Yao Ming Biography from Current Biography International Yearbook
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Yao Ming Biography from Current Biography International Yearbook (2002) Copyright (c) by The H. W. Wilson Company. All rights reserved. In his youth, the Chinese basketball player Yao Ming was once described as a "crane towering among a flock of chickens," Lee Chyen Yee wrote for Reuters (September 7, 2000). The only child of two retired professional basketball stars who played in the 1970s, Yao has towered over most of the adults in his life since elementary school. His adult height of seven feet five inches, coupled with his natural athleticism, has made him the best basketball player in his native China. Li Yaomin, the manager of Yao's Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks, compared him to America's basketball icon: "America has Michael Jordan," he told Ching-Ching Ni for the Los Angeles Times (June 13, 2002), "and China has Yao Ming." In Yao's case, extraordinary height is matched with the grace and agility of a much smaller man. An Associated Press article, posted on ESPN.com (May 1, 2002), called Yao a "giant with an air of mystery to him, a player who's been raved about since the 2000 Olympics." Yao, who was eager to play in the United States, was the number-one pick in the 2002 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft; after complex negotiations with the Chinese government and the China Basketball Association (CBA), Yao was signed to the Houston Rockets in October 2002. Yao Ming was born on September 12, 1980 in Shanghai, China. His father, Zhiyuan, is six feet 10 inches and played center for a team in Shanghai, while his mother, Fang Fengdi, was the captain of the Chinese national women's basketball team and was considered by many to have been one of the greatest women's centers of all time. At six feet four inches she was also the tallest member of her team. Unusual height runs in the family: one of Yao's grandfathers, a retired factory worker, is six feet eight inches tall. The family apartment in Shanghai "yields evidence of a home of giants," Lee Chyen Yee reported. "Door frames are taller, beds are longer, and the family clothes and shoes . are mostly made to order." "'We removed the air vents above the doors to make them taller so that we won't knock our heads,'" Yao Zhiyuan explained to Lee Chyen Yee. Though his parents were both professional basketball players (whose careers were cut short by Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution), Yao was not particularly encouraged to play the game. He was discovered by scouts who came to his elementary school and singled him out for an after-school sports program. "I started playing organized basketball at 10 years old," he recalled, through an interpreter, to David Aldridge for ESPN.com (September 5, 2002), "as sort of like a Little League basketball, and we won the city championship." The Chinese government regularly enrolls unusually tall children in such programs, and closely monitors their development. The most promising athletes are then sent to full-time sports academies. Some join the junior division of local, government- funded basketball teams; those who excel, like Yao, go on to the adult league. "He didn't like basketball very much in the beginning," Yao's first coach, Li Zhangming, told Ching- Ching Ni. "He was so much taller than the other kids and an awkward mover. It took time to cultivate his interest, by playing games and making him feel the fun of basketball." Based on his parents' heights and x-rays of his hands, Yao's after-school basketball coaches speculated that he would grow to be very tall. He received special treatment from school officials and coaches, whose main concern was to preserve and encourage his potential. "To make sure . Yao didn't skip training, coach Li picked the boy up from school every day and rode his bicycle beside him to the gym," Ching-Ching Ni wrote. "While other kids paid 70 cents for a school meal, a high price in the 1980s, Yao got a free lunch." By age 12, Yao was six feet five inches, and his coaches predicted he still had another foot to go. He was moved to a full-time sports academy, the Shanghai Physical & Sport Technic Education Institute, to have his days regimented and supervised. "We didn't trust the lower-level sports schools," a coach, Wang Qun, explained to Ching-Ching Ni. "We wanted him [at Shanghai's elite sports academy] so our specialists could make sure he got enough to eat and sleep and that his bones were growing properly." At 15 Yao graduated from the junior division and moved on to the adult league, signing with his hometown team, the Shanghai Sharks, which is owned