Black History Month Inspirations | Lessons in Toughness

got his heart. So it should have come as no surprise that Scott responded the way he did when this situation broke out at the center in a late season matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks and now here again they're deary and debt a hip with a hue to three and he makes them pay Joel and be, whoa man, there's that bless up? He just whipped the bullet. Be Oh, look up, what's what's so for? Wake claws him? Hard work that car? Wow? Let's so he threw the bad and be I just glanced up and saw that. Oh, by,

he just fired the ball. He's gotta be tossed out of here? Are you kidding me? And the coaches come out, the head coaches to separate the antagonists. Unbelievable. I have not seen a violent act like that. In years they glued to whistle when letsoe game a little chef to the back there and then mb tossed the ball and he Letso tossed the back. So let's Mike Scott, I think tossed the ball in there as well. It was hard to blame him given the circumstances. He understandably came

to the defense of his teammate technical foul two. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Scott then proceeded to go off in the best possible way. Had a Sexers taken down the court to Scott, Mike Scott left corner, got it baby up Scottie put it in play Mike Smith to get it to Scott. And that's what's for three for Mike Scott Scott from the Scot Scot Wow. Maybe another one that says Scott three and dirty cos for Mike Scott. Joel turns La, jumps around Lopez at the corner. Scott

for three. He done it again, Bike Scott baseline left, Joel kicks it out, Scott knocks it in six or spite five. Scott finished the game with twenty two points, which tied a season high, and knocked down six of eight three point attempts scuttle in the first quarter. How port was it to kind of jump in there and be like, Hey, that's my team, A paper panie girl, come straight? Yeah, I mean I'm always gonna ride. Um. That's just how I am. We live right or wrong.

If it's wrong, we'll talk about it after the game, but you know, during the game, that's how I am. There's plenty more to Mike Scott than toughness, but make no mistake about it. For the Chesapeake native, toughness is one of his defining traits. I think that's his current from Virgin five seven. After a game, Scott wants you to remember who you went up against. Play as hard as a dog. You know, he makes shots, he's you know when he switched on them, he's gonna try to

bury you or just you know, push you around. You know, he's physical. You know when he comes to the game, you know he's gonna play with a lot of energy and be physical and be tough and do whatever it takes to win. The obvious question is where does Scott's toughness come from. The answer can be found close to the heart, close to home, and essentially identical in name. His dad, Michael H. Scott, was a marine for twenty five years straight out of high school. It was tough, know,

he didn't go for did tours. He was a drill sergeant, did tours and you know, death Storm and Iraq and all that stuff. You know. He was a beast. He was tough, he was in shape, he didn't get fat, old and as it should the other crazy right. At one point, the elder Scott held three jobs. These days, he's still living in Chesapeake, Virginia. Since twenty thirteen, he's been working in the Norfolk Public School system at school security.

On one of the walls of his office is the reproduction of a painting of his son, commissioned by a friend from Mike himself. Young Mike was a very interesting kid, you know, because, for the most part, he was a lot taller than all the other kids of his age, and to him, he felt that he needed to shrink down to their size, not realizing that, Okay, that's not ever going to really happen. You're going to continuously be taller than most of the folks that you're hanging around,

especially if you hang around children of your age. We worked on building that confidence and being able to stand up and stand tall, so quite literally, Scott stood out. When Scott was born in July of nineteen eighty eight, his father had already lost nearly a decade of service in the Marines. He enlisted in August nineteen seventy eight. Was a fairly decent academic kid, and school didn't interest

me like that anymore. A friend of mine came to me and said, hey, I'm going to the Marines, man, you should come here with me on the buddy system. I looked at him, and then I looked at me, and I said, Okay, I'm a lot stronger than him. I'm a lot more athletic than him. My academic is a lot higher than his. And if he thinks he can make it, I know I can make it. And I'm not seeing that the slightly guy, because he was good at what he do. I just knew that if he can make it, I know I was going to

be able to make it. And as funny as it may seem, I end up carrying him through boot camp. Michael Scott had an interest in sports growing up, but wasn't exactly encouraged to play. His parents wanted him focused on his education and preparing to enter the workforce. Wanted

