Mychal Thompson, basketball star, was born January 30, 1955, in Nassau, Bahamas. The Bahamas play an important role in Mychal’s successful career, serving as the place where he grew up playing pickup on the local courts and where his love for the game grew. After a coach recruited Mychal from the Bahamas to move to Miami, Florida to compete at a higher level, his father encouraged him to take the opportunity to pursue his basketball dream. After two successful years in Miami, Mychal moved on to play both power forward and center for the University of Minnesota. After a successful college career, he became the first overall draft pick in the 1978 NBA draft. He played 14 seasons in the NBA for the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and eventually the Los Angeles Lakers, where his team won two NBA Championships. After winning the championships, Mychal returned to the Bahamas to celebrate, where he was greeted with a “hero’s welcome” and was named a true Bahamian sports hero and legend. Mychal went on to marry Julie Leslie, and together they had three sons, Mychel, Klay, and Trayce. All of their sons are all professional athletes. Mychal and Julie currently reside in Los Angeles where Mychal now works as the Los Angeles Lakers’ radio color commentator. Certainly, the greatest basketball player to ever come out of the Bahamas, Mychal is still very connected to his heritage, and he constantly makes trips back to his hometown to assist in the strengthening of basketball in the Bahamas. In honor of his efforts, a street leading to the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre in Nassau, a famous multi-purpose stadium, was named “Mychal Thompson Boulevard” for his contribution to the history and evolution of basketball in the Bahamas.
