![]() And with so many relatives in the Bahamas, moving the entire family wasn't a consideration, either. Jackie called Hield's grandmother, who lived in Naples, Florida, but she wasn't in a position to take him in. That type of tutelage didn't exist in the Bahamas, where youth-league contests resembled pickup games.īefore he even got to high school, Hield was telling his mother the only way he could achieve his basketball dream was to move to the United States. He wanted to learn the X's and O's of basketball from high-level coaches who would demand the best from him. Still, as hard as he worked on his own, Hield realized he needed help. Other mornings saw Hield leave his house for the park around 7 a.m. Toting a water jug in one hand while bouncing a ball with the other, Hield would coax friends out of bed along the way and then spend the entire afternoon practicing the moves and footwork he'd seen from stars such as Kobe, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade on TV. Mostly, though, she was known for her kind soul. If Jackie needed to dole out a spanking from time to time to maintain discipline, so be it. There were prayers (and sometimes a Bible study) each morning before breakfast chores and homework came before television. Through it all, the family remained tight-knit and close. Even with Jackie working three jobs, money was scarce. Each sibling had a designated section of the room to stack his or her clothes and other belongings. Jackie, Hield and his six brothers and sisters slept head-to-foot on a queen-sized mattress, with one of them almost always ending up on the floor. Hield was 11 when Jackie divorced his father, Vincent, and moved the family into the home of her mother. But by then, she'd realized it was impossible to rein in Buddy's passion, and it was comforting to have him close to home instead of three blocks away at the park following a string of child kidnappings and sexual assaults in Eight Mile Rock, a coastal village 14 miles west of Freeport. Jackie hated that her son was annoying the neighbors-and she definitely didn't approve of him being out so late. "Stop makin' dat noise and take ya skin home to ya momma!" "Buuudddyyy!" she yelled in her Bahamian accent. But that experiment ended quickly, too, when Carol, unable to sleep because of Hield's constant dribbling, stormed onto her porch in her pajamas and unleashed a howl that could be heard for blocks. The next evening, he moved his makeshift basket 50 yards down the block in front of a home occupied by his mom's friend, Carol. ![]()
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