Kermit Washington

Kermit Alan Washington (born September 17, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player.

Washington was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the fifth overall pick in the 1973 NBA draft.

He played sparingly his first three seasons, and sought the help of retired basketball coach Pete Newell before his fourth season.

Under Newell's tutelage, Washington's game rapidly improved and he became a starter for several teams.

He played for the Lakers, Boston Celtics, San Diego Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors.

Kermit Washington's mother Barbara graduated from Miner Teachers’ College (later subsumed into University of the District of Columbia); his father Alexander was an X-ray technician.

When he was three years old, his parents had a fight in which his uncle was violently attacked with an iron.

His parents soon divorced, with his father awarded custody of the children.

His mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder, then took him and his older brother Eric from their father on an ill-advised sojourn for which they were poorly prepared.

Struggling to find money to feed the children, she eventually called their father, who came and took them back.

His stay with his father did not last long, and he and his brother were passed around to various relatives on both sides of the family.

Washington was a shy child.

The only time he recalled feeling a sense of self-worth was when his great-grandmother on his father's side had the pair for a while.

According to Washington, she loved the boys but was extremely strict, domineering, and at times, physically abusive.

After his father remarried, the children moved back in with him and his new wife.

Washington felt a sense of optimism for the first time, saying "I thought it was our dream come true. All our lives we had seen nice families on TV. Real ones. Now we were going to be a real family."

However, he again felt unwanted this time by his stepmother.

As a small child, Washington said that he had no recollections of ever being hugged, and only felt close to his younger brother, Chris.

Washington was a poor student who hated school throughout most of his childhood.

He had to retake many of his classes in summer school to raise his grades.

When he entered high school he played football merely so he could be around a close friend, and have someone to walk home with at night as he was terrified of walking home alone.

As a senior in high school, Washington stood 6ft 4in but weighed a mere 150 lbs.

After some rare positive feedback by his biology teacher, Barbara Thomas, he began to study and put forth a greater effort in that class.

He quickly became a solid student in biology but poor in all other subjects.

When Thomas became his home room teacher and saw his grades in other classes she encouraged him to try hard in all of his courses.

Washington rapidly improved his marks, making the honor roll in his senior year.

His basketball performance in high school was unimpressive.

He came off the bench to average four points per game (ppg).

His stepmother informed him that when he graduated from high school he would be thrown out of the house.

He trained for three hours a day toward the end of his senior season, and showed up uninvited at a playground game featuring top high school players from Washington and Pennsylvania, where he talked his way into the game.

Tom Young, who had recently left his job as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland to become head coach at American University, saw him play there, and although Washington did not perform particularly well, Young was impressed by his hustle and how he ignored the poor treatment he received from the people who organized the game.

During the summer between his senior year of high school and his freshman year of college, Washington grew four inches.

He began weight training, and ran the steps in his seven-story dormitory building wearing a weighted vest to improve endurance.

Washington became more extroverted in college, so much so that he later said his life could be separated into two parts—his pre-college life and his life after college.

Washington is best remembered for punching opposing player Rudy Tomjanovich during an on-court fight in 1977.

Washington was not a highly-coveted player coming out of high school.

He averaged four points per game during his senior season at Coolidge Senior High School.

He improved rapidly once at American University, and became one of only seven players in NCAA history to average 20 points and 20 rebounds throughout the course of his career.

A big defensive forward, Washington was known for his ability to gather rebounds.

He averaged 9.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in ten National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons and played in the All-Star Game once.