Miami Heat: The Story of Rony Seikaly
Fleeing the Middle East for the Mediterranean
Many people thought Seikaly was originally from Greece but he actually moved to Greece as a young boy from Lebanon. At the time, Lebanon was called by some as “the most dangerous place on earth” because of the violence in the region.
Steve Kerr’s dad, Malcolm H. Kerr, was assassinated in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984 by terrorists giving the country a bad name to Americans. In addition, Seikaly’s uncle was kidnapped in Lebanon while he was playing at Syracuse as the family was forced to pay a ransom to set him free.
These moments along with other examples made things very difficult for Seikaly when his home country came up in discussions. As a Lebanese national, many people incorrectly assumed he was a bad guy.
In fact, Seikaly skirted death himself several times before he left Lebanon, with bombs blowing up in his apartment building and other close encounters!
Seikaly became one of the first international players in the NBA yet is very rarely ever mentioned among the first wave of European players coming to the League. He was drafted before guys like Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic and Sarunas Marciulionis.
These days, many fans and players stereotype European players as “soft” but back then, many of these players from Europe were the toughest around. Coming from combat ravaged countries encompassed in civil wars like Lebanon, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, East/West Germany etc., these kids had to fight for their lives dodging bombs and gun fire on the streets daily.
Think that would toughen you up a little bit? Now many international players are growing up at universal basketball academies in gated communities funded by the NBA and protected by walls and guards….not quite the same eh?
Seikaly fell into basketball by complete chance while he was buying converse shoes in Athens, Greece. Due to his size he was invited to a basketball camp/tryout by the guy who owned the shoe store.
Rony had never played basketball at that point but had a natural asset you can’t teach – Height. He immediately stood out with his athletic ability the first time he ever played and instantly fell in love with the game.