With his hometown team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, possibly nearing its first NBA championship in franchise history, Skip Bayless has been reminiscing on his basketball glory days. The longtime sports personality recalled a counselor, Mr. White, who helped kickstart his short-lived basketball career during his days at Taft Junior High School in Oklahoma City. Had it not been for Mr. White, Skip may never have found his love for hoops growing up in the football state of Oklahoma.
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Contrary to popular belief, though, Skip claimed that basketball’s popularity rivaled that of football’s in Oklahoma during his childhood. Bayless explained that baseball was easily his best sport growing up, but it was basketball that he fell most deeply in love with.
Coming from a broken home with a father who didn’t care about sports, it wasn’t always easy for Skip to engage in his love of basketball. But he was given a prime opportunity to play while attending Epworth Methodist Church, which happened to have a boys’ basketball team. Skip shared that in fifth grade, he was asked to join the team by a group of sixth graders, and the rest was history.
“So, I’m a year behind. But I was tall for my age. We had a pretty good team. I can’t remember everybody on the team. Royce Allen, Dick Daniels, tall kid named Tommy” Bayless said on his show. “But the point was that right away I just knew I could play basketball better than the sixth graders could play basketball.”
Through hard work and dedication, Skip claims he continued to grow as a player and soon became the best talent in his church league. “I spent hours in my driveway on the concrete shooting at the rim, my old rim with the messed-up net on it … And all of a sudden I’m thinking, ‘Wait a second, I’m actually better than they are,'” he continued.
“And I’m better than a lot of the guys on the other teams were. And by sixth grade, I was dominating. And by seventh grade, trust me, I became a church league legend in Oklahoma City because nobody could stop me,” Bayless proclaimed.
The 73-year-old appeared proud of his childhood basketball career, but his viewers weren’t convinced of his dominance.
“Skip, it is okay that you weren’t an athlete,” one viewer commented, acknowledging Skip’s obvious desire to have been a better athlete in his youth.
“My grandpa saw Skip dunk on Wilt back in the day,” another viewer joked, poking fun at Bayless’ age.
“Man peaked in 8th grade,” a third replied, laughing at Skip’s middle-school accolades.
Skip Bayless may have never been a professional athlete in his life, but he represents the average athlete who enjoys youth sports before the game eventually becomes too fast for them. The problem isn’t that Bayless was an average athlete, it’s that he tries to act like he wasn’t. He infamously averaged just 1.4 points per game throughout his high school career.
Bayless never became a basketball star, but all these years later, it’s clear he didn’t need to be. He’s been covering the game as one of the most recognizable media figures in the sport for decades. Considering he was never going to the NBA as a player, Skip’s longtime gig has been a pretty solid consolation prize.
