Aaron Gordon OK with attention

ByDANA O'NEIL
January 23, 2014, 9:07 PM

— -- TUCSON, Ariz. -- Aaron Gordon has a secret. He was not born a basketball player. He's not like most guys who insist they can't remember a day they didn't play, as if the bouncing part of the bouncing baby boy refers to a wee Spalding that joined them on the way out of the womb. In a former life, Gordon was an ice hockey player.

"What? He was?" Arizona coach Sean Miller asks.

Turns out few knew of the secret life of this one-time Archbishop Mitty star.

The truth is, the entire Gordon family, now known for their basketball prowess -- dad, Ed, played at San Diego State, eldest child, Drew at UCLA and New Mexico, middle sister, Elise at Harvard and now Aaron at Arizona -- skated. The sure-to-be cringe-worthy photographic evidence is included here, courtesy of mom, Shelly Davis Gordon, who started the whole thing by picking up a pair of skates on a business trip to Bavaria years ago.

She gave the skates to Drew, who showed an immediate affinity for the sport. Suddenly all of the Gordons were lacing up their skates -- Shelley with her company team, Ed with a club of his own and Drew, the real talent in the family, who would have gone East for school to play if concussions didn't derail his career.

As for Elise and Aaron, they were the kid sister and brother who tagged along to Drew's practices, more content to play slide and giggle than compete.

"You'd skate as fast as you could and then slide on your stomach,'' Aaron said.