got a seniors, juniors, James Blackman, ed Damnder, 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.959 Winston Bennett, the whole team of McDonald's all Americans that 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:50.280 I'm now competing against every day. It's my first practice 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:52.199 I did. I wanted to hide it. I just made 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.560 a pass to the post. What I didn't realize was 0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:58.559 that everybody can't do those things. You know. I could 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:00.880 shoot and run and stuff, but I, you know, I 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.160 knew how to pass and how to play in time 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.520 and score and all that. And that was just coming 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.080 from my dad watching his stuff. So I was perfectly 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.400 prepared for that. Once we got out of the weight 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.679 room onto the basketball court, where I knew how to play, 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.440 I felt completely at home. Now. I took my lumps 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.040 in my freshman year plenty of times, but you know, 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:24.080 I got my shots in I think early on before 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.520 we played Louisville my freshman year, which was kind of 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:28.400 a coming out kind of thing because it was on 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:32.080 national TV. And let me just contextualize for those who 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:36.280 don't know, Louisville verse Kentucky and in the eighties college 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:41.360 basketball was as big as Lebron versus Steph. It's changed, 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:45.120 but Louisville versus Kentucky explained the enormity of that game. 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.840 Two people are non basketball fans, Yeah, it's huge. You know, 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:50.720 it's kind of back in the day, it was kind 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:53.760 of like Yankees Socks. You know, there were those rivalries 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:55.720 that you knew and and they were the only real 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.200 big rivalries that were on TV live on the weekend. 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.920 And the other big rivalry here was Indiana. And so 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.640 they're just right across the river louis and Kentucky hate 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.280 each other, but Indiana and Kentucky hate each other too, 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.840 And we played Indiana like I was three or four 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.719 games into my freshman year. We played him at Indiana 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:19.880 Bobby Knight. They actually won it that year. They had 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:23.520 Steve Alford, and I had watched Steve Alford play in 0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:25.520 high school. I had watched him my whole you know, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.480 three years of high school. He'd been playing at Indiana 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.440 and had mad respect for him all of that. Also, 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:34.160 I was kind of like, I can't wait to get 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.480 some of Steve Alford. And we played him in that game. 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.240 They beat us in overtime, but I had like twenty 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:44.600 six or twenty seven, and I thought I played against him. 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.280 He was supposed to be player of the year, maybe 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.600 player of the year. And that was the first time 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:50.440 I went and they were talking about him going into 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.160 the draft and getting drafted. That was the first time 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.079 I thought, you know, if he can play in the NBA, 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.320 maybe I can play in the NBA. And so a 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:01.240 week or two later, we played louis at home or 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:05.720 at Louisville in Freedom Hall. They had just won the 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.720 title the year before. With my boy never nervous Purvis 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:11.760 and Kenny Payne and Milt Wagner and that whole crew, 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.360 and they were good. They were supposed to smoke us. 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:18.520 And we went in there to Louisville. And also, I 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:22.440 should backtrack. I didn't play high school basketball with the 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.760 three point line. We didn't have a three point line. 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:28.080 But my first year of college they had the three 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:31.240 point line and I could shoot out there. I just 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.320 never had practice shooting, you know, I being behind the line, 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.920 I just shot out there on habit and so man, 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.040 we went into Louisville and just blitzed them. Muhammad Ali 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.400 was in the stands and uh we beat him eighty 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.480 five to fifty one, and I think I had twenty 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:51.280 six or so. And I just remember after the game 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.120 going to do the media and I came back through 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:57.800 talk about just I really remember very little about that 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.240 day other than coming back after the press conference and 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:05.800 our sports information person stopping me and saying, hey, Champ 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.800 wants to meet you, and I went, wow, who what 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:13.040 he said? Uh, Muhammad