Johnny Damon - Early Years

Early Years

Damon was born in Fort Riley, an Army base in Kansas. His mother, Yome, is from Thailand, and his father, Jimmy, is American of Croatian and Irish descent. They met while his father, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, was stationed in Thailand. Damon spent much of his infancy as an "army brat," moving to several bases from Okinawa, Japan, to West Germany before his father left the Army and settled the family in the Orlando area while Damon was still a pre-schooler.

Damon was a quiet child, largely on account of a fluency disorder. "My thoughts just raced ahead of my tongue," says Damon of his problem then. "I’d sing songs as therapy, and I got better, but I just kept quiet most of the time." He played in South Orange Little League as a child. Damon attended Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando when during his senior year in 1992, he was rated the top high school prospect in the country by Baseball America, was named to USA Today's High School All-America team, and was the Florida Gatorade Player of the Year. Damon also played football in high school, once getting hit by Warren Sapp and sustaining the first concussion in his life.