Blue Chips off the Old Block
March 15, 2007 — -- As the saying goes, like father, like son.
A handful of players in the 2007 NCAA men's basketball tournament will wear jerseys bearing familiar names, as they are the offspring of professional athletes of some acclaim.
And it's not just basketball players begetting basketball players. Among the retired athletes to look for in the stands, sweating out their sons' performances as the tourney opens, are a former international tennis star and big league slugger.
"It's in the genes, obviously," said Tracy Hackler, associate publisher for Beckett Media, which in 1999 published a book featuring famous professional athlete father-and-son pairs.
But Hackler quickly added that on top of nature's boost these players also enjoy a nurturing that prepares the teens more effectively for performing on a national stage.
"You see a lot of kids that come up in that heritage, and they're exposed to all of these things tied to being a big-time athlete," Hackler said. "Even if the parents don't know they're teaching them, they're teaching them."
There certainly are enough examples to fill a book. A father handing down his profession to his son, whatever it may be, is as old as mankind.
Professional athlete father-and-son royalty includes families like the Griffeys in baseball, the Mannings in football, the Earnhardts in racing and the Hulls in hockey.
In the current college game, much has already been made of Joakim Noah, a colorful, headliner talent on the defending champion and No. 1 overall seeded University of Florida Gators.
His father, Yannick Noah, won the French Open in 1983 and played on the Davis Cup team for his native France for 11 years.
Noah the tennis player wore signature dreadlocks, went on to popular music success and himself was the son of a Cameroonian professional soccer player.
Bill McNally, who coached the younger Noah for two years at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, N.Y., said that many of the strengths needed to excel in an individual sport like tennis are reflected in Joakim's team basketball game.
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