Ali? And I almost started crying, 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.800 like this is this Dude's Louisville, Kentucky man. This is 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.480 Cassius Clay And he came. We walked there in the 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.160 hallway and he said a couple of things, and uh, 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.520 I really don't remember. I could still almost cry to 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:30.840 this day thinking about so dope man. So you know, 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:35.960 after that Louisville game, you know, people knew nationally knew 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:39.120 my name, and um, yeah, that's kind of how things 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:45.200 got started. Now, I want to talk specifically about your athleticism, 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:49.680 because the athleticism in basketball sports, but we're talking basketball 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:53.080 for a white dude is just not a common thing. 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:55.160 And then I want to go into race and all 0:15:55.200 --> 0:16:00.480 that stuff. You were a high flying, slam dunking fucking 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:04.640 like you played, especially from New York, Like we didn't 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.760 see white dudes that could dunk and jump. You know, 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:10.800 we had our Chris Mullins and we had we had 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:15.680 our dudes and you know Steve Alfred shoot KG crafty. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.200 You know, you were sticking out because you were in 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:21.080 the high school the McDonald's All American dunk contes. You 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.080 were banging on people your first year. You had lift 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.080 on your jump shot. You essentially what they you know, 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.160 in simple terms, you played like a black dude. When 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:35.200 did you realize, like, obviously you can't that's god you 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.680 know what I mean, Like jumping being quick is god. 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:40.400 You know, I tried all the fucking I tried all 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.920 the jumping drills, and they don't fucking work. They do 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:46.120 not fucking work. If it's not in you, it's not 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.720 even if you could jump forty inches like you probably could, 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:50.840 maybe you could get to forty one inches, but when 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.480 you're jumping three inches like me and you get two 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.840 four inches, it means nothing. Talk about you know, your 0:16:56.880 --> 0:16:59.480 style of play, and then talk about race and sports 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.000 and playing essentially like a black dude in like the 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:06.040 fine line between it becoming the elephant in the room 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:07.960 and also you're just like, I'm just trying to get 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.840 to the fucking league. Speak on that, Rex. Yeah, you know, Mike, 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.919 I just got lucky. Really, it's just luck. You know, 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:17.359 my parents genetics that with my mom, you know, long 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:20.200 arms and tall, and my dad's six six and you know, 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:23.920 was a professional basketball player. So that part of it's lucky. Now. 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.879 I didn't always have it. I dreamed for it every 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.120 night growing up. I measured myself. I grew so late. 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.000 I was a five seven, five eight freshman. I played varsity, 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:35.840 but I didn't start on the varsity and we had 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.240 my two best friends to this day still Greg Bond 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.760 and Jeff Stanford. They started all four years of high school. 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:45.080 I played freshman ball, JV ball and varsity ball my 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:48.320 whole freshman year and then had a gross spurt. And 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.680 I wasn't athletic before that even is just normal normal? No? No, 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.240 I mean I was. I was skilled. I could shoot 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.639 and handle and do all that stuff, but I wasn't. Yeah, 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.800 I was just average. I mean, you know, I may 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.080 have had quick burst and stuff, but I couldn't jump. 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:05.119 You know, I was happy to slap the board on 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:09.400 a layup man through my freshman year. And in about 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.400 three months between freshman sophomore year, I grew about six 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:15.800 inches from five seven to I don't know six to 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:19.640 or so, and uh started being able to jump now 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.080 And there wasn't a strong jumper, but I was long 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:27.679 to getting longer reach and all that stuff. But you know, again, 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.960 I dreamed for all the same ship my boys dreamed of, 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.640 all the same ship you dreamed of. Many of their 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:38.640 favorite players were guys like Larry Bird and Kyle Macy 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:42.080 and the guys, the the white guys. And I grew 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:46.840 up loving, loving, Darryl Griffith and David Thompson. You know, 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:49.359 they were both you know, I thought, man, if I 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.560 could get to be six three, six four, they can 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:55.120 dunk it, maybe I can dunk it. And so that 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:58.560 kind of became my I watched Darryl so much, honestly. 