This week, we welcome Festus Ezeli into our Tall of Fame. Not only is he a remarkable basketball player, he also has remarkable style, as aptly demonstrated in this photo.
Festus Ezeli is a very tall man who recognizes the importance of a very TallSlim Tee. Festus is 27 years old and 6 foot 11 inches tall. This height helped him out while he played basketball for the Vanderbilt Commodores and went on to be the 30th overall draft pick in 2012 and play for the Golden State Warriors.
When he was a teenager, however, things weren’t all fun and games. While living in his home country of Nigeria he excelled academically and graduated from high school while he was only 14. Then he went to live with his uncle in Yuba City, CA, to focus on becoming a physician. Things changed, very slowly, as he started to play basketball. He got off to a rough start by scoring his first points on his own team’s basket. But things got better once he learned how to dunk. That’s when he started to get excited.
He competed competitively in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), and racked up an average of 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game, which was enough to get him into the Reebok All-American Camp in 2007. They say the scouts awaited him with so much anticipation it was like they were waiting for Bigfoot. He ended up going to Vanderbilt for their academics. He studied initially biology while he was playing back for the team and rigorously study the rules of the game. He didn’t learn how to play the game while in elementary school, so it was all the more impressive to see his progression while in college. He later dropped his major to economics to allow more time for the game. Eventually, he made his way on to an excellent breakout season and was drafted into the NBA, where he helped the Warriors win a record 73 games in one season.
How does he do it all? His first name is actually Ifeanyi, which means “nothing is impossible with God.” His parents would often remind him of this, and “that sets the tone for my journey while I’m alive,” he says. And for that, we welcome him into the Tall of Fame.
