Professional Mormon Athletes Pay Tribute to Their Fathers

In honor of Father’s Day this weekend, Deseret News released an article today featuring seven professional athletes and olympians who are paying tribute to their fathers. Here are a few of the athletes Trent Toone highlights in the Deseret News article:

Thurl Bailey:

Fatherhood is an emotional topic for Thurl Bailey.

The former NBA basketball player is worried that his father’s time might be short. Carl Bailey is now in his mid-80s and has survived three strokes.

“All those memories rushed at me,” Bailey said in an interview with the Deseret News. “When he’s gone, that’s all I’m going to have.”

Bailey grew up in a home with five children during the civil rights era in Washington, D.C. When Thurl was a baby, a brick wall fell on his father at a construction site. He eventually recovered but could no longer work, as detailed in a 2003 Deseret News article.

“It was hard enough to make ends meet,” Bailey said. “Mom and Dad were always strong, but my dad’s role was to make his sons say what they mean, mean what they say.”

Bailey learned many life lessons from his father. The happiest memories came when he took him to a ball game or a nearby creek with a bamboo fishing pole. Another time, Bailey’s father pulled up some weeds in the yard and built a makeshift basketball hoop out of household materials…

Brian Banks:

Before he won a World Series ring with the 2003 Florida Marlins, Brian Banks pulled weeds and played golf with his father, Glen B. Banks.

Every Saturday morning at 6 a.m., they were out doing something productive in the yard. It was mostly misery for the teenager at first, Brian Banks said. Then lessons about the value of consistent hard work began to emerge.

“A lot of times it was just moving one pile of dirt from one area of the backyard to the other. But what I gained was good work ethic and habits, along with an understanding that in order to get where you want to be in life, you’ve got to have a desire to get things done,” said Banks, now retired from the game and working as a dentist in Arizona. “I’m sure as a teenager I was mumbling and groaning, but it was that consistency that ultimately paid off. As I look back, some of the greatest life experiences came in the conversations we had out there in the yard.”

After a few hours in the yard, the conversations continued on the golf course…

Noelle Pikus-Pace

Young Noelle Pikus-Pace was pitching in the second game of a softball double-header when the 12-year-old got into an argument with her coach, who also happened to be her father, Lee Pikus.

She had just walked two batters when her father started yelling, “Pitch a strike.”

“I’m trying to pitch a strike,” she yelled back.

“Well, just pitch a strike then,” he said.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” she fired back. “I’m not trying to pitch a ball.”

“You better pitch a strike,” he persisted.

That was it. She dropped the ball on the mound and moved toward first base, where she informed her teammate they were switching positions.

“OK, I’m playing first and you go pitch. I can’t take it anymore,” she said. “He was pretty mad.”

The next day, father and daughter were on friendly terms again, playing pitch and catch in the backyard…

*To read more about these athlete’s tributes to their fathers, read Trent Toone’s full article on DeseretNews.com