Early Life and College
Born in Summerfield, Louisiana, Malone was the youngest boy of nine children and during his childhood lived on a farm with his single mother Shirley. His father Shedrick Hay was raising a family with another woman he married and committed suicide when Karl Malone was 14; Malone first disclosed that suicide in 1994. As a child, Malone often worked at the farm and chopped trees, hunted, and fished. He attended the local Summerfield High School and led its basketball team to three consecutive Louisiana Class C titles from 1979 to his senior season in 1981. Although recruited by University of Arkansas basketball coach Eddie Sutton, Malone enrolled at Louisiana Tech University, which was closer to home. He joined the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team in his second year because his grades were too low for freshman eligibility; Malone played under coach Andy Russo. In his second season with Louisiana Tech (1983–1984), Malone averaged 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Louisiana Tech would finish the 1984–1985 season 29–3, at the top of the Southland Conference, and advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history; the team finished at the Sweet 16 round. In each of his three seasons with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Malone was an All-Southland selection.
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