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KENDRICK PERKINS NBA CHAMP: IRISH ROOTS?
Mario Elie is the most famous player to have played basketball in this country and of course he went back to the United States and won an unprecedented three NBA titles, two with Houston Rockets and a third with San Antonio Spurs but not so many people know of the association of Kendrick Perkins who was a starter on the Doc Rivers Boston Celtics side that beat LA Lakers to win their seventeenth title after a break of 22 years has with this country.
From a 6ft altar boy ten years ago to a 6-10 NBA champion at 23 with Boston Celtics this year, that has been the meteoric rise to fame of Kendrick Perkins whose dad Kenny played in Ireland for St Vincent’s and Killester in the eighties.
Kendrick has heard so much about Ireland and his dad’s first job abroad after leaving college that himself and his dad want to come over here next year to revisit the country but also to do a basketball camp for our budding stars. What a treat that would be for for all our young HOOP stars.
“Kendrick is great with kids and we would love to come to Ireland where it all began for me and impart some of our knowledge. I think it would be great for the kids to meet him and see his NBA RING. I have been telling him all about the country and he wants to go over next year at the end of the NBA season” said Kenny who is now living in Christchurch in New Zealand with his wife Linda.
“We are expecting our first child in August” said an ever so proud  Kenny who played for many years in New Zealand after an excellent career in this country which included a place in Ireland’s Promotions Cup winning team of 1988 in Malta.
He came to Ireland straight from college in 1984 and joined St Vincent's before moving to Killester.
“I had a great time over there and I will always remember it. I played in the first game at the Neptune Stadium for Vincent’s against Burgerland and then I also played in that famous game for Killester when we lost the league to a Ger Kennedy three pointer on the buzzer”
Former St Vincent’s and Ireland captain Owen McKeon has kept in touch with Kenny and met up with his former team mate, Kendrick and his baby son Kendrick junior on a recent visit to Boston.
“Kendrick is a chip off the old block in every way. He looks the image of his dad except that he is 6-10 and Kenny was ONLY 6-6. But he has the same respectful demeanour as KP”
“In a world of Brat stars it was refreshing to meet an ordinary young man” said McKeon.
The legendary Jerome Westbrooks was also full of praise for KP. “He was one of those great players to coach, he was really the first power forward to play over here and off the court you could not meet a gentler giant. It’s uncanny how alike Kenny and Kendrick are”
Kendrick was brought up by his grandparents after the death of his mother.
Dubbed in high school as Baby Shaq after the great Shaquille O’Neal, Kendrick graduated from Clifton J Ozen High School in Beaumont Texas where he averaged an incredible 27.5 points per game, 16.4 rebounds and 7.8 blocked shots in a 33-1 winning season and it came as no surprise that the NBA beckoned immediately.
Kendrick was drafted as a 27th pick by Memphis Grizzlies in 2003 (the same year as Le Bron James) but was immediately traded to Boston Celtics and the dream had begun even though his dad admits he was against the move.
“At the time I would have preferred him to go to college at the University of Memphis and get his degree but in hindsight it has worked out for him and he has become a wealthy young man and with Vanity and Kendrick junior they have a lovely lifestyle and live in a really nice town house in Boston. Ray Allen lives just beside him”
Before the play-offs the highlight of his career was a career high 24 points against the New York Knicks in January of this year but there is no doubting that that was eclipsed by the play-off victory against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
You have got to remember that things have not been great for the once famous Celtics and even this season didn’t start so well but what a turnaround we saw in their fortunes and much of that has been attributed to Perkins power play inside culminating in a 131-92 victory over the Lakers in game six of the play-offs in front of the adoring Celtics fans.
Dad Kenny is a proud father and he was over for the series from his new home in New Zealand.
“I suppose I am biased but he is a lovely boy and is very humble and I am so happy for him. The play offs were a bit of a struggle for him with injury. He missed game five which they lost due to a shoulder injury but they gave him intensive treatment and he made it for game six and that seemed to spur on the team and the fans”
“It was a special day for Celtics fans who had been starved of success but it was also very special for our family” said the proud dad.
Kenny describes what it was like when hundreds of thousands of Celtic fans turned out to acknowledge what the team had done after so long.
“It was amazing, it took about three hours to pass, I looked up at Kendrick and he was like a kid in a candy store, he was just staring at everybody in awe”
He has been called up to the team that is working out against the US Olympic team for China and hopefully that is a good omen that he could be picked for London 2012.
How does the younger Perkins feel about winning the NBA Ring?
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but I am so happy and proud for my partner Vanity and son Kendrick. It is something that we will all cherish”
We’ll leave the last word to one of the most unassuming young men you could ever meet as he describes when he realised he had made it.
“I was at the local grocery store doing the shopping when all of a sudden I was surrounded by loads of fans looking for my autograph, it became crazy and I suppose it was dangerous for the other shoppers and I had to be rescued”
* Source: Irish Daily Star * |
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