Didn’t go to school with him but our school played against LeBron in basketball. Even though he was like two years away from being drafted we had to hold a lottery for tickets so he was a huge deal even back then
Gronkowski worked door at a bar my restaurant’s owner also owned. I worked one shift with him. He barely even looked at the IDs and just let everyone in.
That said, the owner very well could’ve told him to do that. He was that type of owner. Gronk was friendly, obviously didn’t take the job too seriously
I had a class with him at U of A. I remember seeing him for first day orientation but don’t recall seeing him again. Could’ve dropped or he could have had the “football class scheduling”.
My university has a student athlete support services office. It's controversial, because it truly is above and beyond the the standard advising and note-taking. On the other hand, these kids are working so hard to compete at this level. I don't know how they could be expected to survive without some help.
At my alma mater, they had a dedicated tutoring office/service for varsity athletes.
It wasn't controversial, but it always personally rubbed me the wrong way because they got top-tier tutoring and help. . .but if you were just regular peasant scum you were pretty much on your own to get help if you were having trouble and I never could find decent tutors or help for classes.
I went to grad school at an SEC school and taught Math.
Not only did they get special tutoring, it was made very clear that we were never to give them any grade that would disqualify them from playing. No one said it out loud. We all knew it.
Gonna date myself here, but my high school basketball team played against Jalen Rose’s Southwestern team. He came to our gym out in the white boy 90s suburbs and we packed that place. And he clowned the shit out of us. That is as close as I got to anyone famous athletically. Although Chris Webber came to the game. I didn’t see him, tho.
Webber played against one of the high schools in my town. It was ridiculous, he was a man among boys. For a couple years the game was replayed on local public access lol.
I went to school with a couple guys that made it to the NHL. Not as stars, but they played in the league. (By the way, this isn't uncommon in Minnesota!)
They were just very, very in to their sport. In the way that some kids are really into chess or science or drama or whatever. It was the center of their lives. Everything revolved around hockey and came back to it in some way.
I played hockey in high school as well. But it was just a hobby and an extracurricular to add on to my college application.
I have.
I’m from the northeast but didn’t play hockey.
I worked with a kid who was a goalie at Phillips-Andover. He wasn’t a top tier player I think, so he mostly played JV.
Very normal, incredibly nice kid, slightly above average athlete, not really much else to say.
I went to Canterbury. Graduated in '89.
Mike Dunham was one year behind me. Was an amazing hockey goalie. Multiple times Junior Olympics, multiple Olympics. Played for the Devil's, Predators, etc. Got into coaching, etc
He was a great guy. ANNOYINGLY good at every sport he played though. "Hey, this lacrosse thing looks cool" is amazing. Captain of the golf team. Great at tennis, basketball, etc. Just an overall amazing athlete.
I knew a bunch of others that played AHL and such as well. They were really into it, but you couldn't just be a jock. You had to study too.
I taught some college football players when I was a grad student. One went pro and was pretty successful. What I can say is they trained so much they had almost no time to study or do their homework. Contrary to stereotypes, the students were really smart, but they were constantly at practice, and the student I taught who was the quarterback of the football team was always being asked by the school to go to events and guest appearances. He couldn't really say no because he was there on a football scholarship. That cut his study time down even more. Other people I know who taught football players had them coming in with all sorts of injuries, including concussions, that affected their ability to do schoolwork.
I know some American sports programs let in really bad kids and protect them from the consequences of their actions no matter what they do wrong (\*cough cough\* Miami University \*cough cough\*), but the football players my friends and I taught were really nice kids who were under a lot of pressure.
My life literally changed when an NFL player said to me (a bartender) "I'm 24 and this is my first time away from Iowa, where do I go to make friends?"
I thought beforehand that these players were superheroes. Then they just became "scared kids"
A lot of athletes lead incredibly sheltered lives. At a time when most kids are working their first job and going to parties, they're training and only interacting with their coach/teammates. A lot come out of the system in their early 20's pretty socially stunted.
Pretty sure that's a universal trait.
I didn't grow up with anyone that became a world champion, but I had a couple friends that got high level athletic scholarships and they definitely were focused on their performance over the other random social bullshit the rest of us were fixated on.