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:01.159 And the weird thing is, if you look at Darren 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.080 I became friends later on. If you look at our 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.920 career numbers, we were kind of the same player. Um, 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.639 you know, just jump shots and take it to the 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:10.919 basket every now and then, get steals, get out on 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:13.439 the break. But that's who I wanted to be. And 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.119 the other thing I fought too, because I hated hearing 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:19.400 on the news they would talk about an analyst would 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:22.639 talk about Jeff Lebo playing, and I love Jeff, but 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:26.760 he's the son of a coach. I hated here, and 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.560 I hated when people said that about me because right 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:35.200 away I thought it gave off the uh you're saying, well, 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.000 he just grew up in the gym. He has all 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:40.760 these advantages. It also said, and he's not athletic, because 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.840 no coaches sons were athletic, and they didn't know, you know, so, 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:46.880 I mean it seemed that way. So I was all 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.520 kinds of messed up, but all kinds of motivated to 0:19:49.680 --> 0:19:51.960 Mike because I didn't mess around. I didn't drink, I 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:56.479 didn't smoke. I was purely focused on being a basketball 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:58.760 in high school and didn't have a drink. My I 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:00.399 didn't have a drink till I was too years in 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.240 the league. Yeah, all my boys, you know, smoke weed 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.040 and got high and drank from the age of thirteen fourteen, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:09.600 Just me and my one other best friend who he 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:12.040 ended up going and playing basketball for my dad at 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:16.080 Kentucky Westland, really good high school basketball player. We didn't 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.240 we didn't drink. We but we hung out with all 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:22.520 our boys who did, and I do remember talking about 0:20:22.600 --> 0:20:25.440 jumping and athleticism. We used to go to parties out 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:29.600 in the country and ship right uh farms and we 0:20:29.720 --> 0:20:32.040 get out there. There'd be a bunch of bales of 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:36.040 hey and kids drinking and and just being stupid. But 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.399 me and my guys used to we bet people that 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:41.879 I couldn't jump over cars. They'd be like, you know, 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:45.080 Rex can jump over that truck right there, and they'd 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.080 be like, ah, fuck you man, No, I can't. And 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:48.639 we'd you know, We'd get them to throw in a 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:50.480 few bucks and then I'd go jump over the car. 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:53.680 And that's what we did to entertain ourselves. Just stupid 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.920 ship like that in high school. Um that came along, 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:01.800 just came along out of wished there was some folds 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.440 or some footage that you had, like a cell phone 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:07.919 video if you jumping over a fucking car with a 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:13.679 permed mullet. I know, gro so crazy, so crazy. But 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:17.880 talking about the race stuff, you know, I had hurtful 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.560 things said, and not only to me but to you know, 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:26.080 I saw so much racism and whatnot growing up. I 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:29.760 was lucky in that growing up in Owensboro, Kentucky. It's 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.639 a town of about sixty people, and not far away 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:36.199 is Evansville, Indiana. We have a larger percentage black population 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.520 in Owensboro, and at two of the four high schools, 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:44.760 the athletics programs at two of the four schools are 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:49.080 predominantly black. My dad grew up playing basketball in our 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:54.399 hometown and many of his best friends were the black 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.840 friends he played against in high school. So they all 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:03.280 had sons my age yea and about age six or seven. 0:22:03.320 --> 0:22:05.520 My dad. You know, I loved basketball. I was going 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:07.520 to his practices, and I remember him telling me one time, 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:10.240 I said, well, if you want to play basketball, you 0:22:10.400 --> 0:22:12.560 better start playing against the best players, because I was 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.480 just running rush shot over the white kids and in 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:18.200 first and second grade. So he would take me down 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.679 on the weekends and drop me off at uh Charlie 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:23.720 Taylor's house where two of my best friends were Avery 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.840 Taylor and Chuckie Taylor, and uh, you know they lived 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.520 in the projects. You know, two bedroom apartment, seven eight 0:22:31.560 --> 0:22:34.119 people in two rooms. Maybe no air in the summer, 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:37.200