Imagine being so obsessed with something that you write it a love letter when you retire. That was Kobe Bryant with basketball. In his iconic “Dear Basketball” piece, he poured out his heart, saying, “I fell in love with you… I gave you my all.” But not every basketball legend had that same story. Take a certain thirteen-time All-Star, three-time NBA champ, Olympic gold medalist… we’re talking about a player who left it all on the court and is now a Hall of Famer. Sounds like someone who must’ve lived and breathed hoops since day one, right? Well, plot twist—his “first love” wasn’t basketball. It was football.

Dwyane Wade, a Chicago native, has been a lifelong fan of the Chicago Bears. In 2024, he participated in a video welcoming No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams to the Bears, stating, “This is Dwyane Wade, Chicago’s own. Chicago Bears fan through and through. I just want to say congratulations to you guys. Welcome. Welcome to the team.” So what really led Wade to choose basketball and not pursue his “first love”?

When Dwyane Wade sat down with Hoda Kotb on Making Space, he got candid about his beginnings. Growing up in Chicago, he didn’t dream of the NBA right away. In fact, he barely knew what the world had to offer beyond his own neighborhood. But he knew that “sports was an option.” The real push wasn’t some grand vision of stardom or an innate desire to be famous—it was someone much closer to home: his father.

“I wanted to be like my father,” Wade shared, a sentiment that speaks volumes about the bond they shared. To young Dwyane, his father was more than just a dad; he was a superhero in real life. “As a kid, I’m looking at a guy with big broad shoulders, his beautiful body, like he’s real statuesque in his movements,” he recalled. But it wasn’t just his dad’s strength or his looks that captivated Wade—it was the fact that Wade Sr. was a man of many talents: “He played all the different sports.” And when it came time to choose a sport to focus on, it wasn’t a tough decision. It was basketball that his father was best at, so he naturally “gravitating” towards it.

But hold up, the story takes a twist here! While Dwyane might’ve caught the first spark of his love for sports from his dad, the real fire was ignited when he saw Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls light up the 1991 championship. Watching MJ soar through the air with that signature grace? It was like magic. Suddenly, Wade’s childhood hero, his dad, took a backseat to the greatest player in the game. “That’s who I wanna be,” Wade remembered thinking in that moment. And from that moment on, it was game on.

The powerful father-son journey behind Dwyane Wade’s Hall of Fame moment

When Wade took the stage for his Hall of Fame induction, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, especially when he ended his speech by calling his father to stand beside him. “I cried like a baby,” Wade admitted later. “I cried for like three, four hours after I got home.” His dad, Wade Sr., felt every bit of that moment too. “We all cried to that speech,” he shared.

That emotional tribute wasn’t just for show—it was years in the making, built on sweat, discipline, and a bond forged on courts and in hospitals. Especially after both had faced their own medical scares—Wade’s health wake-up call, and his father’s battle with prostate cancer. Wade opened up about how that experience brought them even closer. “We started being able to share personal things,” he said. “Like, I’d call my dad after a prostate exam and he’d laugh and be like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s nothing.’” That kind of honesty? That’s real family stuff. “In my most vulnerable state, when I was probably as scared as I’ve ever been, I wanted my dad to be there.”

But their bond didn’t come easy. Wade Sr. was a military man—tough, intense, and not one to sugarcoat anything. “He was 6-foot-3, muscles, had a mean streak,” Wade told The Atlantic. “Damn right, I’m listening to my dad. I had no choice. I was scared of my dad.” When young Dwyane showed real promise on the court, his dad brought that same no-nonsense military mindset to their training. And when he missed a left-hand layup? His dad made him stay on the court until he nailed it. Crying or not, he wasn’t going home until it was right. “He learned to use that left hand,” his sister Tragil recalled.

Wade’s journey took off at Harold L. Richards High School, where he balanced both basketball and football. But even before the accolades, his dad’s passion was impossible to miss. As his sister Tragil recalled, the courtside coaching got a little too intense: “My dad was so intense that by the time Dwyane got in high school, he wasn’t allowed to come inside the gym,” she said. “He was always trying to coach from the sidelines, so they ended up banning him from home games.”This move, though necessary, highlighted just how deeply invested Wade’s father was in his success.

Still, through all the tough love, court drills, and family challenges, Wade’s relationship with his dad never wavered. It was complicated, sure—but it was always rooted in love. And over time, what started as fear and respect turned into appreciation, vulnerability, and trust.