Who’s Your Daddy: Dan Majerle

What is the most important life lesson your dad passed down to you?

“Probably just his hard work. My dad was a single barber. He got up in the morning, and I remember him leaving at six o’clock in the morning. I remember going to visit him just to say hello. He’d be standing behind that chair all day cutting hair until seven o’clock at night, and then he’d come home and have time to shoot hoops, throw the baseball or do whatever. At that time you don’t really think about it a lot, but me being who I am and having four kids and the demands I have and coming home to my kids, I know that took a lot for him. Just seeing the dedication and the hard work that he put in day in and day out to go to work and get us stuff that’s available, to sacrifice so we could play all the sports and do all those things is something I’ll always remember.”

What is the most memorable sports experience you remember with your dad?

“There’s two at hand. One is kind of a general thing. My dad was just one of those all-around basketball, softball and football player. And, me and my brothers used to tag along, we’d be the bat boys or the ball boys, chasing frogs, getting bats and just traveling to different places around the state playing all these kinds of sports. I guess the memory I always remember is sitting in the basement in 1988 in Traverse City, Michigan when the Phoenix Suns called my name and drafted me. My older brother came to me and said, ‘Go see your father, he’s up in the kitchen.’ I walked up to the kitchen and there was my dad standing over the sink bawling his eyes out. It’s the first time I ever saw my dad cry.”

Follow @AZSports