When you're 7-foot-5 and one of the most highly touted high school basketball players in the United States, you can understand how both the facts and the expectations sometimes tend to get blown out of proportion.
So, in a nutshell, here's the abridged life history of one Shawn Bradley: sharing a crib with a basketball, receiving pity as a toddler with perceived handicaps, dancing with a chair-bound date, leading his Emery County High basketball team to a state championship as junior, earning Utah's Mr. Basketball honor, becoming one of the country's most sought-after recruits, being featured by NBC and ESPN, being mentioned frequently by the likes of sportscasters Dick Vitale and Al McGuire, having the later label you as a potential NBA All-Star by the turn of the century, and commiting before the start of his senior season to play basketball at Brigham Young University.Whew! And all of that before Bradley turns 17 and a-half-years-old.
Born in Germany on March 21, 1972, Bradley measured into mortal life at a quite-normal 19 inches and 10 pounds, the son of an Air Force father and Emery area native in Reiner and Teresa Bradley.
The newborn soon had company in the crib with him, as Reiner Bradley placed a basketball beside his firstborn _ but certainly not in anticipation of any future growth spurts. "My dad thought my head looked like a basketball, so he set one inside my crib," said Bradley.
Then, as a 1-year-old toddler learning to walk, Bradley evoked the sympathy of folks first in Germany and later in the United States when his family returned. "People were always coming up and apologizing to my mother, `We're sorry for your son, that he's retarded.' They thought I was a retarded 3-year-old when I was just a year old."
Bradley's bigness eventually exceeded all expectations - by age 13 he had reached the 6-foot-11 stature that was projected for him by doctors. Growing three inches most every year since second grade, Bradley towered at 6-1 by the end of sixth grade and 7-0 at the end of ninth grade. He even has added an inch since last year - and he's still growing.
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"I was made to be 7-foot-5," says Bradley. "That's me, that's the way I'm going to be. I want to make it a positive experience and not a negative one."
About the only negative experience he's had so far is a semi-awkward situation at the Emery County High prom last spring, when he escorted a 5-foot-4 date. Forgoing the painful process of dancing on his knees as in the past, Bradley instead opted to ask his date to dance on a chair. "Just one night out of my whole life I wished that I was rather 6-foot-4," he says.
However, despite being taller than nearly every player in the NBA, Bradley still enjoys the sports and activities of any teenager in the company of family or friends. There's bowling or roller skating in Price, the movies in Huntington, and even waterskiing or riding three-wheelers whenever and wherever possible.
Last spring he played baseball at Emery and hit nearly .400 despite having one of the biggest strike zones ever in the sport. This fall he's on the Emery golf team, thanks in part to a special set of extra-long clubs sold to him by former Wyoming and NBA player Chris Engler.
And, ever the teenager at heart, Bradley's stature didn't keep him from fitting into his first car - a Volkswagen Bug.
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Most too-tall young basketball hopefuls are either self-conscious or self-centered. With his reddish hair, blue eyes and thin, boyish face, Bradley looks _ and often acts _ like a cross between Orel Hershiser and Opie Taylor. And he has the demeanor to match _ a cheerful, friendly type who isn't below helping up an opponent off the floor instead of filling the lanes on a fast break. But just as quickly, though, he can turn into a determined, forceful competitor bent on swatting away any ball brought into the paint.
That's evident when he is asked about being the target of opposing teams and taunting fans. "It gets on me a little bit," he says. "When people taunt me, I laugh at them. I think, `You guys have your fun now; then we'll take it to your team. And when they (opponents) try to undercut me, try to get me mad, or try to pull down on my jersey _ when they're going to do damage instead of playing ball, that's not right."
That same sense of fair play was evident in Bradley's college-selection process. A number of the two-dozen schools he eliminated en route to the his final "Lucky Seven" possibilities this summer _ BYU, Utah, UCLA, Arizona, North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse _ were cut because of recruiting violations or because they didn't abide by the restrictions he had placed for them on phoning him at home.
Other schools were whittled away from consideration when they balked at his conviction to serve a two-year LDS mission. "That's firm," says Bradley, whose six-year plan includes finishing his senior year at Emery, and then interrupting his college career after his freshman season for the mission experience.
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As for basketball, Bradley displayed considerable maturity and enhanced talent from his sophomore season to his junior season last year, when he averaged 26 points, 13 rebounds and nearly nine blocks a game. The championship season culminated with Emery's thrilling 84-83 overtime triumph in the 2A title game, when he scored 37 points, collected 13 rebounds and swatted down numerous shots.
Last summer, Bradley attended the prestigious Nike Invitational camp and felt so out of place that he phoned home in tears after the second day. This year, he was a savvy, headline-type performer at the Nike camp in New Jersey and subsequent Reebok summer sessions at Long Beach and Las Vegas. The only drawback cited by scouts and other onlookers is Bradley's thin, 210-pound frame _ but they also know that he'll bulk up and fill out as he grows older, while other muscle-bound recruits won't be reaching anywhere near his 7-foot-5 size.
That 7-5 size is taking Bradley places, and he'll enjoy the ride, thank you. "I just plan on enjoying being tall."