By Bernard King alongside Jerome Preisler
There's a lot to admire close the life of Bernard King.
He grew upwardly inward a tough business office of New York alongside a household unit of measurement that featured a distant, alcoholic manly someone parent together with a woman parent who actually had footling clue on how to heighten children. Even so, he managed to larn 1 of the best basketball game players inward the city, together with earned a scholarship at Tennessee. From there, King became an All-American for the Volunteers - although he encountered some 1970s-style racism along the way.
The forwards left college early on to plow pro, together with made the transition to the NBA smoothly on the courtroom - although he had some problems off it. King surely deserved eventual condition equally a Hall of Famer.
Now 25 years later, he's written downward his work organisation human relationship of his life inward his autobiography, "Game Face." And it's interesting that King's biggest obstruction - together with the 1 he discusses at the start of the majority - had zilch to produce alongside anything listed above.
King suffered close equally bad a knee articulation injury equally you lot could honor without getting involving inward some form of traffic accident or other disaster. He jumped inward the air during a game together with knew he was inward problem fifty-fifty earlier he landed. Doctors looked at him together with wondered if he would always walk usually again. Basketball figured to live inward the past, non inward his future.
But King worked hard, harder together with hardest. He was sidelined for close 2 years earlier travel returning to the NBA. King played 3 total years after the injury, together with got his scoring average dorsum upwardly to 28.4 points per game. It was a remarkable comeback.
It's slowly to divide this majority into 2 parts, 1 to a greater extent than compelling than the other. King's early on years are the interesting ones. His manly someone parent wouldn't fifty-fifty allow him play basketball game (or produce anything else) exterior on Sundays until Bernard defied him. His woman parent patently used a strap on him to a greater extent than than one, because that how she was raised. As a result, King said he felt ameliorate hiding his feelings behind a "game face" - don't allow them know what you lot are thinking, peculiarly on the court. Let me assure those who are also immature to yell back that King was a truthful handful when playing - a pure scorer who earned his points every unmarried night.
The minute one-half of the even doesn't operate equally well. One of the obvious reasons is that he played alongside some mediocre teams over the years - emphasis on "teams," since he bounced but about quite a flake through 5 teams. King didn't come upwardly unopen to playing for an NBA champion. That's non his fault, but it volition live noticed yesteryear the reader.
Also missing together with a footling puzzling is the lack of cloth on younger blood brother Albert. He was the finest high schoolhouse thespian inward the province equally a senior, together with he went on to play at Maryland together with hence to the pros. Albert isn't fifty-fifty mentioned inward the front end one-half of the book, entirely coming up when the 2 players met inward the postseason.
Albert isn't lone inward that description. Bernard's showtime married adult woman doesn't fifty-fifty accept her yell mentioned. Also avoided is how King got away from alcohol together with drug abuse, a habit he picked upwardly early on inward his career. And the film painted close what King has been doing after basketball game seems incomplete. He's done some broadcasting work; let's promise he took assist of his coin together with moved happily into middle age.
Naturally, whatsoever majority written close an athlete from the 1970s or 1980s is going to experience similar ancient history to some. Even so, "Game Face" lets us accept a peak at a human being who admits he didn't similar telling much close himself dorsum inward the day. Therefore, those inward the proper demographic volition honor this worth a read.
Three stars
Learn to a greater extent than close this book.
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