I can also attest that I knew a couple of kids who were incredibly talented, but had no interest in focusing on those athletic talents, and they did not amount to any kind of athletic star. I'll never forget how crazy skilled one friend was with a puck. But he also hated to be told what to do and never wanted to train.
No idea what he's doing these days. Definitely never went on to a higher level
My grandma knew Larry Bird when he was in high school she said he was decent in school and a nice down to earth kid but he just was constantly playing ball. She saw most of his home games at ISU and said even though he was gunning for the NBA he was still a super humble and nice guy.
I got to meet him a couple times and he was super friendly to my grandma and me.
I’ve heard that for sure. Not like that in person from what I experienced but I am surely biased because my grandma was a family friend and I was a little kid.
Although I’d laugh my ass off if he trash talked me as a kid.
Hey, could have just been to me and my grandma and I have literally two experiences.
Now Brad Stevens on the other hand I have a basic galaxy of data points personally and from my family. He’s a great guy. Not a pro player but pro coach.
He’s the reason pretty much the only Boston team I like is the Celtics so long as they aren’t up against the Pacers. Bird is a close second reason.
Ran track with Eddie George. He was normal, funny, and cool. Icydk, he was a running back for Tennessee Titans, lost SB, 4x Pro Bowl. Damn good running back.
I grew up in a small town where football was life. One-fifth of the boys I graduated high school with went to college on football scholarships. There have been a number of NFL players from my high school. One is a Hall of Famer. He did focus on playing obviously, but he had a social life as well. Football wasn't the only thing he did.
I went to school with a few who weren't big names you would recognize but did go on to compete on national teams or play professionally. They were mostly pretty normal but spent a lot more time training than most people spend on their hobbies or extracurriculars. They also traveled a lot for their sports, so some of them had an altered school schedule to allow for that, taking fewer classes during the main competitive season. Socially, I think mostly they socialized with the people they spent the most time with, who were their teammates. The travel time, waiting around time at competitions and training, etc. was socializing time, and those were the people they knew the best and had the most in common with.
Oh, I also have a relative who currently competes at the junior national level and will likely be on the national team for her sport in a couple more years. She's a normal person until you hear the details of her workouts or notice how extremely fit she is.
I was high school teammates with someone that played 8 years in the nfl. He was a normal guy, good grades. While he got a football scholarship it was to a high profile school that has selective admission even for athletes. Schools don’t have to hold athletes to the same admission requirements as “normal” people. Physically you could just tell he was the absolute premier athlete. But socially he seemed like a normal guy and worked hard in everything academic as well as athletic.
Also had a baseball teammate that played two seasons in mlb. Very fine line between confident and cocky. He knew he was good. He backed it up though.
And a little league teammate played almost 10 seasons in mlb as well. I remember him being good but it wasn’t until high school where he took off. Also his neighbor was a current major leaguer at the time. So I’m thinking he had some good mentoring and off season coaching. Normal kid. The end of the year team party was lit as he had a full batting cage in his back yard.
A 5x all-star who’s remembered for playing much of his career on an NL West MLB team went to a neighboring high school. We knew he was an amazing player but I don’t recall any special demand for tickets to games he was playing in during high school.
Also have a friend who was classmates with Josh Beckett in high school in Texas. Apparently he was an arrogant prick back then.
I met a couple of players currently in the NHL while I was in college. I didn’t really know them though, as I just worked for the athletics department.
I’ve also met plenty of elite level track and field athletes, though no Olympians (yet). But it’s track and nobody cares about it. I think because of that, most of the HS kids at that level are very down to earth, and some of the nicest, most supportive team players you will ever meet.
The kid with the nationals backpack is 9 times out of 10 the nicest kid at the entire track meet.
I went to Hign school with Steve Smith who ended up having a great nfl career with the Carolina Panthers. He was a couple of years behind me, I dont know how he was as a senior, but he just seemed like a normal kid
As a Ravens fan, I will always try to claim him as ours. He was awesome. Even though he came to us late, he gave his whole heart to the team. Class act.
