Her life in the Virgin Islands, when she was the jewel of swimming until a cyclone destroyed the only Olympic pool. How he started in basketball and became a myth. His Argentine connection, with Manu and Oberto. Fabri talks about their friendship and the trips they have made on a motorcycle
By
Duncan with Oberto eating a snack in Argentina, during the trip they made together along Route 40
September 18, 1989. It is early in the morning in Saint Croix, Virgin Islands. Suddenly, around 2 o’clock, what was predicted, arrives. With all the fury of nature.Hurricane Hugodevastates the area in a few hours. We are talking about one of the most violent tropical cyclones ever experienced in the West Indies. With a category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, it caused the death of 100 people and left 56,000 more homeless in Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Montserrat and the states of South and North Carolina in the USA. The Virgin Islands suffered one of the worst parts, with six deaths and material losses estimated at 1,800 million dollars, affecting 90% of its infrastructure. To such an extent was the chaos that there was looting and President George W. Bush had to send troops to the Caribbean territory dependent on the United States – he bought them for 25 million dollars in 1917. That natural disaster changed the lives of everyone there, in some cases decisively, as was the case of Tim Duncan, for many the best power forward in basketball history and, without a doubt, one of the 10 most important All-time players in the NBA.
The Duncan house, built by the father, a bricklayer by profession, held up, but not everyone was so lucky. This is how Tim recalled that moment and the subsequent crisis, after the devastation. “The first thing I remember was a loud boom from windows being blown out of our house. My mother and sister entered my room and led me by the hand to another. We spent the rest of the night sitting in a small bathroom, eyes wide open. None could sleep. We heard the explosions and the sounds of debris. From time to time, I glanced down the hall at my father, who was staring up at our ceiling. One of the beams had a crack and, overnight, it got bigger. I think my father prayed… Luckily my house held, but others were not so lucky. Some people died and many others were injured. Those of us who survived woke up to a destroyed neighborhood. Many houses on the block were missing their roofs, even entire walls. Our neighboring neighbors lost their house, they spent the night hiding in the kitchen cupboards. They ended up moving with us for a while… The economy was paralyzed, many lost their businesses and jobs, we had no electricity for six months and I didn’t go to school for two… I remember I had to take a bath with a bucket… But I adapted, like everyone,” Tim recalled in 2017, just as another hurricane, Irma, hit his island again 18 years later, and he asked the world for help with a moving letter.
For that first tragedy,Tim was 13 years old and had barely played basketball. Actually he was excellentswimmer with international potential, when that typhoon destroyed the only competitive pool on the island and almost forced the talented boy to abandon the sport and dedicate himself to another. “At first I trained in the sea, but it wasn’t pretty. In addition, as a good competitor, I wanted to swim for times and since there were no tournaments, swimming lost a bit of its interesting effect on me, ”Duncan recalled in a mini documentary that was made with him on one of the returns he had to the islands. , in 2015. Also, those who knew him say that in that area of the Caribbean the sea is usually patrolled by sharks and fear, his and his family, ended up removing the idea of practicing in the ocean.
The Virgin Islands, Duncan’s homeland, always at the mercy of hurricanes. One of them -Hugo-, would change his life forever
To complete the combo, a few months later, just one day before his 14th birthday, the Duncans lost – due to breast cancer – their mother, Ione, the main family support and who pushed Tim to continue swimming. Of course, so had her two older sisters, Cheryl and Tricia, both swimmers. In Tricia’s case, with great success, participating in the 1988 Olympicson behalf of the USA. She finished 34th in the 100-meter backstroke and 30th in the 200-meter backstroke, at the Seoul event. That experience, which Tim followed on TV, marked him forever and he wanted to follow his path. To the point of dreaming of reaching Barcelona 92.
“Tim, like many boys on the island, started swimming lessons when he was 5 or 6 years old. She liked him and followed his older sister a lot. In the pool he always felt like a fish in water, ”said Bill Sullivan, first swim coach. “I remember him as a skinny boy who lived in the pool, even if it was cold,” said Francis Malloy, a friend of the family. “Everyone looked at him because he was so tall, but then they were shocked at how he swam,” Aunt Amonteen Doward added.
