Can it really be that Tracy McGrady of the Orlando Magic is a bona fide NBA veteran? At an age when most young men are bucking for assistant manager, T-Mac is already nearing the top of his chosen profession—doing what he loves, and doing it better than anyone in the game. Still exploring his awesome potential, he is rising to the level where basketball legends are made. And Tracy still has a long career ahead of him. This is his story…
GROWING UP
Tracy Lamar McGrady, Jr., was born on May 24, 1979 in Bartow, Florida. His mother, Melanise Williford, was just out of high school, and his father, while caring and interested in Tracy’s welfare, wasn’t an everyday part of his son’s life. In need of help, Melanise headed a short ways north to Auburndale, where her mother, Roberta, lived. The two women shared the responsibility of raising Tracy. Eventually he would call both “Mom.”
Auburndale—located between Tampa and Orlando, about 90 minutes from each—was a comfortable town of just 9,000 residents, most of whom were white. Tracy felt completely at ease there. An aunt anointed him with the nickname “Pumpkinhead,” and just about everyone in town referred to him that way. He and his friends bounced around a neighborhood known as the “Hill” as though they owned it.
Life could be rough in Auburndale. One of Tracy’s starkest childhood memories was the shooting death of a cousin’s boyfriend. The incident convinced him that he didn’t want to spend his adult years on the Hill.
Tracy’s family did not have a lot of money, but he grew up with everything he needed. Melanise commuted to Orlando every day to work as a chambermaid in a Disney World hotel. She kept her son clothed—no small task—and there was always plenty of his favorite food, spaghetti with Roberta’s sauce. Roberta helped out, too. She worked as a janitor, and dinner was often whatever she caught while fishing at a local pond. A cadre of relatives, meanwhile, made sure Tracy had lots of spending money come...