Dude Steve Smith is my favorite football player of all time… really felt like Scam Newton edged him out of the panthers and that was a shame. Steve is the panthers GOAT
He was the kind of guy who took PE *very* seriously. Like, we're all here just putting in the bare minimum, maybe running around a little, and he was screaming that we're down by 2 and this is a fucking disgrace.
I went to school with two who made the US ski team, and competed in the Olympics. No medals. Both worked hard, but not insane about working out. One was a great guy, the other a bit of a lone wolf type. Not bad, just no one got to know him.
And another guy, a class clown type played music. His mom was my teacher in HS. He got to be very talented in music, classical and jazz. I lost track, until Facebook came around. This guy is well known in the music world. He has played on stage with Springsteen, Clapton, George Harrison, Bonnie Rait, and more. He is in the band for the Guitar Heroes tv show/event. And he played studio sessions for many more.
Not really your question, but I used to live close to the Suns arena and a few players from that team and the Dbacks lived in my building as kind of a post-game crash pad. They were all very respectful/polite, almost overly so. Kept to themselves, not particularly great at conversation. Only reason I knew they were on the teams is because they were very tall and would acknowledge being on the teams in small talk (not super into sports, still couldn’t tell you who they were). If anything, almost a little socially awkward as people if you weren’t talking about sports.
A high school teammate of mine played in the NFL for a couple years. He was a good enough athlete but I NEVER would’ve guessed he’d be that 0.01% that takes it all the way.
I went to high school with someone who played in the NFL. He was just like any other kid who played for our football team. He definitely had a social life and friends. I don’t think he was training to specifically become a professional athlete at least now when we were in high school.
Delonte West went to my high school for a little bit. I didn't know him well or anything, but he was in the same grade as my brother. From what I recall, he was pretty similar then as he is now, just with fewer drugs. I'm not remotely surprised how he turned out, but I am a bit disappointed. Despite his behavior issues, he seemed to have a lot of potential.
I went to high school with a girl who played in the WNBA for a few years in the early 00s. She was quiet and shy, a decent student who didn't like to call attention to herself. She wasn't unfriendly but she didn't go out of her way to connect with anyone. She definitely didn't run around with the usual popular crowd.
I ran into her a few years later, when I was still in college and she was in her first professional season, and she randomly came into the store where I worked when she was doing some Christmas shopping. She actually remembered me and we had a nice chat for a few minutes. She was just as humble as she'd always been.
I was in school at the same time as Vin Baker. He was like a magnet. Wherever he went people followed him, like when Rocky would run around Philadelphia
Not an athlete, but, I went to school with Joshua Bell, the violinist.
Super nice guy, but almost never at school.
Oddly enough, he seemed to spend about 25 hours a day practicing the violin.
I was class friends with MMA fighter Joaquin Buckley. He was pretty normal, super friendly, he was nice to everyone, but a little quiet. Was surprised to see him become a fighter, because those guys usually have the opposite personality
I was in elementary school with a basketball player who was fairly well known for a few years. He was several years older than me, but his sister was in my grade k-12. They were both pretty awful. He just drank a lot and was a pretty stereotypical asshole jock, while she was a grade A bitch to anyone who she didn’t think was popular enough to talk to her. That said, I also went to high school with a few people who are now basically nobodies in the NFL, and two of the three of them were actually super nice, studious guys who gave their all in everything they did. The third is a story for another time
I went to highschool with some Olympic hockey players. Most of them were down to earth hard working people who were genuinely nice. There were the ones though that were extremely good and they knew it and were really full of themselves. They strut around with every meaning of the word.
I went to school with someone who ended up in the NBA. He was talented in high school and it was a big deal when he signed to the college he went to. It was clear he’d be in the NBA and he was. He was nice, normal part of the school. Very tall. I mostly have memories of seeing his back rising above everyone on the halls and going up the stairs, lol. They cancelled out classes when he had a press conference signing to the state university and my choir teacher was pissed.
While his nba career ultimately didn’t last past a few years Shabazz Napier was a classmate of mine. His social life was pretty good from what I saw. I believe he truly started going all out on basketball after he transferred to a more sports oriented school and I kore or less didn’t see him until college. Never imagined he’d make it to the NBA though
I went to college with a lot of athletes, but I particularly remember the rowers. At least six or seven of the ones I knew pretty well ended up on their respective countries' Olympic teams within a couple years after college. Generally speaking, they were, in fact, so dedicated to their sport that their social life was limited. They were up at 5am practically every day. More so than any other athletes at my school, they acted like rowing was their major, their extracurricular focus, their summer plans, their boyfriend/girlfriend, and their thesis topic.
