Growing up in Baltimore, Rudy figured out early on that his life would go one of two ways. Next, it was just a matter of working hard enough to achieve that goal.
Rudy knew what he wanted to be from a young age - a professional basketball player. … I got in trouble a lot because it would hit the ceiling and we had people living above us." Sometimes at night I work on my form, just shooting the ball in the air. "I guess there are literal dreams of playing basketball or having a basketball in my hand. "I felt like early on that was my life, and I always wanted to be," Rudy said with a smile when reminded of his mom's memories. It turns out she was right - Rudy Gay is as different as they come. He would literally sleep with a basketball." "I would wake him up in the morning for school and pull the covers back, and there would be a basketball. "Once he acquired the interest, he slept with a basketball," Rae said of her son.
So when Rae Gay noticed her six-year-old son sleeping with a basketball, she didn't know if he was ever going to make it big. Baltimore is known as a dog-eat-dog world where you either make it big or don't make it at all.
While it's always cute to hear kids say those words, sometimes the universe has different plans - especially when growing up in Baltimore, Maryland. When most kids are growing up, they're often asked what they want to be when they're older - and you get the typical answers of astronaut, fireman, and professional athlete. "He was the blessing that we always wanted."