By 1987, just 12 years old, he had won the right to compete internationally with the country. And in several specialties: 100, 200 and 400 free meters. “I remember we went to Florida (USA) and he qualified for the nationals. It was when we thought we had something special between us. It was really, really good,” Sullivan recalled. Always with a very Duncan characteristic that the world would know years later, as a professional basketball player. “He was very shy, as we can see in this photo –said Sullivan during the documentary- in a tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Tim is behind everyone, almost peeking behind the shoulder of one of the girls.”
“ At that time he swam between 5,000 and 8,000 meters a day. And I felt good in the water”, recalled Timmy, who told about the role his mother played in those sports beginnings. “Mom worked late, but she would come and take us swimming, she was always cheering us on.” Ione, a midwife by profession, attended all the meetings, usually yelling loud enough for Duncan to hear even though she was underwater. She was also a mother who focused on instilling a strong work ethic in her children. Duncan still repeats his header phrase today: “Good, better, better. Never let it rest, until your good is best and your best is best.”
At the Spurs he won five NBA titles
Tim suffered a lot from his mother’s departure. The same as the destruction of the pool. Two tragedies -of different nature and magnitude- that plunged him into sadness. It was just when his salvation table appeared, basketball. “God blesses you in different ways and this is the one he used with me: he sent me in another direction. That’s how I started with my friends, in seventh grade. I remember we used to go to the Jungle and play there”, he recalled.
In the documentary, Duncan walks through the deep vegetation of the island, climbs a small hill and suddenly passes under a tree and the “Jungle” appears. That’s what Tim and his friends called the little field located in the middle of nowhere, on the island, surrounded by deep vegetation. Tim walks over, grabs the already rusty dashboard bracket and wiggles it to see if he’s steady. He immediately tells that the ring was not the regulation size. She stretches out her arms and is a few centimeters from touching him while she tells, with a smile, that “many boys took advantage of trying to knock her over.” The cement floor looks damaged, eroded by the passage of time, even with cracks and some grass mats that grow guachas… “This is our field, the Jungle. And I was horrible, bad, not coordinated at all. But I used to play, I had fun at that time…”, he says during the video, today a true discovery.
He came to basketball through the husband of Cheryl,her sister, who with the death of her mother, decided to return from the United States to help a beaten family. Ricky Lowry had played college basketball in Ohio and was the one who encouraged Duncan to start. He gave him a ball and that was added to a board they already had in the house, after Christmas ’88. So, with simple advice from Lowry, Timmy started. He then took his game to La Jungla and, suddenly, almost without realizing it, he ended up playing tournaments on another court, closer to the beach. “We were going to play with a group of friends and the others didn’t like us. It was my first competition,” Duncan recounted. “I remember that when he came, I told him that he had talent, but that he had to strengthen himself, so as not to let himself be beaten,” added one of his friends in the documentary.
Little by little, Duncan began to improve and gain fame on the island. Of course, in a place without much tradition and with limited talent. And the jump was made at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal High School. In his senior year, he averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. Despite glowing articles in local sports pages, Duncan received relatively little interest from colleges. Until a group of NBA rookies came to the Virgin Islands for a series of exhibition games. Chris King, a small forward who was in the NBA but had gone through Wake Forest University, was impressed for Duncan’s performance, no less than a duel he had against Alonzo Mourning,and called his former technician, Dave Odom, to alert him. “Come see it, it’s really very good and it can be even better,” he told her. Odom wasted no time taking a plane to St. Croix. He quickly realized that King was right, but he had a hard time connecting with a shy and reticent teenager. During a talk they had, Duncan was watching TV while Odom was talking… Until the coach finally asked him if he could turn it off so he could have his undivided attention… To Odom’s astonishment, Duncan repeated every word he had said, making it clear that he was interested in what he had to say.
Averse to glamor and cameras, Tim was at the other end of many media figures that the NBA had
It was not easy for Tim to leave the islands. “I didn’t want to leave… I have beautiful memories of that time. I grew up in a beach environment, full of fun, where everything was an adventure. It was a place where everyone knew you. You could go anywhere, without problems or worries”,he remembered. The United States is something else and the adaptation cost him. A little on a day-to-day basis and a little on the court, where he averaged 9.8 points and 9.6 rebounds during his first season. But he was Timmy, he was always a sponge and everything that was taught to him, he applied quickly. He had that ability to transfer what he learned to the field, quickly. And so it was that, in the second season, he went to 16.8 and 12.5. Those were other times, where college prospects stayed longer in their colleges and Tim completed the course, despite already being a star in his fourth season, when he won the John Wooden Award for the best player in the NCAA after averaging 20.8 points, 14.7 recoveries (NCAA leader) and 3.3 caps (10th). He was already ready for the jump to the mythical NBA, being the consensus No. 1 in the 1997 draft.
