The 135-Pounder Who Could Bench Press Shaq

Happy Sunday!

Welcome back to the newsletter that one subscriber calls “the highlight of my Sunday morning”.

And another calls “the most captivating thing I’ve ever read”.

Ok, I made up the second one. But a guy can dream!

Today’s edition includes the rise of a 135-pound point guard who could bench press Shaquille O'Neal.

Here's what else is coming:

• From D3 recruit to NBA sharpshooter

• Why a special-teamer deserves the spotlight

• How a one-time “bust” transformed his game late in his career

Let’s dive in 👇

How did Hall of Fame shortstop “Pee Wee” Reese get his nickname?

• A) He was only 5’9”

• B) He was a champion marbles player

• C) He started the first “pee wee” baseball league

• D) He played indy ball for the Louisville Pee Wees

The answer is at the end of this email! Look for the ⭐ emoji.

(Thanks to Johnny C. for today’s trivia submission!)

🏀 "A lot of people don’t understand." Go inside Duncan Robinson’s rapid rise from unheralded D3 recruit to NBA sharpshooter. [Steve Lee @ Joker Mag]

🏈 This 33-year-old QB was declared a ‘bust’ in almost every NFL circle. Now he’s shocking the world as a “renaissance” QB with his late-career resurgence. [Bob McGinn @ Go Long]

🔥 “Anything is possible, and I want to prove that.” Bruna Alexandre is a one-armed table tennis player aiming to compete in both the Paralympics and the Olympics in the same year. [Mauricio Savarese @ The Associated Press]

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Kendall is just one of many D3 players who made it to the NFL.

Meet The 135-Pound Point Guard Who Could Bench Press Shaq

He thought the kid was a ball boy.

I mean, he had to be…right?

A hair over five feet tall.

Slender frame.

Maybe 135 pounds soaking wet.

He must’ve been helping the team out. Lending a hand after class. Wanting to be around real high school basketball players.

The ones he came to recruit.

But when the buzzer sounded and the kid stepped onto the court, everything changed.

And the recruiter's jaw dropped to the floor.

Long before his career in the NBA, Earl Boykins did what many young kids do:

He followed his dad to the gym.

As a three-year-old, Earl was so small that his father carried him into their rec center in his duffel bag to save the entry fee.

And because his hands were too small for a regular-sized basketball, he learned to dribble with tennis balls.

But by the time Earl was 12 years old, he was good enough to play in his dad’s rec league games.

“You play with grown men all the time,” Boykins said, “you get used to contact.”

Those early matchups gave him confidence from an early age.

“The players were much bigger and stronger than me, so I learned to play smart. Once I realized I could play well against big, physical players, I began to believe in myself.”

Boykins attended Cleveland Central Catholic High School where as a member of the Ironmen, he averaged nearly 25 points per game.

Earl's stature steered a lot of college scouts away from offering a scholarship.

But after one Eastern Michigan recruiter originally mistook him for a ball boy, EMU was so impressed with his skill set that they made an offer.

“You signed a guy how tall?” someone asked head coach Ben Bruan ahead of Earl’s freshman year.

“I’m either going to look like a genius or incredibly stupid,” Braun responded.

“I figured it was my duty to make him look smart,” Earl said later.

As a freshman starter for the Eagles, Boykins finished tied for second in scoring (12.5 ppg), while leading the team in assists (4.5 apg).

While the team failed to qualify for the Big Dance, Earl was selected to the MAC (Mid-American Conference) All-Freshman team.

The next season, he helped them win the MAC Championship.

During his final two years on campus, he took over as a team leader and helped the Eagles to another MAC title as a senior.

“Earl may be the most competitive player I’ve ever coached,” Coach Milton Barnes said.

“He does not know the odds are against him. He’s 5’5”, but he plays 7’5”.”

When the NBA Draft rolled around, Earl Boykins didn’t hear his name called.

Knowing there were other pro basketball options, he signed with the Rockford Lightning of the CBA.

While he averaged only 7.4 ppg during his first year, he earned a few looks from the NBA.

After a short five-game stint with the New Jersey Nets to start 1999, Boykins signed two 10-day contracts with the Cleveland Cavaliers to close out the season.

The 1999-2000 season saw him once again pull on three different jerseys. He significantly increased his stats, averaging twenty more minutes of floor time than his first year and averaging 21.6 ppg and 9.3 apg.

His numbers were impressive enough to turn heads in Orlando and for a third run in Cleveland.

“You think he’s a little kid, you relax, and he’s got 10 points on you quick,” said point guard Jeff McInnis.

Boykins’ time with the Magic and Cavaliers earned him a two-year contract with the LA Clippers where he came off of the bench for 76 of 78 games, averaging 4.4 ppg and 2.3 apg.

Following a one-year run with the Golden State Warriors in 2002-03 (where the sound guy would play “It’s a Small World” whenever Earl checked into the game until he told him to stop), Boykins was finally offered a contract with long-term security by the Denver Nuggets.

Armed with a 5-year, $13.7 million deal, Boykins produced the best numbers of his NBA career – averaging 25.5 minutes, 12.1ppg, and 4apg in 255 games. 

“Being big in basketball is a great advantage,” he said.

“For a small player to make it, he has to work twice as hard.”

When it was all said and done, Earl’s 5,791 career points and thirteen-season NBA career placed him within the top thirteen of what would have been his draft class despite being feet and inches shorter than his peers.

He is also one of the strongest pound-for-pound NBA players ever – bench pressing 315 pounds while weighing in at just 135.

For those keeping score at home, that’s more than 2.3 times his body weight, and nearly equal to the weight of Shaquille O’Neal!

But rather than sit back and enjoy the fruits of his labor, Boykins has stayed involved in the game.

In addition to running his own basketball academy in Denver, he’s spent time on the benches of the Douglas County Huskies (high school), the Arkansas Razorbacks, and the UTEP (University of Texas El Paso) Miners.

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⭐ Trivia Answer:

B) He was a champion marbles player – a “pee wee” is a small marble. Though he was too small to get much playing time in high school, his size wasn’t the reason for Reese’s nickname.

Thanks for reading! 🤝 

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Til next time,
Tyler

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Extra Innings…

• In case you missed it: I interviewed a World Series champion about the mental side of baseball.

• Non-sports news: This dog led his family to their missing cat, who had fallen into a mineshaft.

• Subscriber Spotlight: Long-time reader Steven D. is building a pretty cool platform that connects athletes & coaches. Go check it out!

• Fun find: I added a few new titles to my list of favorite sports books. If you’re looking for an easy Christmas gift for the bookworm in your life, snag something from my reading list.*

• Since you made it down here: it looks like this little guy is trying to become our new mascot.

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