Dwyane Wade was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, and in his enshrinement speech he paid tribute to his wife Gabrielle Union and their children and thanked his mother JoLinda for her love and support. He ended by reiterating the role that his the constant presence and encouragement of his father Dwyane Wade Sr. has played in his life and career, describing it as a “debt of gratitude” that he will “never be able to repay.”
“When I would cry, and say ‘I can’t,’ you made me go harder,” he said. “You pushed me to limits that I didn’t know were inside of me. The hard work I put in was because I didn’t want to let you down. Those countless hours in the back yard [when] we would compete against each other like strangers, they built me to last. Those days that turned into late nights of me working on my left hand so it was just as good as my right, it made me an unstoppable force.”
He went on to tell a funny story which illustrates not only how invested Dwyane Sr. was in his son’s athletic career, but the lessons that Wade has carried into adulthood and his own experiences as a dad.
“That time you got kicked out of the game as my coach, and snuck back in the side door and coached me from the stands, just to get kicked out again, it showed me that there were no limitations to how you would show up for me,” he said. “It’s the exact same way I try to show up for my kids.”
Wade concluded the speech by inviting his father to join him on stage, to be fully present as he accomplished their shared dream.
“We had the same exact dream that we carried, same as that name, Dwyane Tyrone Wade,” he said. “To know that we hustled our way to the Basketball Hall of Fame is God’s will. So Pops, I know your knee’s a little sore, but would you join me on stage as we take our rightful step into basketball heaven?”
Once on stage, Wade told his father that he loved him, and then quipped: “We in the Hall of Fame, dawg!”
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.
Comments are closed.