Nearly 14 years ago, in an April 2002 article, People’s Daily Journal quoted the then 21-year-old Yao Ming as saying, “Don’t worry about me. I think everything will go smoothly.”
It indeed pays to be optimistic in life.
Yao, turning 36 this year, has been nominated to be inducted at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, reported NBA.com.
He played center for the NBA’s Houston Rockets (2002-2011). Prior to that, Yao’s basketball skills got honed playing for Shanghai Sharks (1997-2002).
Yao impressed some NBA scouts when his 7-foot-6 frame charged to block--he successfully did--the ball about to be dunked by the 6-foot-6 American Vince Carter during a match at the Sydney 2000, according to The Washington Post.
The country’s “Walking Great Wall,” composed of Yao, the 7-foot-1 Wang Zhizhi and the 6-foot-11 Menk Bateer, joined the Chinese team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
In 2002, Bai Li, the club director of Shanghai Sharks, said: “Yao Ming opened the door to the NBA and he deserved the chance to play there. The club and the Chinese Basketball Management Center allow him to go to the NBA this season."
The number of people in the country who stay tuned to see him play and his Houston teammates against Yi Jianlian and his teammates from Milwaukee Bucks in 2007 exceeded 200 million, according to ESPN.
Nineteen TV networks aired “one of the most watched NBA games in history.”
Yao retired in 2011, reported the Associated Press.
The eight-time NBA All-Star selection was 30 when he officially announced his retirement.
Howard Stern, the NBA Commissioner that time, said in a statement: “Yao Ming has been a transformational player and a testament to the globalization of our game.”
His present job title is president of the Sharks, which he bought in 2009, reported Reuters.
The Shanghai native reportedly was asked for some 20 million yuan for the purchase, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For someone who earned 388 million yuan ($56.6 million) in 2007, according to Forbes, that amount was a drop in the bucket.
Yao served as the country’s ambassador for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup bid, which China won, reported FIBA on its website.
Yao calls himself a “global humanitarian” on the website of Yao Family Wines, the wine company he established in Nov. 2011 in Napa Valley, California.
WildAid, an organization that “fights for wildlife by targeting consumer demand for illicit products including ivory, rhino horn and shark fin,” tweeted on March 30: “You are a hero to us. Congrats on the Hall of Fame news and thank you for saving wildlife.”
Yao supports WildAid on its efforts to stop ivory trading. He appeared in “Saving Africa’s Giants,” an Animal Planet production aired in Nov. 2014.
A news conference will be held in Houston, Texas, next week to officially announce Yao’s nomination, according to NBA.com.