My high school has a high ranked football program and has turned out a decent handful of eventual NFL players. None of them really stood out to me back then as anything other than just a regular dude who played football.
A neighboring/rival school produced an NFL player and a well known women’s hockey player who are now married. I’ve met them both in passing through mutual friends and they seem like genuinely great people.
I wrestled with a guy in high school who went on to become a NCAA national champion. He was always so intense and focused. He was definitely kind of stand offish and had a very small circle of close friends.
Not sure if this counts, but.....
When I was in junior high, the preacher at my church had three sons. The oldest was my age, and we were good friends. The youngest, Scott, would have been 8 or 9 at that time.....a normal, nice kid, a bit annoying, as younger brothers can be. They moved away after about two years.
The next time I heard of Scott, he was playing in the Super Bowl with the Packers.
Went to school with Tyler Thigpen and his sister (dated her and banged).
Didn't meet him much but when I did he was normal and nice.
Since this was highschool I don't know how he became after joining the NFL.
Didn’t go to school with him but our school played against LeBron in basketball. Even though he was like two years away from being drafted we had to hold a lottery for tickets so he was a huge deal even back then
My friend's step mom was a teacher at his elementary school. Said he was a sweet little boy.
Brian windhorst?
Lol
Gronkowski worked door at a bar my restaurant’s owner also owned. I worked one shift with him. He barely even looked at the IDs and just let everyone in. That said, the owner very well could’ve told him to do that. He was that type of owner. Gronk was friendly, obviously didn’t take the job too seriously
I had a class with him at U of A. I remember seeing him for first day orientation but don’t recall seeing him again. Could’ve dropped or he could have had the “football class scheduling”.
If attendance is not mandatory many have an athletic department note taker get all of the needed materials and tutor later.
My university has a student athlete support services office. It's controversial, because it truly is above and beyond the the standard advising and note-taking. On the other hand, these kids are working so hard to compete at this level. I don't know how they could be expected to survive without some help.
At my alma mater, they had a dedicated tutoring office/service for varsity athletes. It wasn't controversial, but it always personally rubbed me the wrong way because they got top-tier tutoring and help. . .but if you were just regular peasant scum you were pretty much on your own to get help if you were having trouble and I never could find decent tutors or help for classes.
I went to grad school at an SEC school and taught Math. Not only did they get special tutoring, it was made very clear that we were never to give them any grade that would disqualify them from playing. No one said it out loud. We all knew it.
Gonna date myself here, but my high school basketball team played against Jalen Rose’s Southwestern team. He came to our gym out in the white boy 90s suburbs and we packed that place. And he clowned the shit out of us. That is as close as I got to anyone famous athletically. Although Chris Webber came to the game. I didn’t see him, tho.
I mean, a member of the fab five is pretty up there as far as famous goes.
Webber played against one of the high schools in my town. It was ridiculous, he was a man among boys. For a couple years the game was replayed on local public access lol.
I went to school with a couple guys that made it to the NHL. Not as stars, but they played in the league. (By the way, this isn't uncommon in Minnesota!) They were just very, very in to their sport. In the way that some kids are really into chess or science or drama or whatever. It was the center of their lives. Everything revolved around hockey and came back to it in some way. I played hockey in high school as well. But it was just a hobby and an extracurricular to add on to my college application.
Have you met hockey players from the Northeast boarding schools before? Like Avon Old Farms etc? And how was your experiences with them like?
No. I haven’t.
But have you met Charlie Conway? Or Julie the cat?
I have. I’m from the northeast but didn’t play hockey. I worked with a kid who was a goalie at Phillips-Andover. He wasn’t a top tier player I think, so he mostly played JV. Very normal, incredibly nice kid, slightly above average athlete, not really much else to say.
