Earlier this year, shortly after Mike Scott was traded to the 76ers from the LA
Clippers, the veteran wing man provided us with a first-person account of
various factors and life experiences that shaped him into the person he’s
become.
With it being Memorial Day Weekend, we thought we’d reshare a brief passage from
Scott’s piece about what it was like being raised in a military household.
Toughness, you can’t fake that. It’s got to be genuine.
I think I get my toughness from a bunch of places. My dad was in the Marines.
He’s retired now, but was in the service for 25 years – straight out of high
school. Being raised by him, that was tough. He didn’t take nothing. He was a
drill sergeant, did tours in Desert Storm, Iraq, and all that. He was a beast.
He was tough, in shape. Now he done got fat and old and retired, as he should.
He had a crazy life. But growing up, I couldn’t go to no parties, didn’t have no
girls in the house. It was basketball and school work, school work and
basketball.
Coming from Virginia, where I’m from in the 757, you can’t be soft. My dad used
to make me play with the older guys, and to be honest, they used to punk me.
‘You got to get tougher,’ they said. They wouldn’t call me soft, but I probably
was timid. Yeah, a little soft, a little frail. I didn’t really have that tough
mentality, that tough demeanor until I started getting a little older.
And as we saw down the stretch of this past season, it was the type of presence
from which the Sixers certainly benefited from having on their roster.
To read the rest of Mike’s article, click here.
Player: Mike Scott
Media Content: https://www.nba.com/sixers/influence-military-household
Media Keywords: NBA, Sports, Philadelphia Sixers, Mike Scott, Philadelphia 76ers
Media Thumbnail:
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Story Link: https://www.nba.com/sixers/influence-military-household
