catmandoo
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Member # 1284
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posted 10-15-2014 03:03 PM
You can tell WCS has had a good upbringing just by the way he handles himself off and on the court. He is a good guy and always will be. It's good to read stories like this about our Cats.
Before Willie Cauley-Stein had any inkling that he would return to Kentucky, his grandmother, Norma Stein, noted that it would not surprise her if he said no to the NBA.
“It’s weird how they know that stuff or catch that stuff. In my head, I was definitely out. I was definitely gone,” Cauley-Stein said. “As it got closer, I thought, ‘Maybe I am not ready to take that step. Maybe I am not ready to be out on my own yet doing my own thing. Maybe I have a little more growing up to do.’ I guess she just knew that.”
Maybe that’s because his grandparents, Val and Norma Stein, know so much about every part of his life after helping to raise him in Spearville, Kan.
“They have always been great, whether it was going to Little League baseball games or co-ed softball games when I was younger,” Cauley-Stein said. “They love all that stuff. They love going to football games and not even being in the crowd and just sitting in their car. All the basketball games (they go to). Even if I am not playing, they are still there.
“They are still back in my hometown going to those games. Kids are, like, four years younger than me and not even in high school when I was there and were in junior high and stuff, and they still go back and watch them. It’s just part of how they came up in the world and how they were raised. That’s why I am the way I am. My grandparents molded me in a way that I have great gratitude for them.”
Growing up in a small town helped shape Cauley-Stein’s unique personality.
“Willie is just a different type of dude,” Kentucky teammate Brian Long said. “He’s the best, though, and he’s awesome on the court. He’s just different, dresses different and things like that, but he has a great personality and he’s a great basketball player. Some of his outfits are crazy, but I’ve never seen him do anything too crazy.”
Cauley-Stein was hard to miss growing up because of his size and talent.
“I was just a dude growing up that played every sport there was in the town. My town was small, so you had to play every sport. I was good in everything that had to do with being an athlete growing up,” Cauley-Stein said. “You have to know how to humble yourself. Knowing you are that good in stuff you are doing and not making it seem like you know you are that good is what you have to do.That’s the biggest part about it is staying humble and knowing where you came from.
“The dudes that have trouble is when you get too big for your ego. Your ego gets too big for what you are trying to do. I try to keep it as straightforward and easy as possible.”
He also has not lost track of his roots and says if he goes home, “I could literally tell you name, middle name, last name, nickname, age, birthday of everybody there,” because he knows them all.
“Growing up in a small town is great. Being able to just walk out your house and go walk around and know everybody is great,” Cauley-Stein said. “We were always outside doing something, whether it was making forts or playing basketball or playing kickball in my front yard or going paintballing or going out to the lake. It’s the country. You can do anything. It was good. It’s exactly why I am the way I am. That molded me into something. Not a lot of guys get a chance to be molded like that.”
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