That choice changed the destiny of a franchise forever. The Spurs were coming off a series of turmoil until Gregg Popovich he took over as general manager in 1994. He was in the position for two years until in the 96/97 season he fired Bob Hill and he himself assumed the position he holds until today. He started badly: in the sixth game his figure, David Robinson, was injured, leaving him out for the entire season. That translated into far more losses (47) than wins (17). But sometimes, in the NBA, losing isn’t such bad news.The Texans won the draft lottery and chose Duncan,a quiet leader who would help him build one of the most important dynasties in the NBA. American sports history.
With the return of Robinson, the famous Twin Towers were formed and, already in the second season, the Spurs Champions were crowned. It would be the first of five rings that Pop and Timmy D would win together, in 15 years. Then it is known history, Tony Parker would join in 2002 and our Manu Ginóbili in 2003. A golden stage that they would live until 2016, when Tim said enough is enough at 40 years old. It was when he had more time to return to his homeland, on a couple of occasions for pleasure, like when he took his children and even played a basketball game and received recognition from the locals. And, in others, unfortunately, after another hurricane broke out, El Irma, category 5, the same as the one that Duncan suffered in 1989. It was when he wrote a letter to ask the whole world for help -the collection raised 2,600,000-, announcing a donation of 250,000 dollars -later he would add 750,000 more- and leading a humanitarian collaboration that gathered, among other things, 500,000 kilos of food. Tim took it himself, by plane, after enlisting the help of HEB supermarkets and Federal Express.
Together with Ginobili and Parker they made one of the best pitchforks in history
“It must be the first time in my life that I am grateful to be famous,” he said in Christiansted, his small town inside St. Croix, “I would have liked for none of this to happen, but I must admit that it has been important for me to be able to come and to return something. If not, I would surely have continued to live inside a bubble, ”he declared. It was one of the few times he came out of his underground profile, as reserved as he always was in his speech. Reluctant to glamor and cameras, Tim handled himself on the other extreme of many media figures he had the NBA, just when the world of technology changed and social networks took over our lives. Tim always spoke on the court, he was not interested in anything else…
That profile gelled perfectly within that family that Popovich’s Spurs have been. The same as the other figures, Parker and Ginobili. The three formed a Big 3 for history, the most successful of all time. “Can’t wait to see you guys up here. And not be me. It was an honor to share the field with you. Thank you for your friendship, brotherhood and shared experiences”, he told both when he was enthroned in the Hall of Fame, in 2021. In September he will surely be “down” when Manu is “up”, receiving that same recognition.
They both had a great relationship. Tim learned to love and value him, because at first he didn’t know him. “Usually, I sat down to watch the draft, although I didn’t really want to because we usually chose people I had never felt or named. And that night I saw him, when I heard his name (he imitated Manu’s last name, with his pronunciation), I called Pop to see who it was… He said ‘it’s going to be great, I don’t know what else’. And I told him, ‘Okay, Pop, whatever you say’ “, making it clear to Tim that he didn’t have much confidence in the national team. A couple of years ago he saw that “crazy” bet of the coach for the first time. “I found him one summer, he approached me, he told me his name and that he was in the Spurs,” he recalled in a kind of documentary that the Spurs made with the trident and Pop sitting in the middle of the field, remembering the beginnings of the trio . “No, you’re not, I thought, like it was one more of Pop’s experiments that he wouldn’t even get to know about,” he commented as everyone laughed.
Popovich admitted that Duncan doubted whether the Argentine was what they needed to win again. More when Manu arrived injured, product of the sprained ankle suffered in the semifinal of the 2002 World Cup and it cost him to recover. Tim didn’t watch international basketball, like much of the NBA. He hardly knew that he had been runner-up in the world with Argentina but he relativized it. “He’s limping, what do you want me to do?” The coach told him, as if he had patience for Tim. At the end of that first year, the center admitted that his production since February had been essential to the Spurs’ second championship.
