By Dorothy J. Gentry
Sports Editor
Credit: TDMN
On Saturday night, in a room full of the NBA’s upper crust — like Pat Riley, Bill Russell, LeBron James and others – Dallas native Chris Bosh was inducted into the NBA’s prestigious Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
During his acceptance speech, the 37-year-old acknowledged the many tears he has shed throughout his lifetime.
“I like to think that all of those tears weren’t endings,” said the 13-year NBA veteran. “They were beginnings. They weren’t moments that made me want to stop working. They were moments that made me want to work even harder.”
Some of those moments that made him cry included when he was bullied as a young kid for wearing a Laker’s jersey; when his hometown Dallas Mavericks won the 2011 Finals – by defeating the Miami Heat team he played for; and, during a doctor’s visit when “the tears came” after being told he could no longer play the game he loved.
“When I think about it, they were more than tears. They were the water that made it possible for the seeds of greatness inside me to grow” Bosh said. “And they are the reason that that little kid with those thin makeshift posters on the wall is standing in front of his heroes tonight as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.”
Credit: TDMN
Bosh, the youngest member of this year’s class, was a basketball phenom in high school. He was named a prestigious McDonald’s All-American and led Dallas’ Lincoln Humanities and Communications Magnet High School to a state championship with a 40-0 record.
The two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat (2012, 2013) and 11-time NBA All-Star (2006-2016) reached the pinnacle of his career with the induction.
In 13 NBA seasons, he averaged 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Drafted by the Toronto Raptors, he was a member of the NBA All-Rookie Team in 2003-2004.
Bosh’s NBA career was cut short by a blood-clotting condition that the NBA ruled to be a career-ending illness. Bosh played his final NBA game on February 9, 2016. He fought to resume his playing career for three years before announcing in February 2019 that he intended to retire. On March 26, the Heat retired his no. 1 jersey.
“I want you guys to know a little bit more about me,” said Bosh, who was introduced by former Heat teammate Ray Allen and Heat President and former head coach Pat Riley.
“When I was a kid, I used to take SLAM Magazine and carefully rip out the pictures in the middle of my heroes and put them on walls as my posters. In fact, some of those heroes are here right now; a lot of them are,” Bosh said. “I’ll never be able to describe just how much the game you built means to me. How much it’s done for me. But while I’m so grateful all of you are in this building I’m thinking of the ones as well that are not.
“In particular, Kobe Bryant. He was such an inspiration for my generation and I’m sure all of us in this room.”
Credit: TDMN
After thunderous applause at the mention of the late NBA great who was killed two years ago in a helicopter crash, Bosh shared a lesson he learned from Bryant.
“It was 2008, we were in Vegas for the start of training camp and we were getting ready for the Olympics in Beijing,” Bosh recalled. “I wanted to establish myself as a young leader on the team by waking up bright and early, day one. So the goal was to be the first one at breakfast.”
Bosh set his alarm to make sure he was up at sunrise. His alarm went off and he got out of bed, put on his gear and headed downstairs. When he got there, Bryant – ice packs on his knees and drenched in sweat – was already there.
“Now it took me a minute to figure it out but this guy wasn’t already awake before me, he had already worked out,’ said Bosh. “He had just played in a NBA Final just days earlier, meanwhile I’d been off for months and I was still exhausted.
“What he had done that morning was incomprehensible to me. That dedication he had – only days after falling short of an NBA championship – that taught me something I’ve never forgotten,” Bosh continued. “He taught me that legends aren’t defined by their successes, they’re defined by how they bounce back from their failures.”
Bosh had a long career in basketball starting at open gym nights at Highland Hill Recreation Center in Dallas to the halls of Lincoln. As a collegiate athlete at Georgia Tech, Bosh earned ACC Rookie of the Year in 2003.
On the international stage, Bosh won an Olympic gold medal in 2008. He also has written a book, “Letters to a Young Athlete” and spends time speaking to youths about the benefits of reading and education through his Chris Bosh Foundation in Dallas and Toronto.