a different experience for his own kids. I said, Okay, something has to change, And as I grew into adulthood and started my own family, I made sure that you know, everything with Mike was going to be, you know where he needed it to be or what was best for him and give him a successful life. In the end, when Scott reflects on his military days, his voice is filled with fondness and nostalgia. There's no hint of fatigue, regret,

or resentment. He even called himself lucky because each of the three positions he held in the Marines kept him relatively sedentary for extended periods of time. Scott had two stints on Paris Island near Hilton Head in South Carolina. Then when Mike was born, his dad was based out of the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia. After that, Michael Scott's final duty station took him in his family

across the country to Camp Pendleton in southern California. My last employment took me out for the grueling six months, which actually turns into be almost nine months, but at that time, prior to me going out, I actually sent Mike back this way. I was out in California. I sent him back this way, and they set up a household back here, and you know, kept things going until I got back here the following year. That was that time period that I was away from them. But believe me,

every opportunity I had, I was on the phone. I was trying to do some type of video. You know, they didn't have all these fancy gadgets where you can do zoom and all this stuff like you're able to do now. I didn't have a cell phone, so you know, I was trying to make calls from the ship or whatever. We made it work. We made it work. We made it work. We made it work. Before Mike Scott was sent back East, something seminal happened on his dad's base.

That's where Mike actually started playing basketball. Before Mike was out of elementary school, he was already turning heads, especially his father's who had returned home and retired from the service. In his early days, he played recreational ball and this was like when he was like eight years old. During the game, he ended up with like forty five points for that particular game. And you know, some folks would say, well, he hogged the ball. No, he was only able to

play two quarters. He played the second and the fourth quarter, only second and fourth quarter, and ended up with them forty five points. And I was another one of those turning points for him, or those moments for him, that he really accomplished something. Then that's when I seen that flash of okay, maybe he got something here in the Scott household. However, there was an important distinction. Basketball was a reward, not a right. He only played schoolball if

Graves was right. And that was the deal between here and I. If your grades aren't right, then you don't get a chance to play freshman year. He tried to test the waters and had some questionable, questionable grades. But then the coach said to know home one day and said, missus Scott, Mike has to go to study hall. I took that same note. I turned it over and I said, no, coach, Mike will be coming home. He'll be doing his study hall at home with me, and until further notice, he

will not be with the team. Once he picked the grades back up, then maybe he'll be able to rejoin the team before your permission. And so that's what we did there. Was another condition between Mike and his dad, whether Mike liked it or not. Back then, my dad used to make played with the older guys and they used to pump me, and they used to man, you gotta get tougher. You know. They wouldn't call me soft, but I feel like it was. You know, I probably was,

you know, timid and a little soft. You know, it was a little frail, six six, two hundred pounds. And I didn't really have that, you know, that tough mentality demeter until I started getting older and start getting that mindset. But you know, growing up I should just get you know, not bullied. But he just always to take maybe play with the older guys, and I guess that would just help me get you know, get that mindset, get tougher. Something worth noting the context both Mike Scott and his

dad used when talking about Mike and his toughness. It's all about what's going on between his ears. He's not a physical tough guy as far as someone that constantly I had to go to school to because he was always in fights. He was able to handle himself, so he was able to avoid much of that. I think a lot of what he has now is that mental toughness and that aggressiveness. And I think a lot of

that came from him. I would say, watching me during my Marine Corps career, because you know, oftentimes I would take him to work with me, and he watched me. You know, give commands to twenty thirty guys and they go ahead and do it. They got to do and if they don't want to do it, then they suffer the consequence whatever that may be. I always pushed them to to, hey, you can overcome this. You can overcome whatever challenges that comes in Funny, take that situation as

a learned experience and you keep on pushing forld. So you know, that's that's why I think a lot of that toughness comes from for Michael Scott. Finding the best balance didn't come right away. Initially that was the approach what I used at work, I used at home, and then I realized that, know that that is not the right format. That's that's not going to work because what we do in the Marine Corps, especially during the time I was a fill instructor, you know, we do a

