(ESPN’s NBA Countdown)
*Sunday was the first Mother’s Day that ESPN analyst Jalen Rose had to spend without his mother Jeanne, who was so instrumental in guiding her son toward a life in basketball, first at the University of Michigan as part of the “Fab Five,” and eventually in the NBA.
Rose broke into tears on ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” as he discussed how much he misses her.
“We fell in love with basketball together. My father played in the league and to not know him. … She was like, ‘You’re going to make it, you’re going to get us out the hood, I promise you.’ And I was like ‘I’m going to do it ma.’ And I did it. We did it.”
Jimmy Walker, the No. 1 pick in the 1967 NBA draft, was Rose’s biological father but the two never met. Walker died of cancer in 2007.
Rose had tweeted earlier this year about his mother’s battle with cancer. She died in early February.
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