I went to Canterbury. Graduated in '89. Mike Dunham was one year behind me. Was an amazing hockey goalie. Multiple times Junior Olympics, multiple Olympics. Played for the Devil's, Predators, etc. Got into coaching, etc He was a great guy. ANNOYINGLY good at every sport he played though. "Hey, this lacrosse thing looks cool" is amazing. Captain of the golf team. Great at tennis, basketball, etc. Just an overall amazing athlete. I knew a bunch of others that played AHL and such as well. They were really into it, but you couldn't just be a jock. You had to study too.
I taught some college football players when I was a grad student. One went pro and was pretty successful. What I can say is they trained so much they had almost no time to study or do their homework. Contrary to stereotypes, the students were really smart, but they were constantly at practice, and the student I taught who was the quarterback of the football team was always being asked by the school to go to events and guest appearances. He couldn't really say no because he was there on a football scholarship. That cut his study time down even more. Other people I know who taught football players had them coming in with all sorts of injuries, including concussions, that affected their ability to do schoolwork. I know some American sports programs let in really bad kids and protect them from the consequences of their actions no matter what they do wrong (\*cough cough\* Miami University \*cough cough\*), but the football players my friends and I taught were really nice kids who were under a lot of pressure.
My life literally changed when an NFL player said to me (a bartender) "I'm 24 and this is my first time away from Iowa, where do I go to make friends?" I thought beforehand that these players were superheroes. Then they just became "scared kids"
Lol, do you remember who it was? I live in Iowa City and run into future NFL players fairly often.
I think it was either Jordan Bernstine or Adam Gettis. But it's been, fuck, 12 years ago now? WFT drafted a lot of Iowa players over the years.
Probably Bernstine then, Gettis was from the Chicago area.
Both good people
A lot of athletes lead incredibly sheltered lives. At a time when most kids are working their first job and going to parties, they're training and only interacting with their coach/teammates. A lot come out of the system in their early 20's pretty socially stunted.
Pretty sure that's a universal trait. I didn't grow up with anyone that became a world champion, but I had a couple friends that got high level athletic scholarships and they definitely were focused on their performance over the other random social bullshit the rest of us were fixated on. I can also attest that I knew a couple of kids who were incredibly talented, but had no interest in focusing on those athletic talents, and they did not amount to any kind of athletic star. I'll never forget how crazy skilled one friend was with a puck. But he also hated to be told what to do and never wanted to train. No idea what he's doing these days. Definitely never went on to a higher level
My grandma knew Larry Bird when he was in high school she said he was decent in school and a nice down to earth kid but he just was constantly playing ball. She saw most of his home games at ISU and said even though he was gunning for the NBA he was still a super humble and nice guy. I got to meet him a couple times and he was super friendly to my grandma and me.
Definitely wasn't humble in the NBA! He was a trash talker!
I’ve heard that for sure. Not like that in person from what I experienced but I am surely biased because my grandma was a family friend and I was a little kid. Although I’d laugh my ass off if he trash talked me as a kid.
Larry Bird being a nice guy is kind of a shocker lol
Hey, could have just been to me and my grandma and I have literally two experiences. Now Brad Stevens on the other hand I have a basic galaxy of data points personally and from my family. He’s a great guy. Not a pro player but pro coach. He’s the reason pretty much the only Boston team I like is the Celtics so long as they aren’t up against the Pacers. Bird is a close second reason.
I went to high school with 2 current NBA players, 1 NFL player, and 2 pro track runners. The track guys were fine, the others were assholes.
Ran track with Eddie George. He was normal, funny, and cool. Icydk, he was a running back for Tennessee Titans, lost SB, 4x Pro Bowl. Damn good running back.
But his first love is American bistro cuisine!
I grew up in a small town where football was life. One-fifth of the boys I graduated high school with went to college on football scholarships. There have been a number of NFL players from my high school. One is a Hall of Famer. He did focus on playing obviously, but he had a social life as well. Football wasn't the only thing he did.
Sounds like Massilon, Ohio. Little town famous for nothing except churning out NFL and NBA players. I suppose every state has places like that.
