Clyde Drexler

At 62 years old, Clyde Drexler has this physical status:

Clyde Austin Drexler (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who is the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league.

Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide" during his 15 years with the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), with a majority of his career with the Portland Trail Blazers before joining the Houston Rockets in the Northwest Basketball Association (NBA).

He was a ten-time NBA All-Star and was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

Drexler won an NBA championship with Houston in 1995 and received a gold medal on the 1992 United States Olympic team known as "The Dream Team."

In 2004, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for his individual achievements and in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team."

He now works as a color commentator for Houston Rockets home games.

Early years

Drexler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and spent time in Houston's South Park neighborhood. He attended Ross Sterling High School in Houston, where he was a classmate of tennis player Zina Garrison. As a sophomore, he joined the varsity baseball team and tried to play for the basketball team but didn't make the cut. Drexler played as a senior in a 6 ft 6 (1.98 m) center. Following a 34-point, 27-rebound win over Sharpstown High School in 1979, he began getting notice from college coaches.

After graduating in 1980, he was recruited by New Mexico State University, Texas Tech University, and the University of Houston, the latter after childhood friend Michael Young told an assistant to head coach Guy Lewis that Drexler was the best player he had ever encountered in high school. Because of Drexler's friendship with Young and his desire to remain home, Houston was able to recruit them both. Drexler studied finance and spent time at a bank during the summer. Lewis was first sent hate mail from Houston boosters and alumni for recruiting Drexler because they felt he was not strong enough to play for the program.

Personal life

Drexler married Gaynell on December 30, 1988. In 2011, the couple divorced. Erica, Austin, Elise, and Adam are among his four children (the last three with Gaynell). Drexler married Tonya, a former NBA player who had met her second wife, in 2014. Drexler has owned houses in the River Oaks-Memorial neighborhood of Houston and in the Dunthorpe suburb of Portland.

Denise and Virginia, James' brother, and his two sisters, own the family barbecue restaurant in Houston named Drexler's World Famous BBQ & Grill, which also includes the "22 Bar." Eunice Scott, his mother, was born in 1967 and worked at the downtown restaurant that was opened by his uncle in 1967. There are two main airports in downtown Houston and Bush Intercontinental Airport. Drexler's rookie NBA season, he started investing in real estate, and although he's now mostly retired, he does some accounting for his Drexler Holdings LLC, which is based in downtown Houston.

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College career

Drexler and Young, along with Larry Micheaux and new recruit Hakeem Olajuwon (known then as Akeem), comprised the "Phi Slama Jama" basketball fraternity that gained national attention for its acrobatic, above-the-rim play. New players were "initiated" into the fraternity by having to stand underneath the basket as Drexler drove in from halfcourt and threw down a tomahawk slam over them. Houston made the first of Drexler's two straight Final Four appearances in 1982, where they lost to eventual champions North Carolina. He averaged 15.2 points and 10.5 rebounds (second in the Southwest Conference) per game as a small forward as Houston finished 25–8.

The 1982–83 campaign saw Houston return to the Final Four ranked No. 1. They were matched up against No. 2 Louisville and the "Doctors of Dunk" in the semifinals, which Houston won 94–81 following a brilliant dunking display by both sides, including a double-pump slam by Drexler that Sports Illustrated writer Curry Kirkpatrick called "your basic play of the century". He finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists. In the championship game against North Carolina State, Drexler failed to make an impact after picking up four fouls before halftime, and scored only four points on one-of-five shooting and two free throws in NC State's upset victory.

Drexler declared for the NBA draft as a junior, leaving Houston with career averages of 14.4 points, 3.3 assists and 9.9 rebounds in three seasons. In addition to being named the Southwestern Conference Player of the Year and a first-team All American his final season, he remains the only player in school history with combined totals of at least 1,000 career points, 900 rebounds and 300 assists; he is also Houston's all-time steals leader with 268.

NBA career

In the 1983 NBA draft, Drexler was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 14th overall pick. He averaged 7.7 points in 17.2 minutes per game in his rookie season. These all improved with more playing time in his second season, to 17.2 points, 6 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. In his third season Drexler made his first All-Star team, averaging 18.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 8 assists and 2.6 steals. In the 1989–1990 season, Drexler led the Portland Trail Blazers to the NBA Finals, averaging 26.4 points and 7.8 rebounds, but his team lost to the Detroit Pistons in five games. In the 1990–1991 season Drexler led Portland to a franchise-best 63–19 record. Heavily favored to win the West, the Los Angeles Lakers upset the Trail Blazers by winning the Western Conference Finals.

In the 1991–92 season he made the All-NBA First Team and finished second to Michael Jordan in MVP voting. He met Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals that same season only to fall short, as Jordan and the Bulls went on to win their second consecutive championship. In the six-game series against Chicago, Drexler averaged 24.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.

In 1992, he was selected to the U.S. Olympic basketball team, nicknamed "The Dream Team", which won the gold medal in Barcelona.

On February 14, 1995, with the Blazers out of serious contention for a championship, Portland honored Drexler's request to be traded to a contender and sent the Blazer great back home to the Houston Rockets, along with Tracy Murray in exchange for Otis Thorpe, the draft rights of Marcelo Nicola, and a 1995 first-round draft pick in mid-season, right before the trade deadline. Despite finishing the regular season with a record of 47–35, which placed the Rockets 6th out of 8 playoff teams in the Western Conference, Drexler and long-time friend Hakeem Olajuwon helped propel them to an improbable second consecutive championship in 1995, sweeping the Orlando Magic. In his third and final NBA Finals appearance, Drexler averaged 21.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game.

College coaching career

Drexler stayed with the Rockets for three more seasons before retiring from the NBA after the 1997–98 season in order to become head men's basketball coach at his alma mater, the University of Houston.

Drexler coached the Cougars in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons. After compiling a 19–39 record in his two seasons, Drexler decided to resign to spend more time with his family.

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Awards

• First-team NCAA All-American (1983)
• Southwest Conference Player of the Year (1983)
• 10-time NBA All-Star (1986, 1988–1994, 1996, 1997)
• All-NBA First Team (1992)
• All-NBA Second Team (1988, 1991)
• All-NBA Third Team (1990, 1995)
• Olympic gold medalist (1992)
• NBA championship (1995)
• Named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (1996)
• Two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee
• Oregon Sports Hall of Fame Inducted (2001)
• Named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team (2021)