Presidential Athletes: Barack Obama and Basketball
President Obama's favorite sport is basketball. He has been playing the game for over 40 years, and received his first basketball from his father, even though Barack Obama Sr. during a brief Christmas visit. He played the sport as a teenager growing up in Hawaii, where he had posters of the soaring Julius Erving ("Dr. J") on his bedroom wall. In the yearbook of an older high school classmate who wanted to be a lawyer, he wrote: “Anyway, been great knowing you and I hope we keep in touch. Good luck in everything you do, and get that law degree. Some day when I am an all-pro basketballer, and I want to sue my team for more money, I’ll call on you. Barry.”
Obama kept playing the game throughout his life, during the time he attended college at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard. During his first trip back to Honolulu after being elected president, he rounded up a bunch of his old high school friends for a pickup game in the gym at Punahou School. When the game was over, his high school friend Darryl Gabriel, who had been the star of their championship-winning team, was quoted as saying, “Man, Barack is a lot better than Barry ever was!”
Shortly after taking office, Obama had the White House tennis court adapted so it could be used for both tennis and basketball. The White House has had a smaller outdoor court since 1991, but the adapted tennis court now has enough room for a full court game of basketball. The new court has played host to a number of distinguished visitors, from college basketball championship teams to Wounded Warrior players.
During his presidency, Obama was frequently seen sitting courtside at Washington Wizards games, especially when his favorite team, the Chicago Bulls, were in town. He also watched a game between North Carolina and Michigan State on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, and he even invited ESPN cameras into the Oval Office to watch him fill out his bracket for March Madness.
As a teenager, young Barry Obama played on one of the best high school teams in the country. He was described as having good court sense and an ability to cut to the basket, but was an unreliable outside shooter with an average jump shot. His nickname as a high school player was Barry O’Bomber, a hybrid of his last name and a propensity to take long range shots. His team-mate, Darin Maurer, went on to play Division I basketball at Stanford as a walk-on.
The first spark of Obama's interest in basketball was noted after he arrived back from Indonesia at age 10, when his grandfather took him to see Red Rocha’s 1971 University of Hawaii Rainbows, a team fueled that came over from the mainland.
Craig Robinson is President Obama’s brother-in-law, and was the head coach at Oregon State University from 2008 to 2014. He had jokingly said of Obama that he is "too skinny to be an imposing presence, but he is fast, with good wind even when he was a smoker." He said that Obama's signature move is to fake right and veer left, surprising players used to guarding right-handed competitors. He also describes the president as "confident, even a bit boastful" on the court.
His friend, former Illinois state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias says of Obama, “If he would hit a couple buckets, he would let you know about it.” The two friends have had their arguments on the court. Giannoulias also added, “There are always elbows, there’s always a little bit of jersey tucking and tugging. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to win.” He describes Obama as fiercely competitive on the court.
Obama kept playing the game throughout his life, during the time he attended college at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard. During his first trip back to Honolulu after being elected president, he rounded up a bunch of his old high school friends for a pickup game in the gym at Punahou School. When the game was over, his high school friend Darryl Gabriel, who had been the star of their championship-winning team, was quoted as saying, “Man, Barack is a lot better than Barry ever was!”
Shortly after taking office, Obama had the White House tennis court adapted so it could be used for both tennis and basketball. The White House has had a smaller outdoor court since 1991, but the adapted tennis court now has enough room for a full court game of basketball. The new court has played host to a number of distinguished visitors, from college basketball championship teams to Wounded Warrior players.
During his presidency, Obama was frequently seen sitting courtside at Washington Wizards games, especially when his favorite team, the Chicago Bulls, were in town. He also watched a game between North Carolina and Michigan State on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, and he even invited ESPN cameras into the Oval Office to watch him fill out his bracket for March Madness.
As a teenager, young Barry Obama played on one of the best high school teams in the country. He was described as having good court sense and an ability to cut to the basket, but was an unreliable outside shooter with an average jump shot. His nickname as a high school player was Barry O’Bomber, a hybrid of his last name and a propensity to take long range shots. His team-mate, Darin Maurer, went on to play Division I basketball at Stanford as a walk-on.
The first spark of Obama's interest in basketball was noted after he arrived back from Indonesia at age 10, when his grandfather took him to see Red Rocha’s 1971 University of Hawaii Rainbows, a team fueled that came over from the mainland.
Craig Robinson is President Obama’s brother-in-law, and was the head coach at Oregon State University from 2008 to 2014. He had jokingly said of Obama that he is "too skinny to be an imposing presence, but he is fast, with good wind even when he was a smoker." He said that Obama's signature move is to fake right and veer left, surprising players used to guarding right-handed competitors. He also describes the president as "confident, even a bit boastful" on the court.
His friend, former Illinois state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias says of Obama, “If he would hit a couple buckets, he would let you know about it.” The two friends have had their arguments on the court. Giannoulias also added, “There are always elbows, there’s always a little bit of jersey tucking and tugging. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to win.” He describes Obama as fiercely competitive on the court.