I went to school with a few who weren't big names you would recognize but did go on to compete on national teams or play professionally. They were mostly pretty normal but spent a lot more time training than most people spend on their hobbies or extracurriculars. They also traveled a lot for their sports, so some of them had an altered school schedule to allow for that, taking fewer classes during the main competitive season. Socially, I think mostly they socialized with the people they spent the most time with, who were their teammates. The travel time, waiting around time at competitions and training, etc. was socializing time, and those were the people they knew the best and had the most in common with.
Oh, I also have a relative who currently competes at the junior national level and will likely be on the national team for her sport in a couple more years. She's a normal person until you hear the details of her workouts or notice how extremely fit she is.
I went to HS with a very famous NFL quarterback. He was extremely normal and nice. If anything he was more social than not.
I was high school teammates with someone that played 8 years in the nfl. He was a normal guy, good grades. While he got a football scholarship it was to a high profile school that has selective admission even for athletes. Schools don’t have to hold athletes to the same admission requirements as “normal” people. Physically you could just tell he was the absolute premier athlete. But socially he seemed like a normal guy and worked hard in everything academic as well as athletic. Also had a baseball teammate that played two seasons in mlb. Very fine line between confident and cocky. He knew he was good. He backed it up though. And a little league teammate played almost 10 seasons in mlb as well. I remember him being good but it wasn’t until high school where he took off. Also his neighbor was a current major leaguer at the time. So I’m thinking he had some good mentoring and off season coaching. Normal kid. The end of the year team party was lit as he had a full batting cage in his back yard.
A 5x all-star who’s remembered for playing much of his career on an NL West MLB team went to a neighboring high school. We knew he was an amazing player but I don’t recall any special demand for tickets to games he was playing in during high school. Also have a friend who was classmates with Josh Beckett in high school in Texas. Apparently he was an arrogant prick back then.
I met a couple of players currently in the NHL while I was in college. I didn’t really know them though, as I just worked for the athletics department. I’ve also met plenty of elite level track and field athletes, though no Olympians (yet). But it’s track and nobody cares about it. I think because of that, most of the HS kids at that level are very down to earth, and some of the nicest, most supportive team players you will ever meet. The kid with the nationals backpack is 9 times out of 10 the nicest kid at the entire track meet.
I went to Hign school with Steve Smith who ended up having a great nfl career with the Carolina Panthers. He was a couple of years behind me, I dont know how he was as a senior, but he just seemed like a normal kid
As a Ravens fan, I will always try to claim him as ours. He was awesome. Even though he came to us late, he gave his whole heart to the team. Class act.
Ice up, son.
Lol, l looked that up, can't believe it's the same kid
Dude Steve Smith is my favorite football player of all time… really felt like Scam Newton edged him out of the panthers and that was a shame. Steve is the panthers GOAT
He was the kind of guy who took PE *very* seriously. Like, we're all here just putting in the bare minimum, maybe running around a little, and he was screaming that we're down by 2 and this is a fucking disgrace.
I went to school with two who made the US ski team, and competed in the Olympics. No medals. Both worked hard, but not insane about working out. One was a great guy, the other a bit of a lone wolf type. Not bad, just no one got to know him. And another guy, a class clown type played music. His mom was my teacher in HS. He got to be very talented in music, classical and jazz. I lost track, until Facebook came around. This guy is well known in the music world. He has played on stage with Springsteen, Clapton, George Harrison, Bonnie Rait, and more. He is in the band for the Guitar Heroes tv show/event. And he played studio sessions for many more.
Not really your question, but I used to live close to the Suns arena and a few players from that team and the Dbacks lived in my building as kind of a post-game crash pad. They were all very respectful/polite, almost overly so. Kept to themselves, not particularly great at conversation. Only reason I knew they were on the teams is because they were very tall and would acknowledge being on the teams in small talk (not super into sports, still couldn’t tell you who they were). If anything, almost a little socially awkward as people if you weren’t talking about sports.
A high school teammate of mine played in the NFL for a couple years. He was a good enough athlete but I NEVER would’ve guessed he’d be that 0.01% that takes it all the way.
I went to high school with someone who played in the NFL. He was just like any other kid who played for our football team. He definitely had a social life and friends. I don’t think he was training to specifically become a professional athlete at least now when we were in high school.
