It might sound hard to believe, but as a kid, Hall of Fame Boston Celtics big man Robert Parish was very much not a fan of playing the sport of basketball. Given that he would become among the longest-tenured players in the history of the NBA and a winner of 4 NBA championships across his 21-season career, one would be forgiven if the notion that Chief began playing the game reluctantly sounded spurious.
But the man himself attested to as much on a recent appearance on the “Players’ Own Voice” podcast in a wide-ranging interview you should listen to in its entirety if you are a fan of the Celtics legend’s game.
As for his awkward start with the sport, Parish related that he “didn’t like it” at first.
“It turned out that it was a good thing that I did not give up on it because when I first started out, I used to tell my junior high school coach, whatever you see in me I do not see,” he explained.
“I couldn’t catch it. I couldn’t hold it, I couldn’t dribble it, I couldn’t shoot it. I was just a tall person out on the court. And so he always told me, he kept saying it over and over again: ‘You were that tall for a reason.’”
“My parents my junior high school coach pursued me for maybe two weeks before I finally went to the first basketball practice,” continued Chief, revealing what finally got him into the game he became so famous playing.
“So I went for a week and then I just stopped going, and so the coach came to my house and wanted to know why I stopped coming to practice. And so when my parents found out that I had given the coach my word that I was going to participate, that was the end of that discussion — so I didn’t have a choice. My parents always preached that you do not start something and do not finish it.”
“That has resonated with me over the years,” finished Parish.
And given the outsized role he played in three of the Celtics’ NBA titles in the 1980s, it ought to resonate with hsi fans too.
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
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Story originally appeared on Celtics Wire
