Boston Celtic veteran forward Gordon Hayward might be calm, confident and collected when he plays basketball in the NBA.
But, when he was still shooting hoops for his high school team, let’s just say he was goofier — if his former teammates are to be believed. NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg made his way to Brownsburg, Indiana to stick his nose ino Hayward’s past, and came away with some interesting dirt.
Of course, almost all of us were goofier in high school — that’s just part of growing up — but not all of us become All-Stars and famous players for the Celtics. Forsberg’s sleuthing got him in touch with a trio of former teammates of Hayward from the Brownsburg High men’s basketball team.
“He would be the shy kid walking down the hall and not really talking to anyone. But then you get him in a video game contest, he starts screaming, hollering, and punching people.”https://t.co/U99DMb7FBD pic.twitter.com/Z3BwSQ1b7H
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) April 16, 2020
“If the city of Boston only knew how goofy this kid was in high school,” began ex-teammate Gino Calderon, trailing off as J.D. Crosby and Blake Hall, also former teammates of Hayward, laughed.
Regaling Forsberg with tales of the now-star’s former passivity intermingling with an intense competitive nature that manifested in all kinds of outlets one wouldn’t normally expect, the trio painted a picture of a very normal-sounding teenager.
With a very unusual fire in his belly.
Report: Rival execs believe Gordon Hayward will opt into final year https://t.co/VrFuEVYBtM
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 28, 2020
“Shy and competitive,” offered Hall of Hayward in that era of his life.
“He would be the shy kid walking down the hall and not really talking to anyone. But then you get him in a video game contest, he starts screaming, hollering, and punching people. So it was kind of a bipolar — from shy to very competitive and aggressive in one person.”
At parties Hayward’s parents would host for the basketball team, all attendants — including parents — would play in competitive games like ping-pong, pool or foosball.
And they’d split into teams with a more talented player and a less-talented player, an ‘A’ and a ‘B’, if you will.
“Gordon was always the ‘A’ player. And I just remember one time he was stuck with one of the moms who was not coordinated at all,” revealed Hall.
“And he was getting audibly frustrated and screaming. Like the whole room just stops and looks at him and he realized he was screaming at one of our moms. But it was just kinda funny because it was his goal to win every game of the tournament even though there’s 20 people involved.”
His former teammates pained a consistent picture of the competitor-in-the-making that the Indiana native would become.
The one thing he didn’t excel at? Rapping, at least according to his former teammates.
Not that he was terrible — he famously made a short track about a jacked former classmate that went viral right before Hayward’s legendary 2010 NCAA tournament run — but it’s what you’d expect of a bunch of kids goofing around.
“I feel like, if you looked at him, you couldn’t tell, but he was talented at everything,” said Crosby.
“I remember he’d beat us in ping pong, he’d beat us at pool, he played tennis, and then he can make funny rap songs. I don’t know if there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.”
“[Rapping is] probably what he’s least good at, in my opinion,” interjected Hall. “But he’s so good at everything else.”
Basketball, too, evidently.
[lawrence-related id=32174,32135,32070,31956]