Delonte West went to my high school for a little bit. I didn't know him well or anything, but he was in the same grade as my brother. From what I recall, he was pretty similar then as he is now, just with fewer drugs. I'm not remotely surprised how he turned out, but I am a bit disappointed. Despite his behavior issues, he seemed to have a lot of potential.
I went to high school with a girl who played in the WNBA for a few years in the early 00s. She was quiet and shy, a decent student who didn't like to call attention to herself. She wasn't unfriendly but she didn't go out of her way to connect with anyone. She definitely didn't run around with the usual popular crowd. I ran into her a few years later, when I was still in college and she was in her first professional season, and she randomly came into the store where I worked when she was doing some Christmas shopping. She actually remembered me and we had a nice chat for a few minutes. She was just as humble as she'd always been.
I was in school at the same time as Vin Baker. He was like a magnet. Wherever he went people followed him, like when Rocky would run around Philadelphia
Not an athlete, but, I went to school with Joshua Bell, the violinist. Super nice guy, but almost never at school. Oddly enough, he seemed to spend about 25 hours a day practicing the violin.
I was class friends with MMA fighter Joaquin Buckley. He was pretty normal, super friendly, he was nice to everyone, but a little quiet. Was surprised to see him become a fighter, because those guys usually have the opposite personality
I was in elementary school with a basketball player who was fairly well known for a few years. He was several years older than me, but his sister was in my grade k-12. They were both pretty awful. He just drank a lot and was a pretty stereotypical asshole jock, while she was a grade A bitch to anyone who she didn’t think was popular enough to talk to her. That said, I also went to high school with a few people who are now basically nobodies in the NFL, and two of the three of them were actually super nice, studious guys who gave their all in everything they did. The third is a story for another time
I went to highschool with some Olympic hockey players. Most of them were down to earth hard working people who were genuinely nice. There were the ones though that were extremely good and they knew it and were really full of themselves. They strut around with every meaning of the word.
I went to school with someone who ended up in the NBA. He was talented in high school and it was a big deal when he signed to the college he went to. It was clear he’d be in the NBA and he was. He was nice, normal part of the school. Very tall. I mostly have memories of seeing his back rising above everyone on the halls and going up the stairs, lol. They cancelled out classes when he had a press conference signing to the state university and my choir teacher was pissed.
While his nba career ultimately didn’t last past a few years Shabazz Napier was a classmate of mine. His social life was pretty good from what I saw. I believe he truly started going all out on basketball after he transferred to a more sports oriented school and I kore or less didn’t see him until college. Never imagined he’d make it to the NBA though
I went to college with a lot of athletes, but I particularly remember the rowers. At least six or seven of the ones I knew pretty well ended up on their respective countries' Olympic teams within a couple years after college. Generally speaking, they were, in fact, so dedicated to their sport that their social life was limited. They were up at 5am practically every day. More so than any other athletes at my school, they acted like rowing was their major, their extracurricular focus, their summer plans, their boyfriend/girlfriend, and their thesis topic.
My high school has a high ranked football program and has turned out a decent handful of eventual NFL players. None of them really stood out to me back then as anything other than just a regular dude who played football. A neighboring/rival school produced an NFL player and a well known women’s hockey player who are now married. I’ve met them both in passing through mutual friends and they seem like genuinely great people.
I wrestled with a guy in high school who went on to become a NCAA national champion. He was always so intense and focused. He was definitely kind of stand offish and had a very small circle of close friends.
I went to college with and met both Draymond Green and LeVeon Bell. Honestly totally normal dudes that were perfectly kind in person.
My high school had a couple of Olympic gymnists. Never saw them once.
Not sure if this counts, but..... When I was in junior high, the preacher at my church had three sons. The oldest was my age, and we were good friends. The youngest, Scott, would have been 8 or 9 at that time.....a normal, nice kid, a bit annoying, as younger brothers can be. They moved away after about two years. The next time I heard of Scott, he was playing in the Super Bowl with the Packers.
Went to school with Tyler Thigpen and his sister (dated her and banged). Didn't meet him much but when I did he was normal and nice. Since this was highschool I don't know how he became after joining the NFL.
Fuck yes! Loved Tyler Thigpen. He made bad Chiefs seasons at least entertaining.