lot of intimidation factors. They realizing that they're out there with us, they're on an island. There's no way for them to get home. I initially had that same concept when I came home, but I realized that, no, that's not it. I'm talking about my child, someone that I love, and I can't use that same tactic on him because I will end up burning him out and just totally

destroying him mentally. I pulled back a whole lot, and you know, just started focusing on just nurturing him more and at the same time making sure I maintained that level of tough love and we got through it. I was determined that he was going to be successful in something, whether or not it was in sports, whether or not it was academically, whether or not it was somewhere in corporate America. He was going to be successful in something,

and so he was. Mike Scott landed a scholarship to one of his home state premier schools, University of Virginia. Senior season at Virginia, Scott's team also featured future NBA players Joe Harris and Milcolm Brockdon. Mike Scott was huge for Virginia, understanding as his senior he needed to put the team on his back, and he did that in overtime and he was shorting the difference in the way. The outcome of this turned out well, Maryland struggled at

the free throw line. Scott was chosen in the second round of the twenty twelve NBA Draft by Atlanta. At that time, the Hawks, featuring Al Horford, Lou Williams, and Jeff Teague were a perennial playoff team. Blue william spends it up Tom Mike Scott. Mike turned the other way before with its at the top of the key. Great Scott for three and so began the next phase of Scott's education and toughness. I was in Atlanta. I had some I had some hardcore vets, you know, my rookie.

I had Josh Smith, sn Stevenson, Anthony Morrow, Louis my vet. I was there. I had great professionals Kyle Korver, Devin Harry and at the same time how professionals anti the tolerable, like guys who I learned, like how to be a pro you know, Paul Millsap got there, to Mark Carrol. But for the most part, you know, I was always talking to be physical, be aggressive, had that mind frame of nobody's gonna pump me and just play that chicken your shoulders. The lessons have been long lasting. Scott is

now a father of two ds. The apple and the tree seemed to be in full effect when I'm talking to my son, and when I'm with my son, I could see like, oh, yeah, that's how my dad would do, you know, just being showing that tough love. My dad had a lot of tough love, and that's how That's how sometimes I show love to my son, showing him discipline. That's what my dad showed me. He had some of them same qualities that I see when I observe him

and his son together now. To be honest with you, his daughter, I think she got him wrapped around that finger. And that's just the normal thing. That's just the way it is what ads and girls. It's something I used to say to Mike. We used to say. I would say the great and he would say Scott, and so

we would just go on with that. And so I don't know if he's doing that with his son now, but that's just something that I would say to him to assure that ad, you got to remember that Scott has a sense of greatness in you, and you got to uphold that and you got to keep it moving. There's no doubt by graduating from the University of Virginia and carving out a nine year career in the NBA, Mike Scott has indeed done great things to honor his family name. Dad watches regularly and to bring the story

full circle. He had the TV on back in April twenty nineteen when Eric Bledsoe went after Joel Embiid. I've watched that situation a few times over and I was like, ohkay, I said, well, you know, you're just defending your teammate and you have to be able to have his back just as you expect him to have your back. And that's what he's all about. He's going to make sure that he is a nurturer. He is one that's going

to be there for, you know, his next guy. In other words, he's going to be his brother's keeping, something that I have been doing for man all my life. For as much as Michael Scott may have inspired his son, Mike has provided his dad quite the right in return because of the things that he has accomplished, you know, academically, and you know, all the other challenges and trials and tribulation that we went through as a family, and he's able to still stand tall and still feel good about himself.

So as a result, being rewarded with being able to play in the league for these nine seasons has been Oh man, it just brings joy to my heart. Joy to my heart. Black History Month Inspirations is a production of the seventy six Ers Podcast Network. Our voice artist is Nick McCain. Production support from Mike Scott and Michael Scott.

Music courtesy of APM Music. Look for text versions of these episodes on the seventy six ers digital and social platforms, and be sure to search the seventy six Ers Podcast Network's back catalog for previous installments in this four part mini series. And lastly, remember Black History Month is really more than a month. These are stories and themes that should be told them kept in mind every day.