jointly by the Chinese government and a Shanghai television station. As his parents had in the 1970s, he played center, a position generally reserved for the tallest players on the team. He made his professional debut for the Sharks in the 1997-1998 season; as a rookie, he averaged 10 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. Yao attracted notice from the NBA almost immediately, even though he was barely into his professional career in China. In the summer of 1998, courtesy of the multinational sporting goods manufacturer Nike, he toured the U.S. as a member of a San Diego-based High Five America team, composed of some of America's best high-school basketball players. Yao's team competed at tournaments such as the Nike Peach Jam Invitational in Georgia and the Nike All-American camp in Indiana. His exceptional height was noted by teammates, coaches, and the press, and he welcomed the opportunity to experience American basketball first-hand. "Chinese basketball is slower and more structured," he explained, through an interpreter, to Dwight Foxx for the Augusta, Georgia, Chronicle (July 14, 1998), "while American basketball is a lot of one-on-one play with stronger players. American speed is also much faster." In 1999, after missing much of the CBA season with a left-leg fracture, Yao considered entering the NBA draft; he even signed a three-way contract with the Chinese government and a U.S.-based management company. However, the contract terms were disputed by other agents, who argued that they were unfair to Yao, who ultimately withdrew from the contract and chose to skip the 1999 NBA draft. In the 1999-2000 CBA season, Yao began to distinguish himself. That year he led the CBA in rebounds and blocks, and averaged 21.2 points per game. Late in the season he was scheduled to fly to Indiana to take part in the Nike Hoop Summit, an international junior all-star exhibition. Scores of NBA scouts were expected to attend, and Yao hoped to use the occasion to make a favorable impression prior to the 2000 NBA draft. At the last minute, however, the Chinese government ordered him to stay home. According to an April 2, 2000 PR Newswire article, "officials began to fear that they would lose a player that could help China's international prestige. So national coach Jiang Xinguan moved up the Olympic training schedule by a week--which meant it overlapped with the Hoop Summit--and canceled Yao's trip. Officials said the star was too tired." Yao publicly contested the official statement. "I'm not tired," he told Brook Larmer for Newsweek (April 10, 2000). "Besides, it's just one game." At the 2000 Summer Olympics, in Sydney, Australia, China was the only Asian country to field a basketball team. Amid much fanfare Yao and two of his teammates, Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer, were billed as the "Walking Great Wall." However, the three failed to live up to expectations: the Chinese team finished the Olympics in 10th place with a 2-4 record. "I think this was a great event," Yao told a reporter for the Associated Press, as printed in the San Diego Union-Tribune (September 26, 2000). "It showed me I have a lot to improve and let me start to make my mark on the basketball world." A year later, at the World University Games in Beijing, China, "Yao led China to a stunning . triumph over the US," Greg Logan wrote for Newsday (May 1, 2002). Yao's performance helped end the Americans' 46-game winning streak. As center for the Shanghai Sharks, Yao drew an annual salary equivalent to $70,000 and lived in a dormitory with his fellow teammates. According to a close associate, who spoke to Greg Logan on the condition of anonymity, Yao never expressed any desire to benefit financially from the sport. Instead, he viewed playing as a patriotic duty. As a member of the Sharks, Yao did not receive any money from endorsements. However, Adidas, the team sponsor, supplied him with custom-made, size 19 shoes. In the 2000-2001 season Yao dominated the CBA. He began the year by capturing the player of the week award two weeks in a row; according to an article posted on the Asian Basketball Confederation Web site (December 4, 2000), "Yao had four dunks in one game . , unusual in a league that a few years ago didn't have four dunks in a season." Yao sustained his performance for the remainder of the season: he eventually carried the Sharks to the playoffs and was named the CBA's most valuable player, averaging 27.1 points, 19.4 rebounds, and 5.5 blocked shots per game. In the spring of 2001, the NBA invited Yao to try out for the draft, but the Shanghai Sharks refused to release him, pointing out that he was indispensable in the team's quest for the CBA championship.