Every year the confidence in him went up, especially in 2005, when Manu was one vote away from sharing with him, precisely, the MVP of the finals that they beat the Pistons. The high level of MG20 and the always productive impact on the team caused him to give him the reins of the team until then, in time, it would already belong to Parker. The three added three more titles, the third, in 2007, with another Argentine member, Fabricio Oberto, with whom Timmy would develop a special feeling.
Duncan and Oberto fishing in southern Argentina
“I don’t know, there are things that happen… I’ve been following him since I played against him, in that U22 Pan American in Caguas, in 1996. Imagine when I was able to play with him… And be champion with him. It was tremendous”, says the Cordovan in dialogue with Infobae. The pivot arrived at the Spurs in 2005 and, little by little, he did every little thing to help the team and, punctually, complement Timmy D. To such an extent that he earned the starting job, starting in the 2007 playoffs, when he established himself like a big hillside on the way to the championship. In the final against LeBron’s Cavs, which ended 4-0, he played 21 minutes per game, averaging 4.3 points and 4.3 rebounds. And he ended up being the hero of Game 4,when Cleveland unprotected Fabri to cover Duncan and Oberto had five straight points with 2 minutes remaining. On the first play it was a double and foul that Duncan celebrated with everything, lifting Fabri off the ground. An iconic photo in Fab O’s career. In total, there were four seasons for the Cordovan in SA, in which he hit a lot of cool with Duncan, a relationship that was strengthened over time.
“He is a tremendous person. For his mentality, for his clarity, for everything. I have great admiration for him. As a player and friend.In every way it is on another level. She is one of those people, like Manu, who makes you better, who always makes you think or learn something. Luckily I have had the chance to share trips to beautiful places, many talks and adventures with him”, he commented. Both share a curiosity to visit places and a passion for motorcycles as a means of transportation. There were two trips that marked them both. The first went to Morocco, where they spent days traveling through the Sahara Desert, including some Dakar Rally routes. There they were accompanied by Scottie, Duncan’s brother, who is an audiovisual producer and helped them record a video clip there for New Indians, Fabri’s musical group. Even Tim participated in the recording and comes out on the Home theme. “In the video nobody knows who he is, he plays a Bedouin who is covered with a blue robe,” reported the Cordovan.
It is not the only incredible anecdote he left that journey.“Both of us had a broken motorcycle and we were left in the middle of nowhere. He, of course, is Tim (laughs), they came for him right away and me only at night. It was like nine hours alone, surrounded by sand, in a frightening silence, without being able to get off the motorcycle or throw yourself into the sand because of the number of bugs that can come when they feel the heat of your body and the motorcycle: scorpions, snakes … I even filmed a video with my cell phone to say goodbye to people (laughs). At one point, in the middle of the night, I see people start showing up from all over the place. I thought they were coming to steal, what do I give them, what do I have, I wondered… Actually they came to help me”, he closed this story with a happy ending.
They also went with Tim through Argentina and Chile, in 2017, touring route 40, on a motorcycle. “When he told me, I never thought he would actually come. And yes, she fell out with Scottie and a friend. We went from Osorno to Chile, then we crossed to San Martín de los Andes and continued here. Tim was blown away by the visit. Many times we were alone in incredible places. And I couldn’t believe I was with him… ”, he recounted. Although they tried by all means to maintain anonymity, as they both like it because of the low profile they have, in a town in Chile they recognized Duncan and there the first photo went viral. Then there were others, fishing in a lake and eating a barbecue on Argentine soil.
Duncan became fascinated with southern Argentina
From that day on, locals in the know began to wait for them in different places to greet them. “People were calculating where we were going to go and at each service station there was someone waiting. It was crazy,” Commented Fabri. For the future they have other destinations in mind, such as New Zealand and the Gobi desert. But, of course, for now it’s complex, since Duncan works for the Spurs. “When I found out that Tim had signed on as Pop’s assistant, the first message I sent him was about that, that I wasn’t thinking about the group and the trips we had left…” he concluded. There will be other opportunities. Without a doubt, thinking of the adventurous spirit that Duncan cultivated in those years in the Virgin Islands, swimming, playing basketball or enjoying the island…