Dwyane Wade’s life is one of a star. Aside from his legendary NBA career, he graces the front of countless magazine covers and isn’t shy under the bright light. However, his life wasn’t always glitz-and-glamor. Wade came from a rough childhood and his father’s military background often led to extreme discipline that made him the man he is today, for better and for worse. His father’s extremes led to the school banning him from Wade’s high school games.
Advertisement
The Heat legend shares a close bond with his father, Dwyane Wade Sr. But, he wasn’t originally under his father’s care in his early childhood years. Dwyane lived with his mother, JoLinda, who initially had custody of him and his sister Tragil. Unfortunately, his mother later developed a severe drug addiction.
This led to her even serving time in prison. One day, Tragil tricked Dwyane into thinking the two siblings were only going to the movie theater. In reality, she took them to live with their father.
As a result, Dwyane’s environment changed drastically. In an exclusive feature with The Atlantic, Wade spoke on how he viewed his father as a child.
“He 6 foot 3, muscles, had a mean streak,” Wade said. “Damn right, I’m listening to my dad. I had no choice. I was scared of my dad. He brought that military background to everything we did.”
Wade Sr. served a bit of time with the United States military. He used those traits he learned during his time serving i as a father. Once he noticed that Dwyane’s pursuit of basketball was serious, he brought that military approach to their training. The experience wasn’t pleasant for Wade.
Dwyane’s father would get his son to play against older competition, not as punishment but to enhance his skills. As a fifth-grader, he would play eighth-graders. His sister recalled a specific moment involving a left-hand layup which perfectly describes the relationship between Wade and his father.
“Dwyane missed that left-hand layup; he couldn’t go left,” Tragil said. “So Daddy made him stay out on the court until he got it right. He was crying and everything, but he learned to use that left hand.”
In hindsight, Wade understands the importance his father had on his career. Constantly pushing him to outperform his expectations led him to become the amazing player he ended up being. However, that didn’t mean everyone accepted Wade Sr.’s way of coaching.
Throughout Dwyane’s high school career, his father would attend the games. However, due to his antics on the sideline, the school had to relieve him of his access privileges.
“He was always trying to coach from the sidelines, so they ended up banning him from home games,” Targil said.
Looking back Dwyane and his dad can laugh at their experiences. Nonetheless, Wade Sr.’s resilient nature in raising his son is a direct reason that he became the person he is today. He now takes the same traits his father had and uses it his parenting style with his children, although Wade Jr. tries to be a lot kinder than his father was.
