Amar'e Stoudemire - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Stoudemire was born in Lake Wales, Florida, a small city within an hour's drive of Orlando. Stoudemire's parents, Carrie and Hazell, divorced at a young age. Together they had two sons: Hazell Jr. and Amar'e. Stoudemire's mother did agricultural work, picking oranges in Florida, but she migrated north to Upstate New York during the fall to pick apples. Upon divorcing Hazell, she met another man, Artis Wilmore. Together they had a child, Marwan, who became Stoudemire's half brother. Hazell died of a heart attack when Stoudemire was 12, and his mother was in and out of prison for things such as petty theft and forgery during that time. Because his mother was in and out of jail, Stoudemire had other outside influences to help guide him. He occasionally stayed with a policeman named Burney Hayes; he also lived with a man named Travis King, who coached Fastbreak USA, Stoudemire's AAU squad, as well as a minister named Bill Williams. As a result of moving in-and-out, and his mother's problems with the law, he attended six different high schools in two different states. Due to all the transfers he missed his entire junior year of basketball. Stoudemire graduated from Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida. He told Isaac Perry in an article for Dime Magazine that what kept him going in that time period was God and the words of rapper Tupac Shakur. Apart from basketball, Stoudemire excelled in football. Stoudemire was coached by his father in his Pop Warner football team as a child and saw himself as a star receiver for the University of Miami, Florida or Florida State. Growing up Stoudemire rooted for Shaquille O'Neal who played center for his hometown Orlando Magic.

He did not start playing organized basketball until he was 14. Stoudemire only played two years of high school-level basketball, but in those two years he was named the MVP of the Nike Summer League. In his senior year Stoudemire averaged 29.1 points, 15 rebounds, 6.1 blocked shots, and 2.1 steals per game. Stoudemire obtained several honors in high school. He was selected to play in the 2002 McDonald's All-American Game, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he played with two future New York Knicks teammates, Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton. He was also named Florida's Mr. Basketball and the Orlando Sentinel Florida High School Player of the Year, in addition to earning a spot on USA Today's All-USA Basketball First Team. In high school Stoudemire noted that his biggest goal was to make it as a NBA player. Stoudemire through high school was able to make good grades and committed to John Calipari and the University of Memphis; however, he later de-committed and declared for the NBA draft. The Phoenix Suns decided on him with the ninth pick in the 2002 NBA Draft. Phoenix was the only team that year to select a high school player in the first round.